This work is relevant for Media (Innovative Use of Influencers) because “Immortal Influencer” innovatively uses social media and tech to help parents safeguard their children from potentially lethal social challenges, providing a tangible solution while managing to generate awareness about it in a truly unique way.

At the heart of the project lies Niilo, a victim of lethal social media challenges. In order to promote the Lethal Trend Warning System, Niilo's dreams of becoming an influencer have come true. With his influence, the Mannerheim League of Children Welfare is ensuring that no child would suffer the same fate he did.

Finland is a pioneer in information technology, with many companies bringing mobile innovations and fast internet connection as a part of the mainstream culture. Finns are proud of their role in developing these technologies, which has resulted in them becoming an integral part of Finnish culture. Due to this cultural impact, Finnish children are one of the youngest in the world to receive their first mobile phones and access to the internet. This also means that social media - with all the good and the dangers of it- comes into their lives at a very early age, making them extra vulnerable to potential dangers. This becomes apparent with the sad realization that in the past few years, multiple children have lost their lives while filming content and trying to attempt deadly social challenges.

SITUATION: Humans are social animals with an innate desire for attention. Social media effectively capitalizes on this need, which is why people love joining viral "challenges." While some of these challenges are admittedly awesome and a fun way to be a part of something larger than yourself, many social media trends have proven to be dangerous or even deadly.

THE BRIEF: How can technology offer a tangible solution and protect children from lethal trends? How can we communicate the idea in a way impactful way that resonates with parents? How can we talk directly to parents, and whiteout the children noticing?

OBJECTIVE: The Mannerheim League of Children Welfare is on a mission to ensure every child can have a happy and secure childhood, mentally and physically, the organization has set the goal of offering parents ways that help keep their children safe from lethal social media trends.

DATA RESEARCH AND DATA GATHERING: MLL engineered an AI-powered system, tracking and mapping dangerous trends. The Lethal Trend Warning System scans social data in real-time, detecting harmful challenges on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, and warning parents before they become viral.

IMPLEMENTATION: To promote the service, MLL cooperated with a family that tragically lost a child to a deadly social trend. Niilo was a young boy with dreams of becoming an influencer. With the family's consent, MLL took over his profiles to make Niilo's dream come true. Niilo, our "Immortal Influencer" endorsed the project, and spoke directly to parents appealing to them to sign up for the service.

After the Lethal Trends Warning System identifies a potentially dangerous trend, our "Immortal Influencer" sends a WhatsApp message alerting parents and preventing any further tragic incidents.

TARGET AUDIENCE: By using the audience optimization options - available by default on all social platforms - we posted content targeting parents, and invisible to children.

APPROACH: To promote the Lethal Trends Warning System, MLL needed to emphasize the gravity of the issue for parents. Traditional influencers would not be able to command the emotional impact that this issue can have on a parent. The most effective way to communicate about the service would be through someone with first-hand experience. With Niilo's mother's cooperation and by utilizing Niilo's social profiles, we could get their story out there all the while promoting the service.

MEDIA PLANNING: Since it’s a digital initiative, all media efforts were strategically set on digital media. Social content targeting parents was published alongside press releases and a PR campaign on digital and traditional media, inviting parents to use and share the warning system.

IMPLEMENTATION: The algorithm scans millions of social data points per second in real-time and performs numeric projections identifying harmful trends. The end result is a service with the capability of saving lives with the help of social media data.

TIMELINE:

Conceptualization: October 2023

Tech Development: December 2023 to February 2024

Implementation: February, March 2024

Launching (Creative/Social Campaign/PR): March 2024

MEDIA CHANNELS: The project counts with a digital hub where parents can sign up for the warning system for free, available on desktop and mobile. A social campaign powered by the profiles of a youngster who died attempting a deadly challenge served as a communication channel to target parents.

SCALE: Site visits 700k/average per month.

A petition demanding social media giants make their platforms safer for children has gathered over 6000 signatures.

The Ministry of Education of Finland is planning to adopt the platform and promote it to other European countries.

15,7 Million Media Reach

8,011 Threats Identified and Warned

+300% Increase awareness

Niilos story video: Organic on Instagram 180k views, over 3,000 likes,

Ad Reach 132k, 40k watched the video at least 15s (7.5k watched the whole video).

Social content: Organically seen on Instagram by over 80k +

paid reached +100k people, of which 28k watched the video for at least 15s. Increase Instagram followers by 11%.

Over 700,000 contacts were reached through pro bono influencers.

“Immortal Influencer” highlights the dangers of social media by bringing a cautionary tale to the main target group in an emotionally impactful way. It’s a blend of analysis of cultural insights, understanding of digital behaviors, research of social data, and technology implementation. By utilizing a social media influencer who can talk to parents, and most importantly, cannot be hurt again by lethal trends, we used social channels in a way never seen before, and we promoted a tangible service that could lessen the dangers that social media poses, especially to younger users.