With over half of adolescents reporting that they were bullied online, and 95 percent of those who witnessed online bullying choosing to ignore it*, it is clear that more leadership is needed in this area.
The #LaterHaters campaign seeks to effectively combat online negativity by sparking a conversation that becomes a movement to spread love over hate. For this movement to be effective, we recognize the need to inspire personal growth and change among today's young users that are a part of Gen Z.
With the AT&T Later Haters Writing Contest, we sought to deepen our engagement with our target audience. To move beyond more passive likes and shares and to encourage an investment of personal time to consider how to help spread love over hate.
The Wattpad writing prompt asked "If you could block out the haters, shut down the trolls, and put love on BLAST, what would you say? Your challenge is to create a 500-word short story or message of positivity that you would say to someone else or want to hear said to you."
* NoBullying.com
To deepen our engagement with our audience, the AT&T Later Haters Writing Contest aligned its outreach and messaging according to Gen Z and young Millennial social media consumption habits. We also aligned with relevant influencers who model what it looks like to spread love over hate.
Key solutions for increasing engagement, participation, and conversation around the Writing Contest included:
○ Communicating with teens on their preferred social platforms (Wattpad/Instagram/Twitter)
○ Partnering with relevant social influencers and leaders (Dobre Brothers and Wattpad influencers)
○ Creating a relevant and sought-after prize (grand-prize winner received a VIP experience and meet & greet with the Dobre Brothers in LA)
Over 900 people actively engaged with the AT&T Later Haters Writing Contest (911 contest entries), and there were over 39K total reads of the inspiring peer-created content that carries the Later Haters message. While we love our likes and shares, we're proud to have reached this audience in a meaningful way, moving our audience from passive participation to thoughtful action/reflection on how they can help combat online negativity.
● 911 total Wattpad Writing Contest entries, with over 39K total reads
● 78MM impressions of #LaterHaters social content
○ 7MM Wattpad Impressions
● 400% follower growth on the #LaterHaters Instagram handle
● The campaign ad units on Wattpad received over 59.8k clicks through the duration of the campaign
● 15% increase in the social conversation of Later Haters and AT&T
● 31% increase in Net Sentiment
