SUB CATEGORY :

GENDER EQUALITY

ENTRANT COMPANY :

FINCH, SYDNEY

TITLE :

CORRECT THE INTERNET

BRAND :

CORRECT THE INTERNET

ADVERTISER :

CORRECT THE INTERNET

AGENCY :

DDB AOTEAROA, AUCKLAND

MANAGING DIRECTOR :

NIKKI MCKELVIE

GROUP CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER :

MATTY BURTON/PRIYA PATEL

CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER :

GARY STEELE

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR :

RORY MCKECHNIE

ART DIRECTOR :

ZAC LANCASTER/JOSEP JOVER

COPYWRITER :

JACOB NEWTON

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER :

JUDY THOMPSON

SENIOR DIGITAL PRODUCER :

TRUDI GREIG

LEAD INTEGRATED PRODUCER :

CLAIRE COLOHAN

MAKER PRODUCER :

ALVA CASEY

STUDIO PRODUCER :

KAT EGARR

SENIOR DIGITAL DESIGNER :

DAVID WOON

HEAD OF DIGITAL DESIGN :

DEAN POMFRETT

DIGITAL DESIGNER :

ELLIOT OXBOROUGH/JUSTIN KOH/NELSON KUNG

DESIGNER :

TESS COSTIL

FRONT-END DEVELOPER :

INHA RYU/PRITI BURFIELD-MIILS

SENIOR FULL STACK DEVELOPER :

GUSTAVO CAMPANA,

SENIOR EDITOR :

ADAM PAGE

RETOUCHER :

GORDON MOIR

GROUP OPERATIONS :

LIZ KNOX

MAC OPERATOR :

KATHRYN HOLLIS

SENIOR BUSINESS DIRECTOR :

KESHINA WHITMORE

BUSINESS MANAGER :

PATRICK STONE

LEAD BUSINESS PARTNER :

KATE HEATLEY

SOCIAL STRATEGIST :

DAISY CONROY-BOTICA

SOCIAL CONTENT CREATOR :

TRENT HALL

PR AGENCY :

MANGO COMMUNICATIONS, AUCKLAND

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR :

CLAUDIA MACDONALD

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER :

JO MARTIN

ACCOUNT MANAGER :

ELLEN PYE

FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY :

FINCH, SYDNEY

MANAGING DIRECTOR :

COREY ESSE

DIRECTOR :

LEX HODGE

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY :

GIN LOANE

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER :

ROB GALLUZZO/REBEKAH 'BEX' KELLY

FILM PRODUCER :

SARAH COOK

ART DIRECTOR :

SAM EVANS

CASTING :

CATCH CASTING/FINCH

POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY :

ATTICUS, SYDNEY

EDITOR :

JACK HUTCHINGS

INTERMEDIATE EDITOR :

JOST CLAASSEN

COLORIST :

PETE RICHIE

MOTION DESIGNER :

KASUN ILESINGHE

POST PRODUCTION PRODUCER :

HARETA PASSFIELD AT DDB AOTEAROA

SPECIAL EFFECTS COMPANY :

ATTICUS, SYDNEY

LEAD VFX ARTIST :

STU BEDFORD

SOUND PRODUCTION COMPANY :

LIQUID STUDIOS, AUCKLAND

SOUND DESIGNER :

CRAIG MATUSCHKA

MUSIC COMPOSER :

PETER VAN DER FLUIT

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY :

The internet has a bias. Search algorithms are trained on human behaviour, designed to give us what they think we’re looking for. Now, they’ve learnt our bias towards men. Asked simple, non-gendered questions, like “who has scored the most goals in international football?”, search engines prioritise more recognised male athletes, even when facts say it’s a female athlete.
Team Heroine, a women’s sport marketing agency that ensures women are better recognized in a world where women’s sport receives just 0.4% of media coverage and 4% of total sponsorship, aimed to correct the bias.
Our film, website, socials campaign and organic PR drove people to a new tool developed to highlight the search results that create the bias and allowed people to report them.
To ensure search engines didn’t dismiss our reports as “bots”, we helped millions of people send unique feedback messages from their own IP addresses. Then, we reviewed the incorrect searches each day so the world could take action. Athletes around the world made our voice louder, brands adapted our campaign for their own audiences, and over 50+ global organisations became supporters. The millions of reports from our tool even began changing results organically which led to the biggest change of all — Google responded! With landmark new product updates to correct the bias we uncovered. And now, Correct The Internet is part of new government enquiries into misinformation, to help change the future of the internet.
With its aim to empower women through the power of sport, Correct The Internet has garnered the support of Football for the Goals (FFTG), a United Nations initiative that provides a platform for the global football community to engage with and advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

