Race To A Milli
Social media stars. Looks like a bit of a lark, doesn't it? Filming yourself in some luxury location (no doubt given to you free), pulling silly faces and 'emoting' in a bid to win likes, shares, friends... and pots of tech giant advertising cash. No wonder that over half (57%) of Gen Z would choose to be an influencer if given the chance, showing broad appeal across age groups. (Survey by Morning Consult, 2023).
But it ain't all that.
Constantly performing a (exaggerated) version of yourself online can put a real stress on your mental health. And you don't have to be a creator to feel the effects... Research conducted by Childline identified five key sources of digital anxiety that affect teens (aged 13-18) today:
- Always Online — the pressure to constantly be connected
- Trust Issues — uncertainty around what is real and what is not online
- Ask AI — the rising trend of turning to AI for emotional advice
- Rage Baiting — being drawn into emotionally charged or misleading content
- Cringe Culture — fear of judgement for being authentic
We wanted to help Childline warn kids about these dangers... but without being the'boring old people' in the room, patronising them or talking down to them. So we made a cool as f**k film instead. On Blue Monday we launched ‘Race to a Milli’ — a paid social campaign for Childline designed to support the mental health of teenagers aged 13–18.
Race to a What now?
We worked with content creators MK Fray and Joe Leggett in a game show format social experiment. The creators competed against each other in a series of challenges, racing to reach one million likes. What they didn’t know was that Childline was deliberately manipulating the scores to subtly reflect the campaign’s strategic territories. Yeah. Sneaky.
But this wasn't just to be mean. Our approach mirrors the distorted and often unfair realities of social media — reinforcing the message that Childline understands the darker side of digital life and is there to support young people when online pressures begin to affect their real-world mental health.
What follows involves masked men, a lack of black paint, some ridiculous dancing, and some truly eye-opening moments of real world stress. Oh, and quite a few giggles along the way, too. Presenter Rio Fredrika provides the commentary.
But why listen to us telling you about it? Here's MK Fray and Joe sharing their views:
And a few shots of the boys in action (you can see plenty more in the gallery below too, if that sort of thing floats your boat):
Setting the tone
We worked with Word on the Curb, an award-winning 360 audience engagement agency, putting on live sessions with a panel of young people to make sure we weren't doing that Steve Buscemi 'Hi, fellow kids!' meme thing and getting the tone and language wrong for our target audience. Out panel's honest feedback directly shaped the tone, pacing, creator selection, and content style.
Client: Childline
Creative Leads: Kevin Yeates & Sue Nash
Marketing Leads: Rohini Pahl & Courtney Zitola
Social Media Lead: Catriona Boyle
Planning Lead: Verity Burton
Creative Agency: House of Oddities
Executive Creative Directors: Sachini Imbuldeniya & Darren Smith
Head of Creative Operations: Lou Gordon
Project Manager: Vanessa Hyde
Creative Lead: Jordan Edwards
Production: Bag of Worms
Directors: Sachini Imbuldeniya (HOO) & Liam Bagnall
Executive Producer: Jessamy Worms
DOP: Giulio Piccirillo
Camera Operator: Hollie Galloway
Location/Cam ops/Sound: Tower Bridge Studios
Production Assistant: Jordan Edwards (HOO)
HMU: Coco
Photographer: Mark Small (HOO)
Editor and GFX: Natalie Meziani
Talent:
Host: Rio Fredrika
Content Creator: Joe Leggett
Content Creator: MK Fray
Audience Testing: Word on the Curb
Managing Director: Hayel Wartemberg
Senior Research & Strategy Consultant: Sheyi Ogunshakin
Senior Project Manager: Char Williams
Research Executive: Lesly Vega
Media Agency: OMD
Race To A Milli
Social media stars. Looks like a bit of a lark, doesn't it? Filming yourself in some luxury location (no doubt given to you free), pulling silly faces and 'emoting' in a bid to win likes, shares, friends... and pots of tech giant advertising cash. No wonder that over half (57%) of Gen Z would choose to be an influencer if given the chance, showing broad appeal across age groups. (Survey by Morning Consult, 2023).
But it ain't all that.
Constantly performing a (exaggerated) version of yourself online can put a real stress on your mental health. And you don't have to be a creator to feel the effects... Research conducted by Childline identified five key sources of digital anxiety that affect teens (aged 13-18) today:
- Always Online — the pressure to constantly be connected
- Trust Issues — uncertainty around what is real and what is not online
- Ask AI — the rising trend of turning to AI for emotional advice
- Rage Baiting — being drawn into emotionally charged or misleading content
- Cringe Culture — fear of judgement for being authentic
We wanted to help Childline warn kids about these dangers... but without being the'boring old people' in the room, patronising them or talking down to them. So we made a cool as f**k film instead. On Blue Monday we launched ‘Race to a Milli’ — a paid social campaign for Childline designed to support the mental health of teenagers aged 13–18.
Race to a What now?
We worked with content creators MK Fray and Joe Leggett in a game show format social experiment. The creators competed against each other in a series of challenges, racing to reach one million likes. What they didn’t know was that Childline was deliberately manipulating the scores to subtly reflect the campaign’s strategic territories. Yeah. Sneaky.
But this wasn't just to be mean. Our approach mirrors the distorted and often unfair realities of social media — reinforcing the message that Childline understands the darker side of digital life and is there to support young people when online pressures begin to affect their real-world mental health.
What follows involves masked men, a lack of black paint, some ridiculous dancing, and some truly eye-opening moments of real world stress. Oh, and quite a few giggles along the way, too. Presenter Rio Fredrika provides the commentary.
But why listen to us telling you about it? Here's MK Fray and Joe sharing their views:
And a few shots of the boys in action (you can see plenty more in the gallery below too, if that sort of thing floats your boat):
Setting the tone
We worked with Word on the Curb, an award-winning 360 audience engagement agency, putting on live sessions with a panel of young people to make sure we weren't doing that Steve Buscemi 'Hi, fellow kids!' meme thing and getting the tone and language wrong for our target audience. Out panel's honest feedback directly shaped the tone, pacing, creator selection, and content style.
Client: Childline
Creative Leads: Kevin Yeates & Sue Nash
Marketing Leads: Rohini Pahl & Courtney Zitola
Social Media Lead: Catriona Boyle
Planning Lead: Verity Burton
Creative Agency: House of Oddities
Executive Creative Directors: Sachini Imbuldeniya & Darren Smith
Head of Creative Operations: Lou Gordon
Project Manager: Vanessa Hyde
Creative Lead: Jordan Edwards
Production: Bag of Worms
Directors: Sachini Imbuldeniya (HOO) & Liam Bagnall
Executive Producer: Jessamy Worms
DOP: Giulio Piccirillo
Camera Operator: Hollie Galloway
Location/Cam ops/Sound: Tower Bridge Studios
Production Assistant: Jordan Edwards (HOO)
HMU: Coco
Photographer: Mark Small (HOO)
Editor and GFX: Natalie Meziani
Talent:
Host: Rio Fredrika
Content Creator: Joe Leggett
Content Creator: MK Fray
Audience Testing: Word on the Curb
Managing Director: Hayel Wartemberg
Senior Research & Strategy Consultant: Sheyi Ogunshakin
Senior Project Manager: Char Williams
Research Executive: Lesly Vega
Media Agency: OMD
