There are 40 million internally displaced people around the world. Forced to flee their home for reasons including natural disaster, conflict, and human trafficking, they haven’t crossed a border – so almost no benefits or aid are available to them.

With the entire world focused on refugees, internal displacement has gone mostly unreported.

How do we raise awareness for the plight of IDPs?

Using YouTube’s familiar unavailable messaging, we delivered a powerful message about all the things that are unavailable to internally displaced people (IDPs).

We wanted to target a younger, affluent audience who also cares about the world.

Because this audience consumes massive amounts of online video content, YouTube was the obvious choice. The platform is the leader for video search, and reaches our audience as 96% of 18 to 24-year-old American internet users use YouTube and it reaches more 18 to 34-year-olds than any TV network.

Internet users are inundated with sad videos about topics ranging from refugees, to climate change. This oversaturation has made people indifferent to films about world problems.

We needed a different approach.

We aligned our messaging (headlines, descriptions, tags) with specific YouTube keywords, tapping into a search volume of over 67 million.

To capture attention, we designed thumbnails for each video that mirror the style of today’s biggest influencers.

We built a clickable donation CTA into each video, making it simple for people to provide aid.

We created over 20 films with thumbnails that blend in with YouTube, and titles that used popular search terms. When people searched keywords such as “10 Easy Meals,” “Try Not to Cry,” “Emotional Moments,” or “World Record,” they found our videos – and a powerful message about a human right IDPs don’t have. From lack of quality food and water, to education, to healthcare.

After the message was revealed, a simple YouTube annotation was used as a CTA which drove people to act by donating on our website. Here, they could find out more about the crisis and hear the stories of IDPs around the world.

In just three weeks, the videos have thousands of views. The videos will live on indefinitely and will continue to get hits as long as people search for these terms.

It was the first campaign ever created that rose awareness for internally displaced people and the issues they face.

Unlike a TV spot that runs a two-month flight, on a specific network, in a specific geography, this campaign was designed to run 100% organically at a global scale with no paid media.

Aligning our key messaging to high volume search terms, we were able to tap into an impression volume of over 67 million.

In less than three weeks, the campaign reached the hearts of thousands around the world. To help amplify the message, we leveraged influential UN leaders to help spread the word. UN Under Secretary General Mark Lowcock tweeted the campaign to his 49K followers.

People hate it when videos are unavailable. But it’s a small annoyance compared to issues IDPs face. Hacking this message went a long way to provide perspective in regard to their plight.