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| The Stop Bullying: Speak Up Social Pledge app featured a pledge that students and adult Facebook users could take, with encouragement from CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Image courtesy of Cartoon Network |
Company: Cartoon Network
Timeframe: Oct. 2010 - Present
Cartoon Network spent the summer of 2011 recruiting—politely, that is—sister Time Warner brands and divisions, including CNN and Time Inc., to join a unified initiative that would inspire people to take a stand against the plague of childhood bullying. In September 2011, Cartoon Network landed another big fish, Facebook, to help create a social media-based, viral antidote to the bullying problem in the U.S.
That’s when the idea for the Stop Bullying: Speak Up Social Pledge app, an interactive social media pledge that encourages educators, parents and students to make a personal commitment—and recruit others to join them—to help stop bullying, was born. The partners sought to then draw attention to the app by piquing the interests of traditional media, policy makers and bloggers to speak up about—and cover—the issue. The specific goals for the app were to:
1) Inspire “bullying bystanders” to vow to help stop bullying where it persists: on the playground, in class, on the school bus and online.
2) Share their pledge and stories, and enlist others to start their own school-based bullying prevention groups on Facebook.
A team of 20—from PR to marketing to CSR across multiple organizations—and a core team of six PR members from Cartoon Network and Facebook began work in September 2010 to make sure both the app and the communications plan surrounding it would be ready for a mid-September 2011 launch leading into October’s National Bullying Prevention Month.
TRUE PARTNERSHIP
Cartoon Network and Facebook’s commitment to fighting bullying predated this partnership. Cartoon Network had launched a smaller, Web-based anti-bullying campaign in early 2010, and in April 2011 Facebook had also unveiled a Family Safety Center and a “social reporting” tool, which enables users to report bullying or harassment to parents, teachers or trusted friends. On the surface, the two were a perfect fit.
And while working with Facebook would be a dream partnership for most media organizations, there was a slight hiccup: The Cartoon Network’s core audience is 6- to 11-year-olds, while Facebook caters to those 13 and above. It’s no wonder the two entities had never worked together before. But this time, says Joe Swaney, director of public relations, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, the partnership was a good fit. “There are multiple audiences involved when it comes to the bullying issue—not just the kids, but teachers, parents and other audiences that we wanted to reach, so it now made sense to work with Facebook,” says Swaney.
SETTING THE MESSAGE
The team’s messaging strategy integrated broadcast, print, online and social media to inspire thoughtful conversation and share useful information and resources about bullying prevention. “We wanted people to know that we were not at all thinking we were the experts on the subject—far from it,” says James Anderson, senior VP of public relations at Turner Broadcasting System.
The app would serve as a portal to resources and be a connector. “We have a great voice with kids because so many watch Cartoon Network, and we wanted to use that voice to deliver an anti-bullying message,” says Anderson.
APP ATTACKS
On Sept. 19, 2011, Facebook and Time Warner collaborated to jointly announce the new app with a 360 degree approach:
1. Conduct external media outreach.
2. Promote the initiative across Facebook and Time Warner properties including CNN, People magazine, Sports Illustrated and Time, among others.
3. Begin sharing information, videos and resources on the Stop Bullying: Speak Up Facebook page.
The app, developed by social marketing agency Tenthwave Digital (see sidebar on app development for Facebook), included the following features:
• A “pledge” for student and adult Facebook users to take positive stands against bullying, advocating and being role models (see “Take the Pledge” graphic). The pledge was developed with the help of Cartoon Network’s advisory partners and bullying prevention experts.
• The ability for users to share the pledge with other Facebook friends and help grow a community committed to ending bullying. The app also has a function to “Share Your Story.”
• A “Take Action Center” with tools and resources around bullying prevention, linking to official supporters of the campaign including the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and other groups.
• An interactive digital map (pictured) that shows Stop Bullying: Speak Up commitments broken out by state, county, city and even neighborhood.
HANGING WITH MR. COOPER, AND OTHERS
CNN’s Anderson Cooper was tapped as the official spokesperson for the app, and other celebrities pledged to speak up and encourage others to do the same, including actresses Selena Gomez and Jane Lynch, singer Enrique Iglesias, talk show host Kelly Ripa, television host Tyra Banks and the on-air hosts of Cartoon Network’s Dude, What Would Happen.
The page was updated with news about additional supporters and campaign-related events throughout the October 2011 National Bullying Prevention Month.
OUTREACH GOES GRASSROOTS
Attempting to earn media coverage presented a challenge, says Anderson. “We’re a media company, and the assumption is it’s easy for a media company to get its own word out,” says Anderson. “Yes, we did have our suite of platforms to promote the campaign on, but when you go outside of those and try to get other people interested, it’s back to bare-bones PR.”
Since the team sought to engage kids who were affected by bullying—either as silent victims or as bystanders—the strategy required getting government, academic and grassroots organizations involved, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
THOUSANDS SPEAK UP
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By the end of October, more than 92,000 people took the Stop Bullying: Speak Up pledge on Facebook and more than 900,000 people “liked” the Facebook page (and over 1 million to date). Other results include:
• Updates to the “I Spoke Up” Map and other updates averaged more than 4,500 “likes” and nearly 300 comments throughout October.
• Selena Gomez’s initial video and call to speak up against bullying led to more than 16,000 “likes.”
• Media coverage of the Facebook/Time Warner partnership and app was covered by AP, the Los Angeles Times, HLN, MSNBC.com, the Washington Post’s On Parenting section, U.S. News & World Report, as well as in tech, kids media and LGBT-focused media and blogs.
• The Stop Bullying: Speak Up Web page, designed for Cartoon Networks’ 6-11 year-old demographic who can’t access Facebook, attracted over 400,000 visitors and over 500,000 pages in October 2011.
Swaney says that he wishes they would have brought more PR people on board earlier. “We had a big team initially, but solely on the PR side. We would have brought in our CNN and Time Inc. partners earlier,” says Swaney.
The original 2010 bullying campaign’s strategy and execution was done in-house at Cartoon Network, says Swaney, but expanding the effort for 2011 required more resources.
Cartoon Network will look to feature more content and programming that practices what it preaches, like its March 2012 Speak Up documentary that featured President Obama denouncing bullying.
“Our PR goal is to raise ubiquitous visibility for anti-bullying, and not just to count our clips,” says Anderson. That may be tough for a PR pro to do, but in this case, necessary.
CONTACT:
Joe Swaney, [email protected], James Anderson, [email protected]; Steve Caputo, [email protected]
Follow Bill Miltenberg: @bmiltenberg