My Blue Thoughts connected fans, helping them see commonalities in their feelings and mental health challenges. The MyBlueThoughts.World digital experience was innovative in its use of several Microsoft Cognitive Services and APIs; a unique suite of pre-trained AI tools allowed developers to create the experience flexibly, in time for Lauv’s tour. Through the website, users became part of a global community. After sharing, a pinpoint on the world map marked each anonymous user’s location containing their message and key words. Visitors could search the site to find others experiencing similar challenges and take in a tapestry of human expression.

From intimate song lyrics to unguarded social media posts, Lauv proudly shares his emotions and mental health journey, and is cognizant of how common it is for people to struggle with their mental health. He created a submission box which he brought on tour with him, inviting fans to write and share anonymous, cathartic messages. It wasn’t long before Microsoft caught wind of the powerful community-minded initiative. As an organization dedicated to reducing the gap between people who suffer from mental illness, teaming up with Lauv to scale My Blue Thoughts was a no-brainer. We worked with Lauv to take My Blue Thoughts from a small feature on tour to a global movement by creating a new digital platform that united people around the world in collective catharsis.

Lauv’s goal has always been to bring My Blue Thoughts to an even wider audience and help people see the commonalities in their own mental health struggles. Through our collaboration, we created a new way for fans to engage with their inner worlds while simultaneously finding solidarity in the messages of other fans around the world. Microsoft’s AI tools allowed fans to anonymously share their feelings via audio or written submission, in eight different languages. The AI is able to transcribe and translate messages from around the world, finding commonalities and connections fans may have never thought possible. The idea is to show that they aren’t alone, and that change is possible.

Microsoft’s target audience for branded collaborations like My Blue Thoughts is the Tech Active: a young (gen Z-millennial) person who is an early tech-adopter. Working with a young artist like Lauv, we targeted his fanbase, who are all genzennials, and also already primed for frank discussions around mental health thanks to Lauv’s songwriting, social media posts, and previous outreach work on the topic. We sought to use Lauv’s endemic audience as our starting point, branching out and widening our audience from there.

MyBlueThoughts.World united Lauv fans. The platform reminded users how universal emotions are. Visitors were asked “What’s on your mind?” A prompt that encouraged honest sharing. Using their device’s cameras they recorded their reply or typed it. Next, Microsoft Speech to Text API, a natural language processing AI, transcribed the voice. Text Analytics API pulled out key phrases and topics which were checked by a Content Moderator. Visitors then uploaded a selfie that the site turned into an anonymous silhouette. A new pinpoint representing the visitor’s response was added to the virtual world map. To foster an even deeper connection, we used the Microsoft Translation API to match key phrases in various languages, so visitors could see messages with key words that matched with their own. Acting together, this suite of AI tools helped build a robust experience that connected fans around the world in a new and powerful way.

My Blue Thoughts built awareness and brand love for Microsoft as well as helping to erase the stigma of mental health awareness and treatment for millions of people around the world. Thanks to robust support from both Microsoft and Lauv, our campaign netted 103 million organic impressions, 21.3 million video views, and 1.9 million link clicks to MyBlueThoughts.World. Publications including Engadget, Elite Daily, and the Daily Star drove 127 million PR impressions, proving that this was a project and topic that really resonated with audiences.