Bjoern Kernspeckt, Stese Wagner, Sebastian Kraus, Daniela Schmidt
Ogilvy Germany
Creative Director
Matthias Bauer, Philipp Bertisch, Andreas Richter, Stephan Westerwelle, Joschka Wolf, Colja Lorig, Michael Mogk
Ogilvy Germany
Art Director
Janne Sachse, Anke Roell
Ogilvy Germany
Copywriter
Rochus Landgraf
Ogilvy Germany
Social Media Strategie
Robert Georgi
Ogilvy Germany
Programmer
Carsten Kaiser, Stephen Kimpel, Patricia Podewin, Iskra Velichkova, Samet Akti
Ogilvy Germany
Account Management
Martina Diederichs
Ogilvy Germany
Art Buyer
Lutz Meier
Freelancer
Copy Editor
Dominik Thomas Butzmann
Laif/Agentur für Photos & Reportagen
Photographer
Simon Geis
vividgrey.de
Post Production Press
Georg Ilse
Ogilvy Germany
Agency Producer
Florian Baeker
Tony Petersen Film GmbH
Director, Film Producer
Kathie Fischer
Tony Petersen Film GmbH
Editor
Kris Steininger
Pas de Deux
Music & Sound
Christian Strasser
Europa Verlag, Berlin/Munich/Vienna
Publisher
Anna-Karina Berels, Anna-Lena Daniels, Laura Kolb, Julia Steckel
Ogilvy Germany
Public Relations (Agency)
Claus-Martin Carlsberg
Carlsberg & Richter GmbH & Co. KG
Public Relations (External)
Barbara Stang
Stang PR
Public Relations (External)
Uwe-Karsten Heye, Sophia Oppermann, Rebecca Weis
Gesicht Zeigen! An association encouraging people to stand against racism in Germany
Advertiser's Supervisor
Dr. Stephan Vogel
Ogilvy Germany
Chief Creative Officer
Christian Scholz
Mindshare GmbH
Media Manager
Dietmar Birkner
KINETIC WORLDWIDE GERMANY GMBH
Media Manager
Uschy Koebe, Knud Schlaudraff
H&O Frankfurt
Print Producer
The Campaign
We stand against the re-publication of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" in Germany with an open-minded book: "Mein Kampf – against racism"! Exactly at the same time of publication, taking the same title and layout as the original, our counterbook features 11 ¬people and their courageous struggle against racism. Touching stories of people like Mosche Dagan who survived a concentration camp, the granny Irmela Mensah-Schramm who removes Nazi graffiti or MTV host Wana Limar who had to face hate as a refugee child.
With 11,000 books and 11 different covers available in every bookstore in Germany and via Amazon we are fighting back – using the tumult around the re-publication of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and turning it into a discussion about the society in Germany currently drifting to the right and how to act against it.
Execution
Our campaign made the book “Mein Kampf – against racism“ the relevant topic across society:
- An impactful bookmailing to journalists, blogger and influencers brought the counterbook into the public news: in feuilleton radiostations, in Germany’s most-read newspapers and into the discussion of big talkshows on TV.
- We activated German celebrities as our contributers to push the project even further: Germany’s No.1 late-night talker, MTV hosts, digital leaders, punk rock musicians and actors.
- We presented the book at the biggest German book fair, where it became “one of the most discussed books“ (quote from TV report)
- We organized lectures with our courageous strugglers in bookstores and special locations like the former Nazi headquarter in Berlin.
- A provocative poster campaign rose awareness around bookstores.
- We competed successfully with the reprint of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" at the determining location: in bookstores with special instore advertising material.
With that kind of book we pleasently hit the nerve of time in a Europe moving towards right-wing populism.
After one month, the book with its campaign is a huge success:
- top15 bestseller on Amazon
- first edition of 11,000 books is nearly sold out. 1€ of each book sold is donated
- well attended lectures in bookstores
- a huge social buzz and a media resonance – from frontpage stories in popular newspapers to Thursday night talkshows on TV – led to 645 mio contacts and a gross media equivalency value of 14.8 mio Euro
- we reduced the sentiment ratio of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" by 12 points in social web – that means: people were mobilised to comment against the Nazi manifesto.
"My Struggle – against racism" became "Our Struggle – against racism".
The Situation
Hitler's "Mein Kampf", the Nazi propaganda book, can be published once again in Germany after its 70-year copyright expired. The re-publication has unleashed fierce debate in a country struggling against new hate preachers and violent right-wing extremism increasing every day.
To fight back we created an open-minded book: "Mein Kampf – against racism"! Taking the same title and layout as the original, the book features 11 people and their struggle against racism. A book as a spectacular trigger for the PR and social media campaign in order to ignite discussion about the society in Germany currently drifting to the right.
The Strategy
The book and the campaign should
1. reclaim the conception of the two words “Mein Kampf” from the Nazis
2. create a spectacular trigger for PR and social media to talk about the current situation of the society in Germany
3. inspire and encourage everyone in Germany to stand up against right-wing extremism in daily life.
Limited by a small budget our communication strategy focused on earned media with PR and social media. Therefor we implemented 11 strugglers against racism with regional PR relevance and 3 celebrities with national meaning and reach in the book. They built the connecting points to regional and national media.
And we made everyone who bought the book an activist against racism, too: not just in social media as a multiplier, but also because 1 Euro from every book sold is donated to the association "Gesicht Zeigen!“.