THE COST OF BULLYING

Short List
TitleTHE COST OF BULLYING
BrandSAMSUNG
Product / ServiceSAMSUNG
CategoryD06. Branded Games
EntrantCHEIL PENGTAI Beijing, CHINA
Idea Creation CHEIL Hong Kong, HONG KONG
Media Placement CHEIL PENGTAI Beijing, CHINA
PR CHEIL PENGTAI Beijing, CHINA
PR 2 CHEIL Hong Kong, HONG KONG
Production CHEIL PENGTAI Beijing, CHINA
Production 2 CHEIL Hong Kong, HONG KONG
Post Production CHEIL PENGTAI Beijing, CHINA
Post Production 2 CHEIL Hong Kong, HONG KONG

Credits

Name Company Position
Paul Chan Cheil Hong Kong CD / Copywriter
Kimmy Liu Cheil PengTai Beijing Creative Direction / Art Direction
Wilson Ang Cheil Hong Kong CD / Copywriter
Edmond Leung Cheil Hong Kong Art Direction
Timothy Tian Cheil PengTai Beijing Art Direction
Yining Yin Cheil PengTai Beijing Animation & Program Direction
Melody Zhang Cheil PengTai Beijing Animation & Program Direction
Larry Sun Cheil PengTai Beijing Account Direction
Cherry Lan Cheil PengTai Beijing Account Direction
DooYoung Jang Cheil PengTai Beijing Game Account Direction
Wei Du Cheil PengTai Beijing Game Account Direction

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

‘The Cost of Bullying’ is a brand activation idea that surprised and engaged gamers through one of the biggest games of the year. To prevent in-game bullying, we hacked Magic Quest (the biggest game of the year and China’s equivalent to ‘World of Warcraft’) and made bullies pay for their actions, quite literally. The more gamers bullied, the more they paid. All in real-time. All within the game.

Background

In China, online gaming has exploded. But so has bullying. 1-in-2 gamers have at some point been bullied when playing online. As an industry leader, Samsung wanted to tackle this toxic behaviour head on.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

THE COST OF BULLYING. When gamers bully, they pay the price.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

There’s a real cost to bullying. Which made us think: When gamers bully, shouldn’t THEY pay the price?

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Working with one of the country’s biggest game developers, we hacked ‘Magic Quest’—the biggest game of the year and China’s equivalent to ‘World of Warcraft’. A key part of the game are in-game purchases—for weapons, armour and power-ups. So we made bullies pay for their actions, quite literally. We linked the game’s ‘abusive language detection system’ to the pricing database. Every time the system detected any sign of bullying, it raised the price. So the more gamers bullied, the more they paid. All in real-time. All within the game.

List the results (30% of vote)

The hacked game gave bullies a real wake-up call. During the two-week hijack, over one million bullies paid the price. With reports of in-game bullying falling by 40%. Making this China’s most successful anti-bullying drive to date. The message was loud and clear: There’s a cost to bullying. And now when gamers bully, they pay the price.

Links

Supporting Webpage