ADOLF'S ONLINE STRATEGY

TitleADOLF'S ONLINE STRATEGY
BrandGESICHT ZEIGEN! AN ASSOCIATION ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO STAND AGAINST RACISM IN GER
Product/ServiceGESICHT ZEIGEN!
Category A13. Not-for-profit / Charity/ Government
Entrant OGILVY GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Idea Creation OGILVY GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Production SINUS AV STUDIO Frankfurt, GERMANY
Additional Company GESICHT ZEIGEN! 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
Lars Kellner Sinus AV Production GmbH Sound Engineer
Leni Riefenstahl Freelancer (+) Director
Mathias Koehler Ogilvy Avid Studio Editor
Sophia Oppermann, Rebecca Weis Gesicht Zeigen! Für ein weltoffenes Deutschland e.V. Advertiser's Supervisor

Background

Fascism is conquering the internet. Right-wing populists are abusing the web and using social networks to attract people through propaganda. 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.

Describe the strategy

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. Therefore we had to raise awareness for the imminent danger of the abusement of the web and misuse of the social networks by right-wing extremists. Our strategy: reveal the truth in the most spectacular way in order to a) spread the news and b) drive traffic to the website and make people become member of “Gesicht Zeigen!”.

Describe the execution

To show the imminent danger of social media in the wrong hands, we made Adolf Hitler himself explain the right-wing social media state. Through a reworked version of the Nazi propaganda film “Triumph des Willens” we enabled Hitler to share his online strategy in an online video. Stating how he wants to attract and mobilize new followers in the future. We let Hitler mention the big social media platforms he wants to misuse – exactly on these we launched the film! We spread Hitler’s Online Strategy by involving a network of 300,000 influencers.

List the results

Our campaign hit hearts everywhere. Adolf’s Online Strategy 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. YouTube stopped our video in 30 countries, but that didn’t stop us (from uploading the videos again and again, also on other platforms). We kept on going and generated a lot of attention. 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 100% higher than in the months before the campaign.