Background

Instead of sharing and connecting, social media has become a platform for shaming and hating. Cyberbullying has become a persistent problem across online platforms, affecting our younger audiences on a daily basis. We wanted to make sure that we addressed this problem while ensuring Cadbury finds relevance in the lives of the young digital natives. To rise above just selling our product and stand for our youth in a way that spoke volumes about us. The campaign wanted to build a strong connection with young people by changing the conversation from selling them stuff to making a difference, lending a helping hand to diffuse the negativity on social media. So, we became a part of the solution that was both simple and effective.

Describe the strategy

Hate-filled comments on tweets, videos and posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are getting worse by the day. We wanted the people who were experiencing bullying to know that they were not alone and to show them support. We needed something that would work on every platform. Something that our younger target group would easily pick up as habit and turn into defenders, not bystanders to hate. We decided to use an existing emoji and turn it into a symbol of love and support. The purple heart emoji. Present on every key pad in the world, and easily accessible to all. All a person had to do when they saw a hateful comment was to post a purple heart on the victim’s timeline to drown the hate with love. It worked simply but effectively. With enough purple hearts, it became easy to overwhelm the hate with love.

Describe the execution

On 1st August 2019, Friendship Day, we launched two videos that showed how a person getting bullied online got support, with their friends drowning the hateful comments with a tsunami of purple hearts. It showed people just how easy it could be to drown the hate and extend support. It was a no-brainer to get influencers on board, after all they are the prime recipients of trolling every day. So, they became ambassadors than mere influencers. Collaborating with comics, bloggers, actors, activists, and artists, we were able to quickly spread the message behind our #HeartTheHateCampaign, and bring a spotlight to not only the issue of prevalent cyberbullying but to also show they could become a part of the solution. The video went viral and and the influencer posts reached every corner of the internet, blowing up the campaign, and showing people the importance of standing up for each other.

List the results

The Youtube masthead triggered an overwhelming 57 million views with a 38% view-through rate, higher than the industry benchmark of 30%. Highest ever conversations (includes actions) recorded at 36.3k which is 6x the average of any other campaign done by the brand in the last one-year. Roping in the influencers to propel reach helped create 11.6k conversations and 16.7 million video views at the back total 20 posts initiated through their handles. Twitter engagement rate soared at 16% v/s an industry benchmark of 8-10%. CDM reversed the declining rate of growth (recorded at 13.7% to 11.2%) from July - Aug'18 and accelerated the growth rate from 15.1 to 22.3% from July - Aug'19. Overall, Market share (value) jumped by 1% in Aug‘19 in just one week, which is solid considering no broadcast media was on during this activity period.