Sell The Jobless attracted writers from outside advertising with the ultimate challenge: selling a jobless person. If the jobless person would get invited for an interview, the participant would be invited for the national Masterclass Copywriting, after which he or she could get recruited as copywriter.

Via www.sellthejobless.be (www.verkoopeenwerkloze.be) participants had to write a cover letter that would sell one of the 13 long-term jobless persons that were presented on the website.

The campaign promoted the advertising industry by activating people to actually write for a good cause: giving others the opportunity find a job.

The Association of Communication Companies Belgium (ACC) realised there was a growing shortage of new copywriting talent in the Belgian advertising industry. The ACC used to organise a yearly Masterclass Copywriting, but this mainly reached out to young talent from ad-schools or interns at different agencies. For this year, the ACC wanted to attract new writers FROM OUTSIDE advertising. So we needed an inspiring challenge that would motivate every person in Belgium that likes to write. At the same time this campaign could become a perfect demonstration of the craftsmanship of copywriting.

490 different writers participated on www.sellthejobless.be (www.verkoopeenwerkloze.be).

All together the participants wrote 668 cover letters for 13 different unemployed persons.

5 of these 13 unemployed persons found a job thanks to the cover letters.

Of all writers 50 finalists were selected for the Masterclass Copywriting based on the success of their cover letters and creative style, judged by Belgium's top creative directors .

During this 2-day masterclass 4 winners were given a job as copywriter at 4 different Belgian agencies.

This low-barrier campaign reached outside the world of advertising, making a positive statement about what copywriting is actually about.

The campaign featured on national TV- and radio-channels for 2 weeks. On day 1 it launched with a full page print ad in two of the major national newspapers. The direct call-to-action to Sell A Jobless person on the online (mobile) platform gave everyone a chance to immediately take the challenge. The press-release had the striking message that now anyone could help a jobless person by writing them a cover-letter.

The campaign was entirely based on copy. All executions demonstrated the effect of awfully bad copy in cover-letters, challenging the audience to do better. This showed that the craftsmanship of copywriting is capable of much more than only selling commercial products and services.

Eventually this creative execution cuts both ways: Sell The Jobless recruited new people for the advertising industry, while at the same time (long-term) unemployed people were given a better chance in finding a job.