Merkle, dentsu’s leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management company, today announces its work with human trafficking prevention charity, Stop The Traffik, to help combat the rapidly growing global social issue.

Providing a pioneering advanced analytics solution, Merkle has enabled Stop The Traffik to easily identify potential victims of human trafficking. Given the hidden nature of human trafficking, it is almost impossible to understand the full scope and scale of the issue. However, a predicted 40.3 million people are victims trapped in modern-day slavery – with 5.4 people out of every 1,000 across the world classed as a victim.

Combining data collected by Stop The Traffik from global human traffic stories with Merkle’s advanced analytics skills, a scenario-based tool predicts the most likely outcome based on characteristics of potential victims, using the power of machine learning algorithms. This incredibly advanced tool utilises historical human trafficking data to identify hidden patterns. This means the team at Stop The Traffik can act fast by knowing who may be potential victims and witnesses and how to target them, ultimately helping to prevent new incidents from occurring through hyper-personalised targeting on social media. 

Tina Salvage, Head of Data & Technology at Stop The Traffik, comments: “For us, having the clarity of where potential victims may be has been a game-changer for our campaign. Every hour counts, and by being able to take direct action to reach out to potential victims can make all the difference. Our work with Merkle has been invaluable to us as a charity”.

Sandro Matos, Merkle’s lead, says: “To be part of the team which has delivered this tool for good is a privilege, and we are so pleased that our innovative advanced analytics solution can make a real difference to both Stop The Traffik and people’s lives. We look forward to our continued work with the team and developing enhanced technological solutions to combat this global social challenge”.

Merkle’s EMEA business spans 17 countries across the region, comprising the DACH, Northern Europe, Spain and UK clusters, and over 4,000 employees. Supporting global, regional, and local market clients, Merkle provides leading edge customer experience management through its experts in Analytics, Data & Martech, Experience & Commerce, and Strategy & Transformation practice areas.   

About STOP THE TRAFFIK:

STOP THE TRAFFIK was founded in 2005 as a coalition campaigning to bring an end to human trafficking worldwide. By 2008 support had snowballed, and after overwhelming grassroots backing, STT presented 1.5 million signatures to the UN in February 2008, taking a transformational approach that began to shift the public debate. STOP THE TRAFFIK subsequently became the UN special advisor on community action against trafficking and later, provided expertise informing part of the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015). STT aim to disrupt key hubs in which human trafficking thrives through partnerships with leading financial institutions, supporting them to find and squash laundered MSHT profits through their systems, providing bespoke business consultancy that holds million-pound corporations to account, giving them the tools to spot and eradicate MSHT in their supply chains.