Why do?

Background

Think Big is O2’s initiative dedicated to helping young people make a difference. As part of the initiative, we got together with 22 year-old youth volunteer Sabian Muhammad to help him bridge the generation gap. By using innovative technology, a live online question and answer service was set up for adults to gain a better understanding of young people. Using the service. they could ask a team of volunteers under 25 years old questions about why they do the things they do. Hence the name of the project: ‘Why Do’

To drive traffic to the site and encourage debate, a first person interactive adventure 'What's your street age?’, put users in the shoes of a young person to see how they fared.  This was directed by Mat Whitecross (‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’, ‘The Road to Guantanamo’) and hosted on O2’s Facebook page. The campaign was also supported with Facebook polls, pre-rolls and PR.

During the campaign 170,000 people calculated their Street Age on Facebook, while O2's Facebook Likes went up by a massive 68%.  85,000 people visited the 'Why Do' hub and asked the volunteer young people 2,500 questions – all without any above-the-line media presence.