Nearly one in three teens suffer at the hands of bullying online according to Ditch the Label's recent survey on cyberbullying. In the myriad of consequences of social media usage on consumers’ collective wellbeing, the impact and prevalence of cyber-bullying is one of the most worrying trends of recent years.

Online hate speech is an issue that is coming under greater scrutiny across the industry, with the potentially damaging impact on young people at the top of the agenda. This is why Unilever’s Simple brand teaming up with Ditch the Label is such a powerful and timely partnership. This campaign, launched by TMW Unlimited, is effective as far from simply highlighting the problem of cyber-bullying; it helps to provide a tangible solution.

Launched last week to coincide with Stop Cyberbullying Day, the campaign is supported by a custom chat bot allows users to access online support, as well as building an online support hub to offer advice to teens on online bullying.

Simple began its partnership with Little Mix last year, with a marketing message rooted in kindness. In a marketing ecosystem in which authenticity is both grossly overused and misunderstood, this campaign can justly be described as a genuinely authentic partnership. This is primarily because the band have long been vocal about the impact of criticism via social media on their mental wellbeing, helping to drive a new narrative to break down the stigmas that still surround mental health.

As Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson explained to Ditch the Label, “I think the more you talk about [mental health], it’s like a weight being lifted off your shoulders. I think especially with social media we have this huge platform which we want to use to talk about this kind of stuff and be positive. I guess we hope it would combat some of the negativity online as well.”

It might appear trite to single out kindness as an emerging and important trend in marketing, but as this campaign so aptly shows, in a brutal digital ecosystem, empathy is a clear brand advantage. Empathy remains an under-utilised, yet hugely powerful tool for brands.