Brita, the iconic makers of water filters wanted to address online bullying with a campaign to filter out the hate and encourage a more inclusive internet. Teaming up with Cybersmile and NBA star Stephen Curry, who regularly experiences online harassment, The Filtered Life campaign was launched. As part of the initiative, a fun Filter Your Feed tool was released as a standalone app to help users filter out negativity from their own social media feeds.
To kick off the campaign, Brita and Cybersmile launched a PSA video to highlight the campaign which included Stephen Curry and a host of guest speakers discussing the topic of online harassment and abuse.
Brita was looking for a charitable partner that was actively supporting people affected by cyberbullying, online hate campaigns and harassment, which was impacting a lot of their customers. Cybersmile were selected as a charity partner for their unique work in the space and this was part of a wider effort by Brita as a company to help promote a kinder internet and raise awareness of online abuse.
Tad Kittredge, Director of Marketing, Brita
Prior to the launch of The Filtered Life, Cybersmile and Brita worked closely to ensure that an inclusive message was promoted throughout the campaign and that people were made aware of the support services Cybersmile provide. This ensured internet users could find help and resource articles if they were facing any form of online abuse or harassment.
Hilleary Wright, Digital & PR Campaign Manager, Brita
Once the campaign was launched, Cybersmile and Brita received a host of positive messages and encouragement from people who had been affected by online abuse – and were inspired by its message. Internet users were also able to participate in the #FilterYourFeed initiative and shared their thoughts on social media.
The Filter Your Feed campaign encouraged people around the world to think about how filtering out or removing negativity from their life leaves them with the good! Below you can see just a small selection of comments from users on Twitter who responded to the campaign.
NEWS! – We are excited to announce our #FilterYourFeed campaign with @BritaUSA and @StephenCurry30 Details here https://t.co/xEt97ZBjMh 🔥 pic.twitter.com/XdqOggrIkg
— The Cybersmile Foundation (@CybersmileHQ) April 4, 2017
Make the internet happier. Join me & @BritaUSA at https://t.co/A80TbiXIBH to help scrub your bad tweets & spread some good like this GIF #Ad pic.twitter.com/ZPod3dtmGd
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) April 6, 2017
The campaign garnered media coverage in many leading publications, news outlets, journals and blogs. It was also highlighted in news reports and online editorials – starting a wider conversation about the impact of campaigns with positive messages and how they can encourage social change for good. Some of the media outlets that highlighted The Filtered Life included the following.
Stephen Curry also participated in Carpool Karaoke with James Corden and discussed the campaign which was aired in April 2017 and received additional highlights throughout the year. You can watch the full segment below:
The Filtered Life exceeded its initial campaign goal of 70 million impressions and was able to have a far bigger social impact than anticipated thanks to a viral surge in social media engagement and strong media uptake. Below you can see the engagement and impression totals of the campaign as a whole.
Brita aimed to educate and help people of all ages to engage in self-filtering and to be mindful of their online tone in order to make the digital world a better place, so everybody can enjoy all the benefits that the internet has to offer. This objective was achieved by the campaign with over 50,000 negative comments being removed from the internet by self-filtering internet users. See some of the outcomes below.
The Brita and Cybersmile Filter Your Feed campaign was nominated for a total of two awards.
If you would like more information about the process of working on a campaign with Cybersmile, visit our Campaigns page or use the form below to contact us. You can also download our most recent brand deck to learn more about Cybersmile and the work we do. We are excited to hear from you!