ANSWER THEIR CALL — REFORM ALLIANCE

REFORM Alliance, founded by Jay-Z and Meek Mill, is a criminal justice reform organization in the United States. During Covid-19 people in prison are especially vulnerable to the virus because of the lack of protective gear and the impossibility of social distancing. To elicit sympathy towards the people behind bars, which threatens to turn every prison sentence into a death sentence - we created a campaign that amplified their voices using their only point of connection with the outside world: a phone call.

From over 20 calls and interviews, we created a campaign to give a voice to the ones that are least heard of in this pandemic.

The campaign, comprised of a film, a series of social videos and a hotline, was set out to raise awareness, evoke empathy and make people on the outside #AnswerTheirCall.

Agency:
Droga5, New York

Select press:
CBS News
Complex
Rolling Stone
NBC News
Independent
Politico
Hypebeast
Adweek
Ad Age
The Source

The film, When It’s All Over, played on a truth we all share - that, as a society, we all dream of the simple things, small and big, that come with getting back to normal. And that whether you are free or doing time to regain your freedom, this is something we all look forward to.

We interrupted social feeds with a series of longer films built from real phone calls. Each film connected people to someone in prison - sharing their situation and the dire need for help.

People were prompted to share each call to make the voices of people in prison louder.

Meek Mill first launched the campaign by dropping a hotline that connected callers with someone behind bars.

The campaign sparked conversation in the news as well as on social media and was shared by key figures like Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Pete Buttigieg, and most notably Jack Dorsey - who then donated $10 million to REFORM Alliance to further the cause.