Raise awareness for the Canadian Safe Schools Network’s anti-bullying after-school programs in a space where every cause is competing for attention.
How we bullied influencers to get people talking about bullying
Digital banners can feel like a cyberbully—relentless, invasive, and impossible to escape.
To raise awareness for the Canadian Safe Schools Network’s anti-bullying after-school program, we turned that behavior on its head. We hijacked the same unrelenting banner formats and used them to target unsuspecting influencers with the kinds of insults bullying victims face every day, forcing the experience into the spotlight.
Service
Launching campaigns
Industry
Education
Not-for-profit
Charity
Our Role
Microsite design & development
Programmatic retargeting ads
Email marketing campaign
Timeline
3 months
37%
Lift in donations
23 million
Impressions
51%
Email open rate
14%
Click-through rate
Challenge
Approach
Our approach was deliberately unconventional, and an industry first. We took mass programmatic banner ads and used them as a one-to-one marketing tool.
To mirror the experience of bullying, we stripped away the usual rules. No source. No branding. Just days of targeted insults, served without context. Exactly how bullying feels to its victims.
Outcome
Once the purpose behind Bully Ads was revealed, targeted influencers turned into advocates, sharing the experience with their audiences and amplifying the anti-bullying message nationwide. The campaign ultimately drove a 37% increase in donations.
As a result, The Canadian Safe Schools Network received an overwhelming amount of kindness in the form of donations.
