RAND is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose work spans research, policy, and education. In 2018 they published a report on what they describe as the greatest existential threat we face today: ‘Truth Decay’ or the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life. They came to us to translate the research into a format that got young, intellectually curious audiences to understand the problem and take action against it. Our campaign resulted in over 43M impressions and 1.7M video views to date.
Talking about Truth Decay in today’s polarized information system comes with a unique set of challenges. It’s an issue few fully understand yet one that most people seem to have a knee-jerk reaction to — equating it with other issues like ‘fake news’ or blaming it on the ‘other side’ of the political continuum and just scrolling on. Of course, it’s more complicated than that. Truth Decay is a systemic problem with multiple drivers and feedback loops and we’re all complicit in its spread.
We quickly realized that delivering this message and getting people to understand the full extent of the issue wasn’t going to be accomplished with quick hit headlines or a splashy stunt. We had to create space to unpack the layers and the nuances and lay out the system and stakes.
Moreover, to reference RAND’s research — challenging people’s preconceived notions and introducing new information requires a ‘trusted messenger.’
We chose to partner with YouTube creators who could take the message to their audiences in their own voices and styles. We weren’t trying to build out a traditional influencer program and tap as many creators as we could. Instead, the people we worked with had to meet a rigorous set of criteria: a strong research based approach and commitment to the scientific process, a handle on demystifying complexity, a non-partisan lens, and an engaged audience who sought out their content to learn new things. This partnership approach led to a larger organic reach, and even resulted in MinuteEarth's video being featured on the YouTube Learn page.
Both pieces got great organic traction and drove genuine reflection and conversation in the comments. We use words like “results” and “impact” in a lot of contexts, but this is one of the few times it didn’t feel like jargon. Ultimately, beginning to solve this massive and complex rubber band ball of a problem really comes down to shifting how individuals interact with information and each other.
We also created an awareness campaign that drove audiences outside the creators’ channels to the content. Instead of painting a grim picture of the issue or oversimplifying the research, we raised questions about our present context that the content and report could help answer.
The visual language for the campaign was intentionally pared back to avoid feeling ‘over-designed’ and disingenuous while still being impactful. We leaned on sound design to bring the world to life, marrying audio with tactile visual effects.
The first phase of work was all about introducing Truth Decay to the audience and getting them to understand the intricacies of the issue. The second phase was about giving them tangible ways to combat Truth Decay online and offline.
43.1MImpressions
1.7MTotal Video Views