This document outlines the mission and strategy of an organization called Muslims Against Violence. Their mission is to counter extremism and promote peace through creative media campaigns. They follow a 4-week development process that includes empathy, ideation, prototyping, testing, iteration, and release of content. Their goals are to create engaging, viral, and persuasive content for both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences. Examples provided include a short film showing human empathy and an interactive website exploring diversity within Islam. Finances and recruitment will be addressed as the organization grows. Their next ideation session begins on July 5th to start the 4-week process.

1. MUSLIMS AGAINST VIOLENCE
Playbook
rev. 2016-06-29

2. MUSLIMS AGAINST VIOLENCE | MISSION

3. What does that mean?

4. In 2014, 126 of the most respected imams in the
world signed a letter against ISIS, called “Letter
to Baghdadi”.
We derive our message from this letter.

5. Our Primary Message Points
Killing innocent people is wrong
Extremists believe killing innocent people is justified
and will be guarantee heaven. We have to end this.
Humanize everyone
From unequal media coverage of atrocities, to the
normalizing of murder, human value is not perceived
equally throughout the world.
Anyone who says they’re Muslim
must be taken as Muslim
Scholars agree. While certain Muslims may betray
Islam, they are still Muslim. This becomes our strength
as we can clearly call out their desecration.
Countering the rise of violence and hate
is our responsibility
“A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has
come for us.” - Martin Luther King
We have to take action immediately
Global hatred is on the rise. It’s not gonna wait for us..

6. Well what makes us different?
And why should anyone care?

7. Values
Just Do It
Consistent release dates.
Think Different
Approach problems with creative confidence.
Reflective
We will continuously gather data for analysis
and reflection.
All-inclusive
We will take into account all different kinds
of sects and ideologies related to our cause.
Platform-agnostic
We will target the audience in a way optimal
to their habits.
“If Buzzfeed fought violent Muslim
extremism.”

8. Quality Requirements
Captivating
Will the audience find it engaging?
Viral
Will the audience find it worth sharing organically?
Persuasive
Does it communicate the desired message to the defined audience?

9. Tone
Empathize with the Audience
Example: Listening to Trump supporters and trying to understand the motivation behind the anger.
Example: Trying to understand deeper root issues that may play into anger from ISIS sympathizers.
Example: Understand the reasons behind apathy from certain moderate audiences.
Embrace Honesty
Certain facts and data will be uncomfortable. Others will not play neatly into our or others worldview.
We will embrace that.
Strive for Peace
Even with uncomfortable truths, deep resentments, and ‘being right’, striving for peace is the only
option that will actually make people’s live better.

10. Let’s be clear: we’re an organization, not a fad.

11. So... how?

12. 4 week release cycle
Development Process

13. Development Process
Empathy
Observe and listen to defined audience without prejudice.
Define
Audience to release for and problem to solve. Most likely some sort of persuasion
Consider personnel realities and capabilities. Remember, release must uphold
quality requirements.
week 1

14. Development Process
Ideate + Storyboard
Generate as many ideas as possible as to how to reach the audience.
Think about how to gain attention, retain attention, persuade with new information, and
persuade to share.
Make content the way that audience tends to consume information., i.e. Snapchat for youth
audiences, FB for more global digital audiences, maybe a comedy skit for the ever ironic
American millennial.
Think about everything that can grab attention: videos (long-form/short-form), fictional, non
fictional, funny, serious, apps, commercials, billboards, etc.
week 1 (cont’d)

15. Development Process
Prototype
Research and build working prototypes of ideas worth exploring.
This is given a 1 week timeframe to create something that can be presented to an
test audience.
Total dev time will be 2.5 weeks, with weeks 3-4 being iterative development.
week 2

16. Development Process
Feedback
Test on small groups for feedback and refinement.
If tests completely fail, go back to “Ideate”.
Upon satisfactory product, move to release preparation.
Iterate
Based on feedback refine and iterate on prototype.
week 3-4

17. Development Process
Release
Prepare content
If possible, release to a small group on that medium first to test.
Prepare followers
send email blast before release to loyal subscribers and followers on something coming up to
share.
Release
Upon release, make sure a large number of people share, i.e. at least 20.
week 4

18. Development Process
Promote
Use promotions budget if possible, i.e. Facebook ads, etc. Try street teams, viral techniques, etc.
Gather
Create data gathering strategies.
Reflect
Reflect on data and gauge success metrics. Success metrics can include views, shares, VIP reach,
press coverage, viral stage, strength of persuasion, etc.
Learn
Learn from reflection to improve quality, strategy, etc.
post-release

19. Examples
Non Muslim Audience
We Hear You
To those who don’t believe in racism or Islamophobia, but you can’t help but ask, “Why is this happening from
Muslims so much?” We hear you.
Last words
A short film showing a 911 respondent listening to an old guy dying after a car accident and consoling him. The
911 respondent happens to be a hijabi, but the movie plays it very subtle and never talks about her religion. It
focuses on her showing empathy to someone dying. This communicates that Muslims can be both engaging
members of the community and generally good people without obvious message heavy content, which tends to
turn apathetic American audiences off.

20. Examples
Muslim Audience
Are you sure?
A warning message to those Muslims who contemplate killing innocent people.
The Muslim Genome Project
An interactive website/infographic exploring different kinds of Muslims, what they believe, and where it comes
from (different kinds of hadith, Qur’an, etc). (Sunni, Shia, Radical, Spiritual, Subcultures, etc)
Imam Google
A informative video analysis on the health of researching Islam on Google, which is the primary location of
knowledge about Islam from both Muslim extremists and non Muslim.

21. Finances
TBD
We are all doing this for free or have invested our own funds right now. As we
grow (and get a finance manager), we will deliberate on financial strategy.

22. Recruitment
We will aggressively recruit people who provide technical skills needed for us
to communicate in desired mediums. Currently, that includes graphic
designers, animators, video editors, Adobe Creative Suite ninjas, researchers,
web programmers, & data scientists.

23. What now?
Post-Release
Various engagement opportunities with our latest production
Schedule
Ideate beginning next week Tuesday: July 5th, 2016