Cyber crime has been increasing at an alarming rate in recent years. But even though the threat is growing rapidly, the majority of Danes still isn’t ?protected against cyber threats. In fact, more than half of the Danish population has fallen victim to hacking. That’s why the Danish internet provider Stofa wanted to convince people to take their personal cyber security seriously by protecting their devices with Stofa's security software “SafeSurf”.

As internet guru and antivirus godfather John McAfee once famously declared: “Hacking is so easy even a grandma can do it.” We decided to put it to the test. We challenged 6 real grandmas to learn how to hack their grandchildren… in less than 10 hours. With the help of a (very patient) cyber security expert, Jan Spangsberg, we gave the ladies a crash course in the very basics of hacking and equipped them with the tools to complete a real life hack. At the end of the project, 4 out of 6 grandmas succeeded in hacking into their grandchildren’s computers and took over their screens in order to deliver a lesson that the grandchildren, and the rest of Denmark following the project online, would never forget.

With Stofa rolling out its newly defined purpose driven brand platform aiming to create a pleasant and joyful internet experience for all Danes, the strategy used a two-pronged approach. Firstly, Stofa tapped into a subject that affects many Danes; hacking – a threat that does not resonate with Stofa’s ambition of joyful experience. And since very few Danes actually believe that they are in the danger-zone, Stofa realized that it could make an actual real-life difference. Secondly, for most Danes internet is a low-involvement product – an everyday-enabler that simply flows through the air. So, to make Danes spend time on internet and cyber-security, we developed a dramatized online experience that would unveil itself on the platforms, where hacking actually takes place.

The campaign took off instantly and racked up more than 7.9 million unique and completed views ultimately reaching 89% of the adult Danish population.

The campaign inspired a conversation among Danes themselves and with Stofa, thereby positioning the brand as an opinion leader within online security and tech in Denmark. Grandma Hackers ultimately created an engagement rate 157% above client benchmark. 

We then identified and used data from key digital signals online that could recognise those who were most interested in upgrading their cyber security. For this highly-involved target group we followed up on the experience with a series of articles and promotional offers explaining how to stay protected. At the end of the campaign, sales of Stofa’s security software “SafeSurf” was up a massive 80% ensuring that many more Danes could breathe a sigh of relief knowing they could surf safely without the threat of hackers – or grandmas.