Timing of Campaign: May 23, 2017 to June, 2017.

The Goal

Sextortion is a serious crime, and teenage boys are particularly vulnerable. In fact, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) reports an 89% increase in cases of sextortion amongst teen boys.

Agency No Fixed Address was tasked with trying to increase the awareness of sextortion. More awareness would hopefully decrease the number of youth falling prey to organized crime rings luring them into sending naked photos and videos of themselves by pretending to be live girls on live platforms, and then blackmailing them for money or sexual favours. Given teen boys’ inability to connect the consequences of sharing nudes, the agency needed to not only raise awareness, but also provide a digital toolkit of viable alternatives they could use to change behaviour.

Target: Teenage boys aged 13-17.

The Insight and Strategy

The best way to prevent sextortion is to be aware that it is happening. But getting teenage boys to take notice and learn about the problem is a big challenge. First of all, teens don’t really want to talk about sex with their parents. Secondly, they are inundated with messages about online safety. And since many of these messages employ the typical scare tactics, they can become desensitized to them. The team had to find a way to connect that would grab their attention and be memorable. And since teens practically live on their phones, anything the team did had to have the potential to become an active part of their conversation.

To achieve all of the campaign goals and create a strong impact, the team took a very serious problem, flipped it on its head and delivered it with humour to stand out.

To help kids avoid being sextorted, the team offered a simple and cheeky solution: “Don’t get Sextorted, Send a Naked Mole Rat instead.” Bearing a resemblance to male genitalia, the long, veiny and fleshy rodent became an easy and ridiculously memorable way in into a difficult conversation. Humour and innuendo were used to appeal to teen boys and help break down the communication barriers around an embarrassing topic, with humour became a way to de-shame the sexual nature of the problem.

Technology and Tools

The team created a digital toolkit that was a viable alternative to sending a nude. Teen boys live on mobile and messaging platforms and are heavily engaged in meme culture, so this behaviour was leveraged for the campaign. A Sextortion-Ed video, reminiscent of retro sex-ed videos to draw attention to the problem, kicked things off. Then came the downloadable memes, GIFs and stickers, along with a custom keyboard in the App Store and for iOS to get to the target right where they are. Everything was housed on a website with detailed but simple-to-comprehend information about sextortion, along with a downloadable lesson plan for teachers and even an e-commerce section with fun ‘Naked Mole Rat’ swag for sale.

User Experience:

Reaching teenage boys on a medium they are willing to engage in was the biggest challenge. Creating an easy-to-use digital toolkit with downloadable naked mole rat GIFs, memes and custom iOS/iPhone keyboards naturally inserted the campaign into their communication habits. Everything was laid out in a mobile-friendly interface without creating information overload. There was also a clear, visible sticky bar for anyone who needed immediate help to connect them to the centre.

Supporting Channels

Traditional media, including donated TV and PR, amplified the campaign, but key influencers who spread the campaign’s digital assets is what got the message in front of the target on mediums they engage with.

The Results

The campaign struck a chord and was immediately picked up by local news networks across Canada and the globe. From The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan and Mashable to police forces, BuzzFeed and AJ+, everyone was talking about the naked mole rat. Even child protection services from Australia and New Zealand got into it by tweeting their own naked wombats and kiwis.

-More than 1,000 news stories generated across 78 countries
-Social conversation about sextortion spiked 649%
-1.8 billion global impressions generated
-All done with a total marketing budget of $25,000