USG People is one of the world’s biggest outsourcing companies, and in Belgium they’ve recently launched ikki.be, a new portal for freelancers in search of new projects. Our mission was to launch and promote Ikki.be, build awareness among freelancers and get 5,000 of them to sign up at ikki.be.

With nothing more than a press release, the crying invoice received press coverage in all major newspaper and TV stations, massive attention in the blogosphere, and most importantly: the objective of 5,000 freelancers signing up at ikki.be was achieved in just 2 (!) days.

We learned that one of a freelancer’s biggest headaches is getting their money on time, which they usually don’t because in Belgium 1 in 3 invoices are paid late. Our idea: the crying invoice. A specially designed chip that freelancers can stick to their reminders invoice and that reacts to light. 20 seconds after the finance department opens the envelope, their reminder invoice will start to cry. Dramatically. Every freelancer who signed up at ikki.be received a package with sticking crying chips. The crying invoice was released with nothing more than a press release.

By simply sticking the crying chip to their reminder invoices, any freelancer can remind a finance department that they’re late with their payment, with a little smile. The way freelancers could get those crying chips for free was by signing up to the new portal Ikki.be.