Ad Council
Ad Council, in partnership with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, created a tool to counter online bullying. The I am a Witness emoji won rave reviews and awards, but adoption remained low. My research showed that most people used emojis in a positive context. This finding led me to pivot the message which, combined with a brand partnership I identified, led to increased use of the emoji and an increase in the number of Twitter followers for the emoji account.
Problem: An estimated 13 million kids experience online bullying every day. GS&P, in partnership with Ad Council, created the I am a Witness emoji, an online tool that teenagers could use to express their stand against online bullying. However, while the emoji received recognition and awards, its adoption numbers among teens remained low.
Solution: My research showed that 70% of emoji usage happens in a positive context. Armed with this knowledge, I recommended pivoting messaging from Standing Against Bullying to Standing Up For Friendship, from I am a Witness to Bullying to I am a Witness to Friendship. I also identified a brand partnership with Wishbone, an app heavily used by teenagers. The app gave players hypothetical bullying scenarios and asked if they’d use the anti-bullying emoji to stand up for their friends.
Results: Within a week of the campaign on Wishbone, over 590,000 votes were cast and the IAAW Twitter account gained 4,900 followers.
Creative: Hypothetical bullying scenarios presented to users while they were on Wishbone and giving them a choice to act. The app’s premise, which allows users to compare things like hairstyles and fashion, was in sync with our mission of showing teenagers that they always had a choice when they witnessed online bullying — to stand up for friendship, or remain silent.
