| Title | FRONT LETTERS |
| Brand | N-TV NACHRICHTENFERNSEHEN |
| Product/Service | TV DOCUMENTARY "WORLD WAR I" |
| Category |
A05. PUBLICATIONS |
|
Entrant Company
|
SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
|
|
Advertising Agency
|
SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
|
Credits
| Alexander Schill |
Serviceplan |
Chief Creative Officer |
| Cosimo Moeller |
Serviceplan |
Executive Creative Director |
| Claudio Keleminic |
Serviceplan |
Copywriter |
| Valerie Koch |
Serviceplan |
Copywriter |
| Claudio Aragon Bartsch |
Serviceplan |
Art Director/Graphic Design |
| Stefanie Paulus |
Serviceplan |
Art Director |
| Gary Scheicher |
Serviceplan |
Account Supervisor |
| Daniel Albrecht |
Servieplan |
Account Supervisor |
| Florian Panier |
Serviceplan |
Executive Creative Producer |
| Eduardo Garcia |
German Wahnsinn |
Music Producer |
Brief Explanation
We developed a mailing that would engage opinion leaders and journalists across Germany so deeply that they would spread the word about our mailing and the documentary in the media: because the senders were real soldiers, and the letters were dispatched directly from the WWI frontline.
We bought hundreds of original documents from WWI: handwritten letters by soldiers reporting “live“ about life at the front. Together with a program announcement, they were dispatched in authentic field mail parcels. This didn’t just act as a haunting teaser for our miniseries, but also made an all but forgotten war come alive again.
The Brief
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, n-tv, one of Germany’s biggest news stations, broadcasted “World War I“, a primetime documentary in three parts that gave audiences intimate insights into this devastating war.
Our briefing was to develop an attention-grabbing promotion that advertises the documentary and its gripping content while making the topic emotionally accessible.
How the final design was conceived
We didn’t just buy hundreds of authentic documents and photographs, we also sent these hand-written time capsules off in authentic field mail parcels bought at auction and stamped them with custom-designed postmarks. This didn’t just make World War I come alive to our target group of opinion leaders, journalists and history buffs – it also became a monument against one of the worst humanitarian disasters of all time.
Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market
The mailing was sent to opinion leaders or multipliers in publishing houses and the trade press. Their published articles generated further attention for the documentary, which became apparent in the numbers the broadcast reached: a market share of 1,5% and an average of 90.000 viewers.