2021 Social & Influencer

THE UNCENSORED LIBRARY

Short List
TitleTHE UNCENSORED LIBRARY
BrandREPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (RSF)
Product/ServiceTHE UNCENSORED LIBRARY
Category C05. Emerging Platforms
Entrant DDB GERMANY Berlin, GERMANY
Idea Creation DDB GERMANY Berlin, GERMANY
PR THE HUMBLEBRAG Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production MEDIA.MONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Production 2 BLOCKWORKS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3 DAHOUSE AUDIO Berlin, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Dennis May DDB Group Germany Chief Creative Officer
Jan Harbeck DDB Group Germany Managing Director - Creative
Kristine Holzhausen DDB Group Germany Managing Director
Patrik Lenhart DDB Group Germany Executive Creative Director
Tobias Natterrer DDB Group Germany Senior Copywriter
Sandro Heierli DDB Group Germany Senior Art Director
Sirena Martinelli DDB Group Germany Art Director
Marco Lemcke DDB Group Germany Senior Art Director
Felix Boeck DDB Group Germany 3D Animation
Daniel Veit DDB Group Germany Account Manager
Caroline Bremmer DDB Group Germany Account Manager
Verena Schöbb DDB Group Germany Account Manager
Rik Nieuwdorp DDB Group Germany Art Intern
Edward Jasion DDB Group Germany Awards Manager
Dominika Zajac DDB Group Germany Supporting Creative
Helge Hoffman DDB Group Germany Supporting Creative
James Delaney Blockworks Managing Director
Robert-Jan Blonk MediaMonks Senior Producer
Javier Sancho Rodriguez MediaMonks Senior Project Manager
Jurriaan Gossink MediaMonks Creative
Jeroen Hol MediaMonks UX Design Lead
René Drieënhuizen MediaMonks Front end Lead
Johan Holwerda MadiaMonks 3D Lead
Henriëtte Gathier MadiaMonks Communications Director
Marta Tomczak MediaMonks Communications
Lucas Mayer DaHouse Audio Music Producer
Wonder Bettin DaHouse Audio Producer
Cassiano Derenji DaHouse Audio Account Manager
Markus Thomas DaHouse Audio Composer
Iris Fuzaro Le Tour Du Monde Film Maker
Jessica Hartley The Humble Brag PR Director
Sascha Gerlach Freelance Editor
Sebastian Irmer Freelance Motion Design

Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

Minecraft has developed the characteristics of a social medium with a huge community and young people from all over the world meet in this virtual world. In order to get young people from countries with press censorship engaged in reading independent journalism, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) used Minecraft in an unprecedented way and actively bypassed censorship. In combination with a social media campaign this led to high levels of engagement and social reach within the gaming community, top influencers got involved and a vast amount of user-generated content helped to turn gamers into press freedom activists.

Background

After the acclaimed “Uncensored Playlist”, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wanted an awareness campaign to highlight the importance of press freedom and overcome censorship. This time aiming to reach millions of young people who grow up in oppressive countries. They are especially vulnerable to disinformation by authoritarian governments and lack access to independent journalism. The challenge was to reach young people in countries where most media is either controlled or blocked and at the same time excite young people all over the world to engage in a difficult topic such as press freedom.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

How to overcome strong firewalls and at the same time excite young people about press freedom? By bringing it to their world: Minecraft. Because even in countries where almost all media is blocked – Minecraft, one of the world’s biggest computer games, with more than 126 million active players per month, is easily accessible. In these countries that increasingly restrict the rights of their citizens, especially young people flee into games like Minecraft. The game still provides freedom in a virtual world and Minecraft has books that can be freely written and read inside the game. RSF used this loophole to build a huge digital library in Minecraft: The Uncensored Library. A monument for press freedom impressive enough to get the international gaming community engaged. And for the first time ever, a game was transformed into a tool to overcome censorship.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The countries featured in the library were picked by comparing RSF’s “World Press Freedom Index” with Google data (Minecraft interest by country). Accordingly, journalists from countries with poor press freedom rating but high Minecraft interest were chosen by RSF and their censored work got republished in Minecraft books. In order to reach young gamers in oppressive countries with no access to the mainstream media, RSF needed to activate the well-connected Minecraft community to spread the word inside the game. To catch their attention, it really needed a bold use of Minecraft combined with a fun and exciting gameplay experience. An organic social media campaign was directly targeting the Minecraft community, who are constantly on the lookout for exciting new projects to talk about. Letting them know gamers now have the power to fight authoritarian governments and bypass state censorship simply by playing their favorite game – got them really excited.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Censored articles from acclaimed journalists became uncensored Minecraft books, available in English and their original language in the library. It took 12.5 million Lego-like blocks to build the enormous library inside the game and it uses Minecraft’s in-game resources in an unseen and innovative way. A giant monument for press freedom that has a jaw-dropping effect on gamers at first sight. On World Day Against Cyber Censorship the library opened its doors inside Minecraft. Along with a whole social media campaign featuring Instagram and Facebook posts, YouTube videos, Reddit threads and tweets – all with the call to action to visit the library inside the game and share the news. Since Minecraft is the biggest game on YouTube, an emotional launch film and a making-of film about the project played a key role in getting the community engaged and win the involvement of big YouTube gaming influencers.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Uncensored Library went viral within days. Big gaming influencers like CaptainSparklez talked about it and gamers uploaded +500 gameplay videos on YouTube. The international gaming community couldn’t stop talking about it and spread the word in- and outside the game – and what governments tried to hide suddenly became a trending topic. The library reached 25 million gamers from 165 countries, including all target countries (Russia, Vietnam, Egypt, Mexico and SaudiArabia). While the total playtime added up to 17 years – and counting. Young gamers getting excited about press freedom made the news all over the world (+860 news articles). They took the library into their schools and universities and it became a teaching tool. Whilst donations for RSF increased significantly by 62% (YOY), helping them to extend their global fight against censorship. The library will stay open to give young people back their human right to access information.