Switch to main content

L'Enfant Bleu | Havas Play

Amplifying L’Enfant Bleu’s Child Protection Mission Through Creativity and Media Innovation

  • Service

    • Gaming
    • Print

  • Industry

    • Political & Non-Profit

With a clear mission to protect children from abuse, L’Enfant Bleu has partnered with Havas Play for years to ensure their name and cause are widely recognized. Together, they’ve launched innovative campaigns to raise awareness, encourage action, and inspire change in how society approaches child protection. Their groundbreaking work, from Undercover Avatar to The Hidden Story, is just the beginning. As their partnership continues, they remain committed to using creativity and media as a force for social change, with more campaigns planned to expand their reach and protect children worldwide.

L’Enfant Bleu & Havas Play: Joining Forces to Combat Child Abuse

In 2020, L’Enfant Bleu, a French NGO dedicated to protecting children from abuse, teamed up with Havas Play to amplify their mission. Since the beginning, the objective of this collaboration has been to increase public awareness about child abuse in France, ensuring that L’Enfant Bleu becomes a recognized name across the country. By making their cause more visible, the aim was to encourage individuals to contact the NGO when they suspect cases of abuse. 

The partnership between L’Enfant Bleu and Havas Play kicked off with the highly acclaimed “Undercover Avatar” campaign, which became the most awarded campaign of 2021 on the WARC Media 100. Since then, they have launched The Hidden Story” and several other impactful initiatives, which have all received acclaim for their role in safeguarding children and educating the public on the importance of child protection.

Undercover Avatar: A Lifeline in a Virtual World

Undercover Avatar

Amid global lockdowns in 2020, children increasingly turned to video games as a means of escape and entertainment. Havas Play and L’Enfant Bleu identified this digital refuge as a unique opportunity to offer help to those in danger. They launched “Undercover Avatar,” a campaign within the massively popular game Fortnite, which boasts over 380 million registered players, many of whom are children. 

The campaign introduced a virtual character, designed not to win games, but to listen to children who might be suffering from abuse. This undercover avatar acted as a confidant, allowing children to share their experiences in a space where they felt safe—an environment still largely outside the watchful eyes of their abusers. The operation was carefully planned, with the first phase conducted in secrecy to prevent abusers from catching on. The avatar was live 24/7 for a month, during which it received 1,200 friend requests from children, 30% of which were related to dangerous situations requiring urgent intervention.

Undercover Avatar Fortnite

Once the campaign concluded, a massive PR effort ensued, spreading awareness of the initiative through France and beyond. The results were staggering: over 700 million media impressions, widespread coverage in French newspapers, and even recognition from international authorities like the FBI. Most importantly, it demonstrated the potential of video games as a tool for child protection, leading the French government to establish a task force to explore further collaborations between game developers and child welfare organizations.

“Undercover Avatar” not only transformed the lives of countless children but also made waves in the industry, becoming the most recognized campaign of 2021 for its groundbreaking innovation and social impact.

  • #1

    2022 WARC Media 100

    World’s Most Awarded Campaign

  • Grand Prix

    2021 WARC Awards for Media

  • Grand Prix

    2021 iab MIXX Awards Europe

  • Gold

    Cannes Lions

The Hidden Story: Educating Parents in a Digital Age

The Hidden Story Book

Three years later, building on the success of “Undercover Avatar,” Havas Play and L’Enfant Bleu turned their attention to another growing threat: the overexposure of children on social media by their own parents. This phenomenon, known as “sharenting,” poses significant risks, with half of the images on child pornography forums reportedly originating from photos parents themselves shared publicly. In response, the team created “The Hidden Story,” a children’s book with a dual purpose: to entertain children and to subtly educate parents about the dangers of sharenting. 

The book tells the tale of a girl named Emma and her beloved teddy bear. As parents read the story to their children, they learn about the seemingly harmless act of sharing photos on social media. However, the book then prompts them to reimagine the story, this time considering the teddy bear as their child and the bear’s fans as online predators. The chilling realization of how easily innocent images can be misused struck a chord with parents across France.

The Hidden Story Poster

The campaign was launched during the summer of 2023, a peak time for family photo sharing. The book, available both in print and digitally, was distributed through major retail outlets and promoted via DOOH spaces across the country. The initiative quickly gained traction, with over 800,000 parents reading the story. The widespread impact even caught the attention of the French Prime Minister, leading to a historic moment: France became the first country to pass a law protecting children’s image rights online. 

“The Hidden Story” has emerged as one of the most impactful media initiatives in recent years, earning widespread recognition at prestigious festivals.

  • Grand Prix

    2024 Internationalist Awards for Innovation in Media

  • Gold

    2024 Festival of Media Global

  • Gold

    2024 M&M Global Awards

  • Winner

    Adweek Media Plan of the Year

A Journey of Innovation and Advocacy

The collaboration between Havas Play and L’Enfant Bleu has shown that the intersection of creativity, media, and advocacy can yield powerful results. Beyond “Undercover Avatar” and “The Hidden Story”, the partnership has set a new standard for how NGOs and agencies can work together to address complex social issues. 

Looking to the future, Havas Play and L’Enfant Bleu are committed to expanding their efforts. They are exploring new digital platforms and innovative methods to continue protecting children. They are already working on multiple campaigns for 2024, promising to push the boundaries of creative advocacy even further as they continue their mission to safeguard children worldwide. 

At Havas Play, we believe that ideas can change the world—but only when they resonate with communities. Supporting L'Enfant Bleu is a true commitment for our entire agency. Each year, we strive to push the boundaries of creative media to craft content, experiences, and stories that raise awareness among children about the association's support, while educating parents on the dangers of today's world.
Fabrice Plazolles
Chief Creative Officer, Havas Play France