The best way to get an insight into a teen’s life is through their phone. So we created a mobile only website, an innovative Facebook canvas, as well as IRL replicas for influencers, where users can fully explore the content of Hannah’s phone. The immersive experience gives you access to her messages, Instagram feed, browsing history, callable contacts and an exclusive audio message from Hannah. Exploring Hannah’s phone not only gives you insight into her life, but more importantly puts you in the shoes of a bullying victim. The more you look into her social environment, the more you understand the reasons that led her to commit suicide. The website along with the canvas are meant to pique users interest about the show, and raise awareness about cyber-harassment by giving users an unprecedented experience of bullying from the victim’s side.

We started off by designing the phone and its content as a mobile-only website and an interactive canvas. We put the content into 30 phones and chose influencers according to our target audience and journalists who write for series and young adult magazines.

3 days before launch, we sent out the phones to journalists and influencers who shared their experience of going through Hannah’s phone on their social accounts. They shared the website link with their communities to have the same experience.

The day after, Hannah’s phone was posted on Netflix’ social pages to activate members and give the campaign a bigger impact. Alongside, fans could also have the experience on Facebook through the canvas.

On the 31st of March, the show was released, and by this time fans on social media had already made it one of the most anticipated Netflix show ever.

The website along with the canvas received high engagement. Users actually called the contacts in Hannah’s phone and even used it as a help line. In only a few days, we received an average of 200 voicemails per contact. With around 10 million cumulated followers of the influencers and journalists who received a phone and who talked about the experience, the campaign was a success among teens. #13ReasonsWhy became the number 1 trending topic in France in just a few hours after the campaign was launched. Above all, a huge conversation about bullying sparked, counting more than 8 million messages posted on Twitter today. Thanks to this immersive experience, 13 Reasons Why has had one of the most successful launches for a Netflix series ever. France realized the show’s value in the fight against bullying, and more importantly, it helped teenagers open up about the topic.