2021 Social & Influencer

#UNFCKTHEINTERNET

Title#UNFCKTHEINTERNET
BrandMOZILLA
Product/ServiceFIREFOX BROWSER
Category D02. Challenger Brand
Entrant WHALAR London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation WHALAR London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation 2 MOZILLA Berlin, GERMANY
Media Placement WHALAR London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR MOZILLA Berlin, GERMANY
Production WHALAR London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Emma Harman Whalar Management Supervisor
Claudia Fischer Whalar Strategic Partnerships Director
Olivia Stevens Whalar Account Director
Ian Forrester Whalar Research Lead
Chloe Ashe Whalar Research Manager
Greg Haynes Whalar Design Lead
Mark Osmond Whalar Designer
Emily Sharp Whalar Video Producer
Will Rix Whalar Copywriter / Communications Manager
Maryska Grant Whalar Account Manager
Shinjni Agrawal Whalar Account Executive
Robin Karakash Mozilla Marketing Director
Anja Fordon Mozilla Campaign Lead (Brand)
Jennifer Hanrath-Balaco Mozilla Activation Lead

Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

Mozilla was out to raise awareness about injustice on the internet, via the internet. Climate change, equality, black lives, democracy… There is a lot to fight for these days. Activism has digitalized and social platforms have emerged as the common battleground for protestors. Conscious sharing is all over Millennials' and GenZ’s feeds right now and it has never been so easy to join a movement. We gathered forces with 46 top influencers from the most diverse corners of the internet. Their distinct voices sparked a profound data debate and ignited a wave of activism across social media and beyond.

Background

Situation: For the first time in human history, we live more of our lives online than we do in the real world. Since the pandemic, traffic online has increased by 113%. Meanwhile the fastest growing internet currency is our data and it needs protecting. Brief: Our task was to credibly educate on the issues of data protection while also creating awareness for Firefox as the weapon of choice to take back control of our online lives. Objectives: Our goal was to reach millennial Europeans across Germany, France and the UK, increase awareness for Firefox by 15% and increase click through rates to the Firefox browser by 40-50%. We set out to initiate a positive data protection movement on social media with above industry standard Engagement Rates. In the spirit of data protection, the entire campaign took place organically on influencers social channels and earned media - without any paid media.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

But how do you kickstart a revolution? With the right people! We gathered forces and — for the first time ever — united 46 top influencers from the most diverse corners of the internet under one banner and single-minded message: UnFck the internet! We found the social leaders, the change makers, the activists and let their creativity spark the movement and data debate in their communities. With our primary weapon being the creativity of our selected influencers, we provided education on data protection and awareness for Firefox, a browser that puts people before profit. At the centre of that creative storm, we placed an online hub. On that hub Mozilla laid out tangible actions people can take to clean up the internet, as well as download the Firefox browser and learn more about how internet tracking and data collection works.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

How do you collect data when you’re against data collection? Our challenge was to drive great results organically - without paid media - and gather as much data as possible whilst also protecting the data of our audiences. We used the power of the niches! The casting of the influencers was key to spark a conversation within diverse communities. Influencers were selected for their strong voices with above industry standard engagement rates and their diverse backgrounds - e.g. anti-racism trainers, champions of LGBTQ+ rights and female rights activists. We chose Instagram as our battleground: A social platform that is highly visual, known for taking a clear stand on social matters and relevant for our target audience 22-44 years old Europeans weighted in Germany, France and UK. In order to track uplift in awareness and perception shift for Firefox, we conducted a brand lift study with an independent research partner.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Implementation: 46 influencers from our key markets created content around the main creative hook and campaign hashtag #UnFckTheInternet using overlays for one consistent look. We left the topic open to interpretation: Influencers shared what “fucks them up about the internet” giving their communities emotional reasons to switch browsers that they can identify with. All activities contained a strong CTA and a direct link to Firefox’s online hub. Timeline: In order to become an unmissable story, the primary execution was delivered within one week: 10-18 November, 2020. Followed by international media coverage and additional influencers joining the movement towards the end of 2020. Placement: Our influencers chose between a carousel or video post to feed in combination with an Instagram story linking to our online hub. Scale: We took a long tail scale approach activating within various niche communities. Influencers went beyond their grid, e.g. mentioning Firefox in their own podcasts.

List the results (30% of vote)

Reach: 50 million organic impressions from the most diverse corners of the internet weighted in Germany, France and UK. Engagement: 10% engagement rate across all influencer media (against a 1.22% industry benchmark). Sales: 10% increase in global downloads of the Firefox browser though mainly active in Germany, France and UK. Achievement against business target: After a single week of campaign execution, we outperformed all targets against our main goal “Uplift in Awareness and Education”. 32% uplift in awareness for Firefox (against a 15% target). 139% click through rate to the browser (against a 40-50% target). 70% of our audience strongly agreed that Firefox protects your data, is trustworthy, and socially responsible.

Please tell us about how the work challenged / was different from the brands competitors

Firefox could have competed directly with the bigger browsers. Instead, they changed the framing of what defines a great web browser. A great browser is an ethical browser - that puts people before profits - whilst still delivering the speed and results we all expect. In that frame, Firefox was the boss! In a space where people feel like they're being taken advantage of, in a time when the big browsers are complicit in their silence, Firefox raised a bit of hell to help people reclaim their data and integrity. And if we were wrong, people wouldn't have spread the word or downloaded our browser. We were right. On both counts.