Results and Effectiveness

1. Campaign understanding • 80% of teens aware of the campaign correctly identified XTL’s meaning • 86% used it in its correct context • 42% reported having seen #XTL used in Facebook • One third said their friends had used it 2. Social conversation and buzz • Over 16,000 conversations using XTL were registered • 108,000 social interactions (comments, replies, re-tweets and #xtl) • 21 million organic social impressions 3. Publicity. • The original media investment was nearly doubled. XTL gave teens the means to discuss, call out and self-regulate abusive online behaviours beyond the campaign.

Creative Execution

Phase 1: ESTABLISH the meaning We created XTL definitions in Wikipedia, Slang and Urban Dictionary and optimised SEO performance to feature in the top search results. Phase 2: SEED the term Young celebrity role models like Ed Sheeran and Missy Higgins shared personal experiences of XTL behaviours, and designer #XTL t-shirts were distributed to influential teen media outlets. This generated widespread earned media coverage in leading TV programmes, editorial spreads in teen magazines and online endorsement. The stars of TV soap Neighbours even wore #XTL t-shirts to publicity events. Phase 3: CEMENT use in conversation Key influencer blogs (e.g. Teen Survival Guide and Shardette) opened the debate about what crossing the line meant. Live Twitter Q&As took place during Australia’s top teen radio show Hot Hits. Open-ended questions and polls were posed to campaign communities across social media and through the unbranded Twitter handle @ThatsXTL to generate further conversation.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

One in three Australian adult women experiences physical violence and almost one in five suffer sexual violence. We wanted to encourage teens to be respectful in their early relationships so we can prevent these outcomes later in life. We know teen relationships live in social media and although there is no formal policing most teens do feel uncomfortable when they witness others being victimised. The insight: Teens are willing to speak out against disrespectful behaviour, but need to feel they are part of a bigger community taking a stand. Our strategy was to harness the power of these social communities to define and enforce ‘the line’ themselves. The idea was to create an online term for teenagers to call out behaviour they considered unacceptable. ‘#XTL’ was born – shorthand for ‘crossing the line’. Whether an insulting or hurtful comment or sharing a private picture, from now on… it’s XTL.