Cyberbullying is a serious and widespread problem, especially in the online gaming and streaming space. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 37% of Americans were subject to “severe” online hate and harassment in 2018. The leading perpetrator? Twitch, where 47% of daily users reported encountering harassment. Mixer is a live-streaming platform that prides itself on a positive and inclusive community, but it doesn’t have near the level of recognition and clout that Twitch does. So, in the wake of a series of bans and scandals on Twitch related to hate-speech and toxicity, we didn’t feel it was appropriate for Mixer as a brand to take a stand. Rather, we created a movement our community could rally behind, giving them the tools necessary to take a stand against cyberbullying and celebrate the things they love about gaming and streaming.

We couldn’t make an awareness campaign, because awareness campaigns bring attention to issues. And bullies thrive on attention. So, we flipped the script and made the world’s first UNawareness campaign. We gave our community the tools they needed to ignore the bullies and focus on the positivity and good times that make Mixer special. We partnered with Cybersmile—the world leader in the fight against bullying—to not only raise UNawareness, we also turned the Mixer platform itself into a way for our community to tangibly combat Cyberbullying.

We identified a major disconnect between the values of our target audience and their experience consuming streaming content. Because Twitch is so large and has such difficulty regulating what happens on the platform, viewers, especially Gen-Z, are convinced that there’s no way to consume the gaming/streaming content they love without experiencing harassment, hate speech, and toxicity. They’re understandably skeptical of any messaging that implies a more positive community, even if that’s what they want. In our research, we found that this skepticism dissolves in the face of authenticity. So we concluded that, in order for this campaign to resonate and be successful, it had to come from our community in an authentic way.

On Mixer, viewers show support for their favorite streamers with Skills—animated celebrations that viewers can launch during a stream with Mixer’s digital currency, Embers. We created a series of Skills that, when launched, would donate directly to Cybersmile in order to help them build an AI tool designed specifically to combat bullying in online gaming. We got the word out with a series of organic social posts and videos that celebrated turning negativity into positivity. At the same time we launched an (UN)awareness film, we partnered with influencers and popular Mixer streamers and had them post photos where they literally turned their back on bullies. We created a series of banners that streamers could overlay on their streams to encourage viewers to use the special Cybersmile skills, as well as a series of anti-bullying, pro-positivity GIFs that anyone could share on their social channels or in Mixer streams.

With no paid media, the campaign raised $100,000 for Cybersmile. We launched Mixer’s GIPHY channel and the GIFs were viewed 18MM times. But this campaign was about more than numbers. We created a natural platform for streamers and viewers to discuss the problems of Cyberbullying, preserving the grassroots nature of the movement by letting the community drive it forward. This campaign also paved the way for Mixer to establish its positive community as a true competitive differentiator. In the six months following this campaign, Twitch and Ninja—two of the biggest Twitch streamers in the world—made the switch to Mixer, both citing the positive community as one of their reasons for doing so. We didn’t solve Cyberbullying by any means, but we’re proud to be the first streaming platform to stand up to it. Even better, turn away from it.