Own Your Online challenges Kiwi to ask “How Exposed Am I?” in new campaign via Special Wellington, Assembly and MBM
Over 4.3 million New Zealand account details are exposed to scammers. This unsettling new stat released by the National Cyber Security Centre is at the heart of Own Your Online’s latest campaign launched during Cyber Smart Week (Oct 6–12), which challenges Kiwi to discover just how much of their own information is revealed to scammers online. And the stakes are more personal than ever.
Says Penny Tunnicliffe, Own Your Online Marketing Manager: “Research shows our toughest audience is pretty cavalier when it comes to online security. To make it relevant, we needed to make them feel personally vulnerable.”
Bethany Omeri, Head of Strategy at Special Wellington adds: “Our audience denies they’ll fall for scammers, so we designed the campaign to prove the undeniable: that scammers have access to your personal info whether you like it or not. How protected it is, is up to you.”
‘How Exposed Am I?’ is a digital tool that analyses over 73 billion data points in real time, to reveal which of your personal information scammers could have access to – and what you should do to protect yourself.
Taking users on an emotive and educational journey, the tool analyses a user’s personal email address against a growing dataset of public global breaches.
Matt von Trott, Founding Partner at Assembly says: “Every user’s own digital footprint is presented as an intimate, unsettling look into what scammers could have access to – and a hyper-personal case for why their own online security is important.”
The experience culminates in each exposed user receiving a unique Exposure Score, highlighting their own susceptibility to being scammed online – and showing how simple protections like long, unique passwords and 2FA can lower their exposure to scams.
“To make our message confronting, we had to make it personal.” says Mark Forgan, Executive Creative Director at Special Wellington. “Everyone we’ve tested the experience with shares the same sense of ick; if this tool knows so much about you, how much could a scammer find out?”
The tool launched with a film also crafted by Assembly that highlights the 360 picture scammers can create of someone through their digital footprint. It sets out to unsettle by showing how our everyday interactions with the internet can become sinister when viewed through the voyeuristic lens of a scammer.
Targeted media placements pinpoint specific information scammers could reveal about you. Kaitlin Mitchell, Business Director at MBM says: “From dating apps to social, email to financial accounts, we’re hitting people right in the places where their information could be stolen and used against them. Reminding them in relevant moments to protect their accounts, right then and there.”
Matt Barnes, Lead Business Partner at Special Wellington adds: “Just like scammers are getting smarter in the way they get to us, we needed a smart way to make this message relevant for individuals and business owners across Aotearoa. With some great media pick-up so far, the campaign is already working its socks off during Cyber Smart Week.”
See your own personal Exposure Score at howexposedami.co.nz
