CALM

USING YOUTUBE IN A COMPLETELY UNIQUE WAY TO MAKE PEOPLE NOT JUST HEAR BUT ACTIVELY LISTEN

What we loved

Changing lives by hacking the youtube technology in a first of a kind, best-in-class way.

How we got there

84% of men in the UK say they suppress their emotions and never fully express their feelings. This manifests itself in people saying one thing but meaning a completely different thing. To highlight this we hacked the YouTube video navigation bar (the timeline that runs across the bottom) which shows only occasional frames, not the whole video. We hid the real message in the nav bar, based on words and phrases in the complete video. 

We used Rugby superstar Joe Marler,  followed by one of the UK’s top YouTubers and Gamers DanTDM (25.7 million subscribers to his channel), to land the idea.

WHAT IT CHANGED

We encouraged people to reappraise what they hear and to think more closely about whether their friends or family are ok. During the campaign period, we saw a 28% increase in life saving calls to the CALM helpline.