CREATIVITY/IDEA/INSIGHT :

We created an initiative that used the power of people on the internet, to right the wrongs of it. Our mission: Correct The Internet and make the achievements of sportswomen Visible.
Search algorithms are trained on human behaviour. Algorithms have learned to tell us that Cristiano Ronaldo’s 118 international goals are superior to female footballer Christine Sinclair’s 190 international goals, because that's what they think people want to see.
The way these algorithms work is closely guarded by the search engine companies themselves, who don't want big problems like a bias in their algorithm being public. This makes change a very difficult process. The factually incorrect searches we are correcting are why so many of the best sportsmen are household names, while the greatest sportswomen have little name recognition at all.
The only way to correct search engines is by people sending feedback when they find something wrong.
So we developed a tool that highlighted the incorrect searches that create the bias, and allowed people to report them with just a couple of clicks. New incorrect searches were revealed each day, showing the world the problem and inspiring them to take action.

STRATEGY :

Internally, this problem has been on search engine radars for years, with many teams experimenting with solutions. Monetised opportunities often take priority, so these teams struggle securing resources to implement solutions.
To make them prioritise this problem, we focussed on:
-External pressure (PR/awareness) on marketing/business, targeting the ‘trust’ pillar of brand health tracking which we know is monitored.
-Internal engineering pressure via bug reports from millions of users, to prioritise our corrections.
We conducted an audit of simple, non-gendered searches across Google, Bing, Yahoo & Baidu, collecting search results that used incorrect statistical data to create bias. We quickly discovered 50+ incorrect searches and added them to our tool for people to report.
With 50+ inaccuracies that affected different countries, sports, teams, and athletes, we revealed new stats each day until we saw change, each targeting a new audience, creating enough internal and external pressure for the search engines to act.

EXECUTION :

To get the attention of the search engines, we needed people power to feedback to each search engine, highlighting each inaccuracy.
We launched with a film that showed the reality of what happens when a little girl asks the internet a question and receives an answer that incorrectly puts a sportsman ahead of a sportswoman. This film quickly spread around the world, inspiring people to act.
The film led people our online tool which highlights the incorrect searches and enables people to report them as direct feedback messages with just a couple of clicks.
New incorrect search results were revealed each day across social, digital, and OOH, and shared globally. Each targeted a new audience, building us a following of athletes, sports teams, advocacy groups, media and the public, which led to more and more reports being made and saw search engines take action.
To ensure search engines didn’t dismiss our feedback as bots, we created hundreds of unique report messages to be sent from different user IP addresses around the world. Our simplified way of giving feedback made it quick and easy to report feedback on a scale the search engines
couldn’t ignore, making them take action too.

RESULT :

Our campaign reached over 1 billion people globally. It received 120+ pieces of media coverage, including BBC, NBC, Fox News, Sky Sport & Forbes.
Millions reported to search engines through our tool, social channels, and the media. And we’re now supported by over 50 global brands, including the United Nations.
When we started, the search results never showed sportswomen. Although people can be served different results based on location, demographic and search history, we are now beginning to see change to many of the searches, correctly recognising a female.
Now, a problem that has existed within search engines for decades is being solved, with search engines deploying new features to highlight women’s sport, offering both male and female results.
It takes time for these changes to become consistent and widespread, but through Correct The Internet, sportswomen are now becoming more and more visible.
The campaign has reached more than a billion people and thousands have jumped on board to expose more inaccurate sporting statistics on the internet. It’s been talked about in the UK Parliament, presented to the Women and Equalities Committee. Billie Jean King, an icon of gender equality in sport, called it her “new favourite campaign”.