In Doers We Trust

Read the campaign story

Fiverr and DCX Growth Accelerator launched In Doers We Trust on 9 January 2017. The campaign gave the marketplace an identity built around people who act on business ideas. Ryan Hope directed an anthem film, while Platon and Sandro supplied portrait photography. The announced rollout included online video, digital advertising, outdoor placements and experiential work, presenting entrepreneurs and community members as the people behind the platform.

The response was not uniformly celebratory. An April article republished on Fiverr’s own press site acknowledged criticism of a particular execution associated with sacrificing meals and sleep for work, while defending the broader campaign. This case includes that tension rather than treating provocative visibility as proof of success. The sources establish intent, execution and a documented debate; they do not establish a net commercial benefit or a representative audience reaction.

Editorial interpretation: an identity claim can organise a broad marketplace more quickly than a list of categories. Calling the audience doers gives people a shorthand for recognising themselves and each other. But the same shorthand can turn a useful preference for action into a moral ranking. People who pause, plan, rest or work under constraints may hear that they are less deserving. The creative boundary is therefore part of the strategy, not an issue to consider only after publication.

Editorial interpretation: the brand’s position in the working relationship changes how the message is heard. A platform that benefits when more work is commissioned cannot assume that a celebration of relentless work will feel neutral. A responsible adaptation would celebrate skill, progress and fair collaboration without romanticising exhaustion. It would also test individual executions outside the campaign’s full context, because an isolated poster may communicate a harsher proposition than the team intended.

Define the identity without defining an inferior group

Write what the audience values in positive terms, then inspect the implied opposite. A useful statement about initiative need not suggest that reflection is weakness or that people with less capacity are uncommitted. Ask a diverse group of participants what the language seems to reward. Do not rely solely on enthusiastic insiders who already accept the campaign’s worldview and understand its intended irony.

Test the single poster, not only the manifesto

Show each execution independently, without a presenter explaining its meaning. Ask what behaviour it appears to encourage and who benefits from that behaviour. Pay particular attention to work, health and income implications. If a line needs a long defence to avoid endorsing harmful expectations, revise it before launch rather than assuming the rest of the campaign will repair the interpretation.

Make the platform’s responsibilities visible

A marketplace can celebrate entrepreneurship while still explaining scope, fair payment, realistic deadlines and dispute routes. Those practical safeguards give the identity promise substance. Avoid treating the worker’s effort as an unlimited resource or using inspirational language to excuse poor terms. Separate the customer’s freedom to choose a project from the expectation that they should always be available to take one.

A small test for another brief

Proposed test: a professional marketplace could compare two campaign routes, one celebrating relentless activity and one celebrating well-scoped, completed work, using scripts rather than live advertising.

Measure recognition, trust and understanding of the service alongside perceived pressure to overwork. Analyse disagreements rather than averaging away a serious concern held by the people expected to deliver the work.

Stop if the creative normalises exhaustion, undervalues professional labour or requires vulnerable workers to accept harmful conditions as evidence of commitment.

• Include both buyers and service providers in paid research.
• Ask participants to describe the implied working norms before rating appeal.
• Review whether the preferred route supports clear briefs and realistic expectations.