The "Hashtag Killer" campaign set out to eradicate the ironic #FirstWorldProblems meme in which people tweet about such life burdens as non-heated leather seats or forgetting their maid's last name - and, in the process, raise awareness about serious developing world issues.

Using YouTube as a communications hub and Twitter as a media channel, we were able to connect with our target audience on a more intimate level. Over a 5 day span, a film crew traveled to Haiti and responded to individual #FirstWorldProblem tweets, hand selected for their trivial-ness. By doing this, we were able to target our audience directly on a micro level, allowing us to reach a level of intimacy that the majority of other awareness campaigns just can’t replicate.

The campaign became wildly successful by combining an effective social media strategy with a confronting message about life in the developing world. In the weeks following our launch, we had completely hijacked the ‘FirstWorldProblems’ hashtag. Instead of using it to complain, people began using the hashtag to encourage donations. Enough donations came in to provide over one million days of clean water to those in need.