The Campaign

LGBTI youth have the perception that they’re alone, but in reality, there’s a large pool of people that are willing to put their hand up and support them if approached. We found that the largest barrier to support was that people won’t provide it unless they are asked to. And ironically, LGBTI youth aren’t requesting it in fear of ridicule and discrimination. You’re Accepted is the anonymous Facebook tool that gives LGBTI youth the courage to 'come out' to their friends without any fear of being discriminated against. A person begins by requesting support. Then utilising Facebook friend groups and email/phone contacts, it allows people, for the first time, to send anonymous personalised messages to their friends through laser targeted Facebook ads. The personalised messages anonymously asked if they’d support a friend if they were to 'come out' and friends could reply with messages of support.

Creative Execution

You’re Accepted was an Australia-wide campaign launched in April 2016. We launched our initiative through Minus18, the website frequented by every LGBTI youth in Australia. Our message was simple; You're Accepted will prove to you, that there's a lot more support out there than you might think.LGBTI youth could then log into You're Accepted and request support from their friends. We matched their friends list with contact details they provided via Facebook’s custom audience targeting system. We then sent out personalised (anonymous) requests of support to these individuals, telling them one of their friends was LGBTI and needed their support. Their friends could then simply reply with messages of support. All messages were collated for the original sender, making it obvious they had more support than ever previously imagined.

So far an estimated 67% of Australian LGBTI youth have engaged with the initiative. Leading to over 1.1 million messages of support. The campaign was quickly picked up and spread across the media and social media, reaching over half of Australia's population through earned media alone. Although the initiative was always about showing people how much support they really have, there have been a huge number of young people who have felt empowered enough to 'come out' as a direct result of the campaign. This astonishing early impact has shown that a simple insight driven initiative can change people’s lives in a huge way. The idea is set to transcend the life of a regular campaign and will live on as an ongoing social tool, that will transform the lives of LGBTI youth struggling with their identities for years to come. 

We discovered a unique insight: LGBTI youth have developed a skewed perception that they’re alone and have no where to turn for support; while friends of these people aren't usually forthcoming about providing support unless asked directly. We created a platform for LGBTI youth to seek support - anonymously. Facebook is strictly against anonymity, so we developed an innovative approach to targeting their friends, without risking disclosing exactly who needed the support. We turned regular Facebook ads into personalised messages that had the ability to change people's lives. This was a completely new way to use Facebook media.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Our audience was twofold. The main target being LGBTI young Australians aged between 15 and 24 - they needed support. This age group’s interaction with mainstream media is on the decline. But, over 90% of the primary target actively engage with social media. So we purposely created an idea which stemmed from their Facebook friend groups. With different messages being delivered to different demographics, running a digital campaign gave us the flexibility to be as loud or as discreet as needed. Our secondary audience were their friends - the ones we needed to GIVE the support. Our idea made it possible for the LGBTI youth to target their friends for us. Every single person who received a message was exactly the right person needed to see it. Meaning, there was absolutely no wastage.