SEARCH RACISM. FIND TRUTH.

Short List
TitleSEARCH RACISM. FIND TRUTH.
BrandREFUGEES WELCOME
Product/ServiceREFUGEES WELCOME
Category A08. Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages
Entrant FCB ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND
Idea Creation FCB ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND
Media Placement FCB ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND
Media Placement 2 INITIATIVE MEDIA Zurich, SWITZERLAND
PR EHRENBERG KOMMUNIKATION Hamburg, GERMANY
Production FCB ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND
Additional Company TONSTUDIOS Z Zurich, SWITZERLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Dennis Lück FCB Zürich Chief Creative Officer
Andy Lusti FCB Zürich Creative Director
Hanja Baruschke FCB Zürich Creative Director Digital
Sarah Ming FCB Zürich Copywriter
Olivia Schläpfer FCB Zürich Art Direction
Fabian Sigg FCB Zürich Art Direction
Elgee David Wee FCB Zürich Art Direction
Lia Bellini FCB Zürich Art Direction
Emanuel Büchler FCB Zürich Content Developer
Marco Frei FCB Zürich Content Developer
Mark Becher FCB Zürich Client Service Director
Mirjam Milenkovic FCB Zürich Account Director
Michael Hürlimann FCB Zürich Account Director
Sharon Nehrenheim FCB Zürich Account Director
Nina Hinkelmann FCB Zürich Account Director
Aleksandar Sofranac FCB Zürich Frontend Developer/Designer
Snezana Tadic Ehrenberg Kommunikation PR
Peter Fobe Ehrenberg Kommunikation PR
Giulia Ciarla Initiative Media
Jazmin Suriel Initiative Media
Renzo D’Alberto Tonstudios Z Sounddesign

The Campaign

The idea was that courageous refugees stand up against the digital hate preachers: right before the racist videos on YouTube. Unskippable pre roll ads should leave right-wing extremists with no choice but to stop and think about the refugees and their arguments. So we disturbed them on their way to consume racist material by giving them the chance to watch the story of a refugee instead of listening to more prejudices and hate. Additionally, we booked terrible Google Ad words to lead the viewer directly to the stories of the refugees.

Creative Execution

With a combination of channel and keyword targeting 10 spots were shown as unskippable ads in front of over 100 racist videos on YouTube. All of them disproved common prejudices with hard facts, surprising revelations or humor and anticipated the content of the following videos. Additionally, terrible Google Ad words were booked to lead the users to the spots of the refugees. So the racists where confronted with their biggest fear for the first time and face to face. At the end of each video the refugee appealed to better watch his or her story instead of listening to more prejudice. With the button “Skip prejudice” the viewer was led to the story of the particular refugee and invited to change his thoughts about their – till then – objects of hate.

The news of courageous refugees trolling nazi content?went viral – already on the second day they were published. In only one week the campaign got 160.358.977* views on different news platforms and blogs. Furthermore 1.213.059* social shares could be reached. We also achieved 12.2 million in earned media. But even better: “Refugees welcome” received an unbelievable boost of 723%* in donations that will be used to integrate many more refugees into the German communities and culture. (*status end of April 2016)

We placed 10 different spots of refugees as unskippable pre roll ads in front of over 100 racist videos on YouTube. A complex combination of channel targeting (YouTube) and keyword targeting on (Google) complemented by extensive research made that possible. Furthermore the booking of the worst Ad words like “refugees out” or “Muslim infiltration” led users to the disarming clips of the refugees. So the campaign used existing online media in a very new and creative way as the target group – namely racists – did not find what they had expected.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The strongest weapon of the far right is the internet, where hate can be spread easily. To address the right people we went where racists are and beat them with their own weapons. Thanks to a complex combination of channel (YouTube) and keyword targeting (Google) complemented by the placement before very specifically selected videos we achieved maximum attention. Unskippable pre roll ads allowed us to confront the right-wing extremists on their personal digital device. The booking of the worst Ad words like “refugees out”, “fuck merkel” or “muslim infiltration” leads users normally to the right-wing extremist material. But thanks to our campaign those who looked up xenophobic terms were lured to the disarming clips of the refugees. The videos themselves led to a campaign page where people could learn more about the refugees, their stories and the truth.