The film plays out as an innocent, high school love story. But as it reaches its conclusion, we see that there was a second story happening all along - a different student was in the background of each scene, showing the signs of someone planning a shooting. Through this approach, viewers were able to experience how easy it is to miss signs, instead of us just telling them.

The success of the film “Evan” relied on the premise that viewers clicking “play” thought they were in store for a love story. To achieve this, we chose to forego traditional paid (or even donated) media and instead partnered with bloggers and influencers who already had the attention of our target demographic. The influencers strategically posted the film as if it was just a love story - even referring to it as such - and made no mention of the true subject matter of the film or the brand.

The film received over 100 million views in the first week alone, spawning countless YouTube reaction videos and news coverage that furthered contributed to our reach. “Evan” has over 2 billion earned media impressions in 133 countries. It has been adopted as an education tool by schools, businesses, and even the US Department of Homeland Security. In the days after launch, the national conversation about gun violence and warning signs increased 50% as a direct result, helping turn what had previously been a national gun debate into a conversation.