Stalker Challenge

Linas Migonis, Creative Director Jurgis Ramanauskas, Head of Art Laurynas Rėčkus, Creative Copywriter Vytis Gruzdys, Graphic Designer Kristina Kukarevičiūte, Account Executive Patricija Andrijaitytė, Colorist / Motion Graphics Designer

Lithuanian Police still has an old-fashioned institution vibe, and information about career opportunities within the police is either lacking or not clearly presented. This is particularly important for detectives, as the recruitment process appears complicated to the public, and the profession is shrouded in myths. It's little known that there are four ways to become a detective, and it's not at all necessary to be a long-time police employee, have connections, or have an inside track, as it might seem at first glance.  We had to break down this myth and show that the police is a modern, attractive workplace where work is not only crucial to society but also incredibly interesting. The work of investigators is full of challenges – every day, they have to analyze various crime-related materials, investigate them, and identify criminals. Although the work sounds very exciting, the detective profession is quite unpopular in Lithuania – there's currently a shortage of about 700 of these officers.  The target audience for this message included both young people who are still uncertain about their career path, as well as those who already have education or even work in the police but are looking for new opportunities. With such a broad audience, we faced the challenge of how to capture their attention and interest them in the rather unusual profession of a detective.  We identified a fascinating parallel between everyday social media behavior and investigative work – "stalking." People regularly conduct informal investigations on Instagram: researching potential employers, exploring celebrities' lives, or screening potential dates. We transformed these familiar skills into an immersive game that highlighted their connection to real detective work. Our solution was the "Stalker Challenge" – an interactive mystery game on Instagram where participants had to find a missing girl named Aurelija. Working with actual detectives, we crafted an authentic human trafficking narrative with clues hidden across 15 Instagram accounts. Using AI, we generated over 300 visuals with carefully placed clues in posts, captions, and comments, creating a complex yet engaging investigative experience. Upon finishing the challenge, the virtual detectives were invited to a special informational landing page with all of the available options for those who want to become an actual police detective. We launched with a video campaign, supported by social media content, digital advertising, popular podcasts, and influencers. The campaign received around 20 media publications, including coverage in the country's largest news portals 15min.lt, Tv3.lt, and diena.lt, as well as features on TV shows "Labas rytas, Lietuva" (public broadcaster, LRT) and "Labas vakaras, Lietuva" (one of the most popular commercial TVs in the country, LNK).  Results significantly exceeded objectives: approximately 100,000 game sessions (double our 50K goal), 733,000 reach, and 2.5% CTR. About 9,000 people successfully solved the case, while over 4,000 explored information about becoming detectives – four times our target of 1,000 interested candidates. All achieved with just €3,000 in advertising spend.