To change their sharing behavior, we created the ultimate child influencer: a grown-up version of 9-year-old “Ella” – with the same AI and deepfake technology used by scammers. We directly targeted parents to show them the dangers of sharenting.

“A Message from Ella” became an instant viral hit on all platforms, grabbing the attention of millions including media outlets around the world, starting a global movement for children’s online safety.

BACKGROUND: 2023 was the year AI tools became easy to use for everyone, raising a lot of concerns about the safety of the data we share in social media.

Yet, parents still share their kids' data on social media, unaware of potential consequences on their future: identity theft, scamming, harassment, deepfake pornography and child sexual abuse material.

As Europe’s leading telco brand, Deutsche Telekom’s ambition is to connect everyone to the opportunities of the digital world. But with the privacy of a whole generation at risk, Deutsche Telekom wanted to build on its legacy and step up to protect children against the recent arising threats. BRIEF: Develop a PR-led campaign that brings awareness to the digital threat of online sharing, inspires behavioral change, and strengthens the brand’s perception as a protective force for the digital society.

CREATIVE IDEA: Before we could change parents’ actions, we had to first grab their full attention, so we went with something no parent can ignore: a child in need.

Using the latest Al technology on a single photograph, we created the virtually aged version of a 9-year-old girl: Ella. In our film, she confronts her parents – and by extension parents worldwide – with the consequences of sharing kids' data online, sending a gut-wrenching warning from the future. This way, our film became both a literal demonstration of AI manipulation capabilities and an emotional plea for the online safety of all children.

As part of the campaign, we also created a solution to the problem: a social media filter pixelating children’s faces, empowering parents to #ShareWithCare and easily protect their children’s privacy.

PR STRATEGY: With “A message from Ella”, we confronted a generation of oversharers. Today’s parents grew up in a time, where social media was care-free, public and generally safe. To these parents, pictures shared online are just memories.

But with the rise of online fraud, AI and deepfake technology, memories turn data that can be easily exploited. We needed to change parent’s online behavior today – to protect their children in the future. So, to raise awareness for the issue of “sharenting”, we gave voice to a child, by creating a cautionary tale that confronted parents with the consequences of their careless online behavior. In creating a “testimonial” for online data abuse, we anticipated parents’ willingness to share highly emotional and shocking content, and the media outlet’s thirst for trending topics.

EXECUTION: Our #ShareWithCare campaign had two phases. The first phase initiated on the 1st of July 2023 with the publication of Ella’s Message on Telekom’s owned channels with the goal to establish and own the topic of “sharenting” - focused only on earned and owned channels.

The second phase took place between the September and October of 2023, engaging the public in meaningful discussions. From TikTok to Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, thought leaders endorsed our message.

Parenting influencers spread it among their communities. We made the jump outside of social media to messengers like WhatsApp, turning our target audience into organic influencers themselves, spreading our message among family and friends.

On our campaign landing page, we provided parents with further educational resources on how to #ShareWithCare.

RESULTS: Ella’s message reached over 51 million views and 3.7 billion earned impressions in 71 countries. The strategy of using highly emotional, social storytelling paid off – indicated by a 64 % view-through-rate (Benchmark: 10 %). We sparked the public’s demand for information about children’s online privacy, indicated by a 1000% increase in google searches for “sharenting” and over 211.000 visits to the German campaign landing page since its launch on 3rd of July 2023.

Ella’s message made an oversharing parent generation reflect on their behavior. 2 out of 3 parents surveyed now oppose sharing children’s data online, marking a +83% increase vs. pre-exposure. 55 % of parents, who previously shared their children's images, said they would conceal their identity in the future. 38 % of parents intend to stop sharenting. We reinforced Deutsche Telekom as a protective force for the digital society: 62% of the non-customer parents will consider Telekom because of its social commitment. The campaign led to a +3 PP increase in perception as a socially responsible brand. Ultimately, our film's impact extended beyond social media, and Ella’s message is now an educational tool used by European authorities and institutions, non-profits, schools and police forces: “Deutschland sicher im Netz”, “Digitalführerschein”, “teach today”, BvD, the Scotland police and the state polices of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, and Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.