B04. Charities, Public Health, Safety & Awareness Messages
Entrant Company
GARBERGS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Advertising Agency
GARBERGS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name
Company
Position
William Löthman
Garbergs
Interactive Art Director
Mattias Alfborger
Garbergs
Interactive Art Director
Sebastian Smedberg
Garbergs
Art Director
Erik Dagnell
Garbergs
Art Director
Malin Boustedt
Garbergs
Account Manager
Per Forssberg
Garbergs
Copywriter
Andreas Engstrand
Garbergs
Account Director
Beatrice Sztanska
Garbergs
Graphic Designer
Robin Lidbom
Garbergs
Motion Director
The Campaign
Bris is a Swedish NGO running a national helpline for kids. A big problem is that when kids experience bad stuff, they shut up about it. We wanted to say to kids that regardless of the issues it’s always a good thing to tell someone.
The “Abused Emojis” were designed as adaptations of the new racially diverse iOS emoji released in 2015. We complemented the set with symbols for kids being bullied, beaten or having dark thoughts. Being an actual tool for communication, the app is primarily a way to reach kids with an important message: If you experience bad stuff you should talk to someone about it.
The main objective of the project was generating as much publicity as possible. After releasing the app we targeted the same journalists that had written about the new iOS emoji. We promoted the release with a grass root campaign using influential young Instagram stars.
The app quickly became a hot topic in local and international media. It received attention from tech sites like Fast Company and The Next Web, and mainstream media like CNN and Huffington Post. The international attention spread to at least 30 countries including China, India, Brazil, Germany and South Africa.
A low estimate of media value is 14 million euros. In the week following the release the App became the third most downloaded free app in Swedish App Store. And most importantly the number of kids making their first contact with Bris increased by 56%.
The Brief
BRIS needed to reach young people with the message that communication is a good thing. Emoji is a highly interesting topic for many news sources, but almost always written about in a funny or derogatory context. We thought that if we could twist the subject and let the normally cute, funny or crazy little faces symbolize angst, abuse and misery, it would probably gather massive attention.
Execution
We treated the whole project as a PR campaign, and we carefully prepared each step of the activity based on various scenarios. We could not completely control the release date of the app, since App Store just gives a very general time frame for new releases. Leading up to the release we primarily focused on two areas. First of all we scanned international media to find journalists that had written about similar subjects in the past. Secondly we set up an Instagram campaign with some of the most influential young Instagram users in Sweden. When the app was approved and released by app store we immediately started contacting the media with personal messages. The response was overwhelming and the ball quickly started rolling. The Instagram campaign quickly reached more than a million followers (which is more or less every young person in Sweden).
The results are very conservatively evaluated. We let a third party PR agency calculate impressions and PR value based on websites with verified visitor statistics. However all the attention in traditional media including television broadcasts are excluded from the calculations due to uncertainties in audience size. The only results measured are Swedish and English due to the same reason. However we have seen reports on ”Abused Emojis” in at least 30 different countries including China, Japan, India, Brazil and Germany, which are not included in these results.
Overall impressions: At least 15 million people internationally. 7.5 million people in Sweden (85 % of population).
Estimated media value: At least 14 million euro.
Key message penetration: Third most downloaded free app in Swedish App Store.
Increase in friends and followers: Instagram followers increased by a factor of 70 times.
Effect: 56 % increase in first time contacts from kids.
The Strategy
In the weeks leading up to the App Store release of Abused Emojis we thoroughly scanned the web for journalists that had written about emoji. We were especially interested in those reporting on the new racially diverse iOS emoji since our app was based on these, and since it tackled a more serious issue that made sense to connect to the Abused Emojis campaign. Timing wise we did not want to release the app too close to the new iOS set, but let it settle first. After our app was released in Apple App Store we were quick to contact all previously scanned media contacts within the first few days to get the ball rolling. We also simultaneously rolled out a grass root Instagram campaign giving the App an extra push in App Store.