2022 Winners & Shortlists

Background

Situation: The internet. The cruelest playground in the world. Where trolls bully perfect strangers. And, the victims of their hate messaging and body shaming are left to suffer Low self-esteem, severe depression, eating disorders, lower academic scores, long-term psychological ailments, inflict self-harm or even take their own lives. Brief: Our client, Karim Bourgi, a Master Chocolatier and famous influencer Chef, is no stranger to trolls or reading their hateful, jealous comments/abuse. He asked us if we could make the internet a better, happier, kinder and well ‘sweeter’ place for him and, if possible, thousands of other victims. So, no small challenge or ambition to have, and a rather brave strategy and quite frankly ballsy thing to do. Objectives: As per the above (brief) plus equally, to help raise our client's social profile, reach and fame.

Describe the strategy

We researched the problem extensively, which wasn’t hard, as there’s a world of data available. But there’s really very little hard data, facts or even any good ideas, for that matter, on how to solve the issues trolls create. Our breakthrough moment? It was simply to flip our strategic approach entirely. So instead of trying to moderate those posting hate messaging, body shaming or cyberbullying, we decide to focus on making their victims feel better. Put simply; we thought maybe we could apologize on behalf of all the trolls? Maybe, we could say sorry and apologize on behalf of the entire internet. So we trolled the trolls by sending their victims a deliciously edible chocolate apology on their behalf. Because let’s face it, they were never going to apologize.

Describe the execution

To sugarcoat means to glaze or coat chocolate with something sweet. But it’s also a phrase used to explain or say something in a manner that is easier to accept or cope with. Our idea, put simply, is this - What if the Internet could be sugarcoated, or rather all the hateful comments that trolls write? @alltrolls, come on, at least #SugarcoatIt. And chocolates are scientifically proven to boosts the production of feel-good chemicals called endorphins, which help reduce symptoms of depression. We used Crystal Clear Rigid PVC, and Food Grade specialized thermoform plastic moulds and pushed the limits of food mouldmaking to a level of detailing. Our chocolate bars were made using only the finest Caraibe chocolate ingredients and production processes. We delivered them to victims of online abuse and used their large social followings to create mass awareness. Additional buzz came via radio, TV interviews, online news channels.

List the results

With a tiny budget we achieved unprecedented reach, awareness, brand uplift, fame and love. · Project cost: $7,623 · Earned media: $1.26M · Impressions: 261M · Global reach: 18 Countries · Press, radio, tv and online mentions +100 · Internet positivity, sentiment, love increased by + 0.072574321% · Karim Bourgi (our client) gained 126K new fans, and a few (13) new trolls in a month.