Co-creating Life-saving Messaging with the City of Minneapolis
The City of Minneapolis often finds itself on a list of cities battling sex trafficking incidents. To most, this may come as a surprise, but it’s a familiar and haunting fact to those in law enforcement and nonprofits combating these crimes.
The City of Minneapolis sought to develop a campaign that spoke directly to survivors in the hopes of showing there is a way out. To help educate the public and make victims aware of resources to seek help, Russell Herder worked with subject matter experts from the Minneapolis Departments of Health and Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and developed a specialized campaign, “Sex Trafficking Thrives in Silence.”
Creating authentic, impactful, yet discrete messaging was at the heart of the campaign. To achieve this, Russell Herder’s staff partnered with the City to host local listening sessions. Those with lived experience and nonprofit leaders were invited to share their first-hand stories and experiences. These discussions were designed to inform, and later help shape artwork for the campaign.
Also attending were two local BIPOC artists working with Russell Herder — Leeya Rose Jackson and Ashley Koudou — who created artwork to reach victims/survivors of sex trafficking. The messaging included details about where and how to seek help. However, the artwork also needed to be subtle enough to avoid drawing the attention of traffickers.
With this collaboration, RH’s creative team developed a series of pieces — including posters for inconspicuous placement in bathroom stalls and flyers for nonprofits about recognizing the signs of sex trafficking. RH also created an email, social media posts and billboards.
By educating the public that “Sex Trafficking Thrives in Silence” and sharing information about life-saving resources, Russell Herder and the City of Minneapolis hope to disrupt and decrease sex trafficking in the Twin Cities. The campaign also caught the notice of the national Health Resource Information Center, which recognized RH with a Gold Award at their 2025 Digital Health Awards.
This type of campaign aligns with RH’s mission to work with partners, creating messages specific to their communities. By working together, hope can be found in even the most difficult situations.
