Investigating corruption and the drug trade has cost 130+ journalists their lives since 2007. Javier Valdez, killed in 2017; one of the most iconic ones.

Every journalist’s murder brings more silence. In some Mexican states, there are no voices left to speak up freely, giving the narco-governments the upper hand.

Propuesta Cívica AC, the only Mexican NGO that provides legal support to the families of murdered journalists, looked for a way to promote their cause, and help the journalists continue to speak up. Associated to RSF (reporters without borders)

There’s no better way to protect the journalist’s lives than creating a culture of a proactive society, demanding access to proper information, and raising their voices; but never remaining asleep.

Therefore, we targeted Mexican and International media, intending to reignite the conversations around free speech and journalists’ protection, so we provided them with powerful video content that will undoubtedly shake complacency.

THE ONLY JOURNALIST THAT CAN SPEAK UP WITHOUT FEAR IN MEXICO IS A DEAD ONE.

According to Mexican traditions, Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is when deceased relatives and friends return to visit their families.

For the president, it wasn’t a relative neither a friend, but Javier Valdez, a journalist murdered for his investigations; who came back on this day in 2020 to demand justice for himself and his colleagues, and free speech for everyone.

Using AI, we brought Javier Valdez, murdered in 2017, and his work back to life. Instead of becoming silent, Javier became a symbol of resistance, and even more, a face and voice behind whom his other colleagues could anonymously continue speaking up.

In terms of execution, we achieved not only an identical image, but also we successfully recreated his voice, by recording several voices of male members of Javier Valdez’s family.

Mexicans got used to living among de dead. They have lost sensitivity when facing news about murders, even when the murdered ones are journalists.

We analyzed the stakeholders’ responses to different pieces of communication. Testimonials are proven to be more effective because of their connection to a real person's story. That’s how we learned that no one would be better than a murdered journalist to become our influencer. Among them, Javier Valdez was the most iconic, because of the depth of the investigations he did, and the relevance of the media he worked for.

Intending to shake Mexican society’s complacency, we targeted prominent journalists, and we surprised them on a zoom call, with the revealing of Javier, without preparing them for it. They became our ambassadors and were the first to simultaneously spread the message with a powerful call to action.

“They try to silence us, but we’re #StillSpeakingUp”

We chose Day of the Dead for the biggest TV & social media event to get maximum resonance.

The project ran in main Mexican and international news, including national TV, paid TV, social media, and news websites.

This campaign is a part of the #StillSpeakingUp platform created to use the identities of murdered journalists to protect the safety of the ones at risk today.

April 2019. Murdered journalists’ Twitter accounts revived

Feb 2020. The press conference w/ pilot video of revived Javier

Nov 2020. Day of the Dead: Javier addresses the president on National TV

CONTEXT:

Investigating corruption and the drug trade has cost 130+ journalists their lives since 2007. Javier Valdez, killed in 2017, was among the most iconic ones.

Every journalist’s murder is resonant, but eventually, it brings more silence. In some Mexican states, there are no voices left to speak up freely, giving the criminal organizations and corrupt officials the upper hand.

Propuesta Cívica AC, the only Mexican NGO that provides legal support to the families of murdered journalists, looked for a way to promote their cause, and help the journalists continue to speak up. Associated to RSF (reporters without borders)

All 3 main news channels gave prime time to Javier’s video.

30 of the most more relevant Mexican journalists targeted gave prime time space to Javier’s video and interviewed Javier’s widow and Propuesta Civica NGO directors about the initiative.

More than 100 international media published Javier’s video.

Due to media pressure, trials were reactivated, leading to 6 murderers convicted for crimes against journalists in Mexico, for the first time.

349 Million Organic Impressions on Twitter.

84% positive sentiment

5M USD Earned Media

All 3 main news channels gave prime time to Javier’s video.

30 of Mexico’s most relevant journalists targeted gave prime time space to Javier’s video, and interviewed Javier’s widow and Propuesta Civica NGO directors about the initiative.

More than 100 international media outlets published Javier’s video.

Due to media pressure, trials were reactivated, leading to 6 murderers being convicted for crimes against journalists in Mexico, for the first time.

349 Million Organic Impressions.

+40K unique authors

84% positive sentiment

5M USD Earned Media

This campaign is part of the #StillSpeakingUp platform created to use the identities of murdered journalists to protect the safety of the ones at risk today.