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BEATS THAT BREAK BARRIERS

Connecting with Migrant Workers Through Music

Thailand

ASEAN  |  UN Women  |  IOM

1300 Helpline Campaign

PARTNER / CLIENT

ASEAN, UN Women, and IOM (International Organization for Migration)

THE CHALLENGE

For thousands of women migrant workers in Thailand—many from Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar—daily life is shaped by long hours, limited rights awareness, and little access to trusted information. Traditional outreach efforts often failed to cut through.

 

What these women needed wasn’t more brochures.
They needed to be seen, heard, and reached—on their terms, in their language, and in their downtime.

OUR APPROACH

We didn’t guess. We immersed.
Sidekick spent time living alongside migrant workers, listening to their stories, and observing their daily rhythms. One thing stood out:

 

🎶 Music was the constant.
In crowded dorm rooms, temple fairs, and bus rides home, music—especially fast-paced EDM—offered joy, escape, and energy.

 

So we asked: What if rights awareness could ride the beat of their favorite songs?

 

Together with a popular local EDM DJ, we co-created tracks that blended ASEAN folk percussion with high-energy electronic beats, layering in lyrics that spoke directly to migrant experiences:
harassment, exploitation, and the affirmation—“It’s never your fault.”

SIDEKICK'S ROLE

  • Immersive research & insight gathering in migrant communities

  • Participatory co-creation: workers helped shape lyrics and messages

  • Sound design with a Thai EDM DJ, combining traditional and modern sounds

  • Produced multilingual tracks in Burmese, Lao, Khmer, and Thai

  • Digital-first launch on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube

  • Offline activation: temple events, live shows, and dance competitions

  • Strategic storytelling integration: rights messaging + helpline numbers

IMPACT

  • Workers listened—and related. Migrants shared that this was the first time they saw content in their language that felt made for them—not just about them.

  • The songs sparked conversations—in dorms, on commutes, and at weekend gatherings.

  • Adopted nationally: Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development promoted the music videos in migrant induction spaces across provinces.

  • Approved for ASEAN replication: The approach received official backing from ASEAN, with potential for use in other migrant-heavy countries across Southeast Asia.

  • A high-impact prototype: While still a pilot, the project demonstrated that rights education can be joyful, shareable, and emotionally resonant.

WHY IT MATTERS

This campaign offers a creative, scalable model for responsible business communication:

  • Builds trust and wellbeing among workers, especially in vulnerable parts of the supply chain

  • Helps meet regional ESG and human rights due diligence requirements

  • Translates behavioral insight into campaigns that resonate across cultures

  • Opens up engagement with communities often missed by traditional outreach

  • Strengthens brand credibility through values-based, human-centered storytelling

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