HITLER HASHTAG

Gold Eurobest

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleHITLER HASHTAG
BrandGESICHT ZEIGEN! AN ASSOCIATION ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO STAND AGAINST RACISM IN GER
Product/ServiceGESICHT ZEIGEN! AN ASSOCIATION ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO STAND AGAINST RACISM IN GER
Category B01. Posters
Entrant OGILVY GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Idea Creation OGILVY GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Media Placement KINETIC WORLDWIDE Frankfurt, GERMANY
PR OGILVY Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Production H&O FRANKFURT, GERMANY
Additional Company GESICHT ZEIGEN! Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company 2 KARSTEN WEGENER PHOTOGRAPHY Berlin, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Dr. Stephan Vogel Ogilvy Germany Chief Creative Officer
Tim Stuebane Ogilvy Germany Managing Director Creative
Philipp Bertisch, Stephan Westerwelle Ogilvy Germany Art Director
Holly Attril, Anke Roell Ogilvy Germany Copywriter
Max Brunner, Constanze Kobe Ogilvy Germany Account Management
Martina Diederichs Ogilvy Germany Art Buyer
Karsten Wegener Karsten Wegener Photography Photographer
Patrik Huelsmann, Christina Hohoff, Christine Fritz, Carolin Bub Ogilvy Public Relations GmbH PR
Alexander Pfaff H&O Frankfurt GmbH Post Production
Sophia Oppermann, Rebecca Weis Gesicht Zeigen! An association encouraging people to stand against racism in Germany Advertiser's Supervisor

Background

Fascism is conquering the internet. Right-wing populists and agitators are abusing the web and using social networks to attract people through propaganda. Their aim: to shift society to the right-wing. As the world drifts further to the right, the small anti-racism organization “Gesicht Zeigen!” (well known from their project “Mein Kampf against racism”) strives to fight back by recruiting new supporting members. To be successful with nearly no budget in the battle against racism, the non-profit organization needed to recruit new supporting members, through a very eye-opening, outstanding and provoking campaign.

Describe the creative idea

To show the imminent danger of social media in the wrong hands, we created a symbol. Starting with an icon that reigns supreme on the internet: the hashtag. By simply adding a specific background to the symbol we completely changed its meaning, directly referring to the Nazi swastika. The Hitler Hashtag was born.

Describe the execution

We kicked off the campaign with huge Hitler Hashtag flags in the heart of Berlin’s political district – like the Nazis did with their swastika flags in front of their buildings.

List the results

Our campaign hit hearts everywhere and young influencers joined the fight against racism. The Hitler Hashtag became a relevant topic with more than 850,000 likes and 76 million contacts. Via earned media an equivalent of € 4.9 million was generated. Even right-wing extremists spoke about us. But more important: so did the people who wanted to take a stand against racism. Attracting 550% more new members per month to “Gesicht Zeigen” than usual. After the campaign period of 4 weeks the rate decreased, but is still 80% higher than in the months before the campaign.