Kicking against the trolls

This award-winning campaign shows how a Norwegian sports brand became an advocate for women in one of today´s most challenging issues.

 

 

Kari Traa, an Olympic Moguls champion, has been a pioneer in the category sportswear for women but her brand is continuously challenged in an industry with high competition and heavy price pressure. This has forced the brand to become more tactically focused and loose some of it´s original rebel style. The Trollfighters campaign is the story of how we brought the rebel back and more importantly became an advocate for women in one of today´s most challenging issues.

Becoming the voice of women

With bright colours and combination of functional and modern design, the Kari Traa brand is popular with active women of all ages. More important than age, however, is the attitude these women have. Influenced by the founder herself, the Kari Traa girls like to stand out. However, this comes at a price as many girls face online harassment as a result of an outspoken personality.

As a "for girls, by girls” brand, with women working in all stages of design, production and marketing, Kari Traa wanted to put the spotlight on cyber bullying, an issue which has been in particular focus over the last years. With a brand committed to supporting girls, Kari Traa wanted to show the importance of women building each other up, and making each other strong to fight back against Internet trolls.

By becoming the voice of women in an important matter, we set out to show a price-focused sports category that it´s possible to play a significant role in consumers’ lives. Our objective was to create closer ties to the target group and thereby also strengthen the brand's position. It was however important that this was done the Kari Traa way - with fierce attitude, a good portion of humour and true girl power.

Bursting trolls in the catwalk spotlight

In a fashion setting, we let eight brave girls tell their true stories about digital harassment and created an online film. The girls have experienced hateful comments of racism, ignorance and body shaming online, but despite the bullying they refuse to regard them selves as victims and want to fight back.

With the help of an Internet security expert, we found the identities of the trolls who had harassed the girls online. Once we knew their real names, a troll caricature of each was created and we put them on the girls’ t-shirts for the world to see. The girls did a fashion catwalk, exposing their trolls and bringing them into the light to burst in the bright runway spotlights.

We also had an accompanying campaign page, where the girls provided written answers to those who had harassed them whilst also giving inspiration to other girls in the same situation.

No troll can break us

The Trollfighters campaign was launched with a reader´s note in Norway´s largest newspaper and a blog post written by founder Kari Traa. There was a press event where Kari Traa teamed up with the girls from the film and panels of experts on digital harassment to kick start a debate on the subject. After the launch we spread the film through SOME, and celebrities, female athletes and other ambassadors all came together in support for the campaign.

In order to create a united front against cyber trolls, we also introduced the tag #notrollcanbreakme in social media as proof of the power of women. The movement lasted for weeks and created massive engagement through various through blog posts, photos and supportive comments.

To prove that the campaign was more than just words, we also signed a partnership with not-for-profit organization MOT to give a donation from sales to the organization's efforts to combat bullying in Norwegian schools.

Reaching way beyond Norwegian boarders

In a country with only five million people, we truly put cyber bullying on the agenda with a total of over 20 million in combined reach.

We proved that it is possible for a commercial company to take a larger role in the target group lives and mobilize a common front in an important issue. By giving girls an opportunity to stand together against Internet trolls, Kari Traa demonstrated that the motto "for girls, by girls" are more than just words - it's a promise that women´s issues also are Kari Traa´s business.

Key results

• 9 out of 10 Norwegians applauds Kari Traa for using her brand to fight cyber bullying 

• 41 % increased brand liking in the target group of Norwegian women

• Earned media value 1,2 million € (Press/TV/Radio)

• Close to 600% higher engagement rate on Kari Traas Facebook page.

• #notrollcanbreakme became a true symbol of strength and girls power attitude

Watch the case movie below:

Trigger took home five awards at the 2015 European Excellence Awards. To find out more about Trigger, visit their website.

Jannicke Josefsson-Ruud

Jannicke Josefsson-Ruud is an account director at Trigger Oslo, an independent Norwegian agency. She is responsible for local clients such as Kari Traa, Plantasjen, Gresvig, Hennig Olsen and P4. She leads a team of four in Trigger including a creative concept developer, a project manager, a PR specialist and a content advisor, who were all involved in the “Trollfighters” project.