This document summarizes a campaign to collect personal stories from employees of large corporations in Poland to challenge stereotypes. The campaign gathered over 60 stories from various individuals, companies, and parts of the country to share on social media and a dedicated website. It received a large audience, with the Facebook profile gaining over 800 likes and the website receiving over 14,000 views from well over 8,000 unique visitors. This was achieved on a surprisingly small budget, showing that impactful work can be done with limited resources.

1. Itiseasytohateonsomeonewhosefacewecannotsee.
Coffeestories-#MeetMychoice

2. Cogs,drones,machines,rat-racers.Thesephraseshavegrowntogainthestatusofmemes.Alloverwenotice
articlesstartingwiththem,glorifyingthose,whofreedthemselvesfromtheshacklesofinternationalbrands
andpursuedariskycareeroftheirown.Heroes,creativeminds,braveworkers,unlikethosewhochosecorporations.
“Hegaveupworkinginacorporationtostart…”
“Theirstart-upboomedaftertheyleftthecorporation”

3. Inherentlyunfair,thisdiscourselacksonebasicthing–thepersonalside.
The general public sees the employees of the outsourcing sector as impersonal drones doing menial
work. To provide what is missing – voices from the inside, proving that working in an
internationalcorporationisavalid,worthwhilecareerchoice.
Thatitdoesn’tmakeyoursanyworsethananyotherpath.We,alongwiththeclient,decidedto
goagainstthegrainofthecommonthinking.
Wewantedtopresentsomethingauthentic,personalandpowerful.Challengethediscourseand
fightthemisconceptions.

4. whichhighlightedtheproblemswiththeimageofcorporations.
Wepresentedtheproblemandtheunfairnessofthediscourse,recently
focusedonstart-ups,depreciatingcorporationsastherootofallevil.
Thevoiceswereweirdlydichotomised.Somepeoplesaid,“sure,workinginacorporation
isfine,it’sfair,safeandrewarding”.Theothersclaimedthatthebigcompaniesare
soul-crushingmeatmachines,destroyingfriendships,familiesandlives.Hellonearth.
Thearticleitselfwassharedseveralhundredtimes
andsparkedadiscussioninthecomments.
Westartedwithanarticlepublishedina
recognisedPolishnewspaper,

5. We asked the employees of companies within the Association of
Business Service Leaders in Poland, the entity powering the
campaign,tosharetheirstoriesaboutworkinginacorporation.
Why they chose it, and why they stuck with it for years. Why they
haven’tescapedthisdeadlygrasptofreelyworkinastart-up.
Using the most popular social media
outlets – Facebook and Instagram – we
could reach wide audiences of current and
potential employees of the outsourcing
sector. However, this was not a
recruitment campaign. Its main goal was
toinformandinspirechange.
Wegatheredthestoriesofartists,
hobbyists,travellers,mothers,leaders.

6. Thus, we began collecting the stories shortly before the
official launch of the website to mitigate the possible
modesty. Those, who were shy about sharing could then add
theirstorytothecollection,insteadofstartingit.
Thecampaignwasfullycrowdsourced,soits
greatestchallengewastostartdynamically.
Atthesametime,weremainedtruetothecore
ofthecampaignandhadnoneedtocreate
placeholderstories.

7. OneoftheAssociation’spillarsofactivityisbrandingthesector,ensuringthatitsimagematches
itscurrentpositionandstrength.Together,weachievedavastcollectionofuniquestories,
availableonthededicatedInstagramaccount@the_coffeestoriesandontheCoffeeStories.pl
website,whichusesanalgorithmtoautomaticallyupdateandpoststoriessharedonInstagram.
TheideabeneaththecampaignisfirmlysetinthemodusoperandiofABSL.

8. TheFacebookprofilewaslikedbyover800people.
TheInstagramaccounthascollectednearly60stories,each
fromdifferentpeople,differentcompaniesandpartsofthecountry.
Eachstrengtheningthe
samenotion–working
inacorporationisa
goodcareer.
Inthe 40daysofitsexistence:
The website had over 14.000 views
andwellover8.000uniquevisitors.

9. Wouldyoubelievethatourbudgetforthiscampaignwas
smallerthanthepriceofsuchdevice?
Yes,itwas.
Andforthoseofyouthatownan iPhone.

10. „Wecameequalsintothisworld,andequalsshallwegooutofit.”~GeorgeMason

11. Thankyou
foryourattention