A technology company and a boy band may not seem an obvious partnership. In 2016, Microsoft and B-Brave shared a reason to work together: helping young people think about the risks of sharing personal information online.
The campaign showed how a well-matched creator partnership could bring a subject into the everyday world of an audience. Progress Communications helped develop and deliver the PR around it.
Start with the people you want to reach
As more attention moved online, bloggers, vloggers and other public figures were building direct relationships with their followers. For a PR agency, that created opportunities to reach an audience through someone it already chose to listen to.
Those opportunities still depended on a relevant fit. Microsoft wanted to reach young people, especially the teenage audience discussed in the original article. A conventional technology announcement was unlikely to be enough.
The communications question was familiar: who should say what, through which channel, to which people and with what intended effect? Understanding the audience’s interests had to come before choosing the creative idea.
Why B-Brave fitted the campaign
B-Brave’s fans, known as “Braviours”, included many girls aged 12 to 18. They followed the band members’ daily lives on social platforms including Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.
The band also had personal experience of identity misuse online, which gave the safety topic meaning for them. They were willing to take part because they understood why the message mattered.
The partnership connected Microsoft’s subject knowledge with people who had a direct relationship with the audience. That was the basis for the influencer campaign, rather than choosing a famous name for attention alone.
A staged leak that fans immediately noticed
Together with Microsoft and the band, we developed a staged scenario. A campaign telephone number was presented as though it were band member Kaj’s newly leaked personal number. It was not his real private number.
Fellow member Dioni appeared to share it accidentally in a photo on Instagram and Snapchat. Fans noticed almost immediately. Kaj answered calls during the day, and the image was removed after about half an hour, making the scenario feel more convincing.
Calls and WhatsApp messages soon arrived continuously. The apparent mistake became a topic of conversation among fans on Twitter. The activity demonstrated how quickly information could spread once it appeared online.
Reveal the purpose and explain the message
The following day, the band published a video explaining that the leak had been staged as part of an online-safety awareness campaign with Microsoft.
Interviews with FunX and Editie NL gave the band opportunities to explain the idea. A press release, blog and press kit supplied journalists with the campaign details. The story also reached international media, including an interview with Microsoft in Fortune.
At the time of the original 2016 report, the number had received more than 1,600 calls, over 17,500 WhatsApp messages and 138 FaceTime calls or missed calls within a week. Campaign videos on YouTube had attracted more than 25,000 views without advertising. These are the figures recorded then, rather than current totals.
A campaign built through collaboration
The original account described a positive response from fans after the reveal, with many pleased that the band had supported the message. It also gave Microsoft a way to take part in a conversation about online safety that felt closer to their everyday experience.
For Progress, the campaign was a source of pride both for its results and for the coordination between the organisations involved. It showed how media relations, creator content and a shared idea could support one another.
Every audience and subject needs its own approach. For guidance on choosing partners, read our essentials of influencer collaboration. To discuss your own campaign, contact our team in Amsterdam or Antwerp.
Corinna
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