Title	ADOLF'S ONLINE STRATEGY
Brand	GESICHT ZEIGEN! AN ASSOCIATION ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO STAND AGAINST RACISM IN GER
Product/Service	GESICHT ZEIGEN!
Category	A12. 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

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

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Our campaign with no budget hit hearts everywhere and young influencers joined the fight against racism. Hitler’s online strategy became a relevant topic with thousands of likes and millions of contacts via earned media. 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.

Background

Fascism is conquering the internet. Right-wing populists are abusing the web and using social networks to attract people through propaganda. Their aim: to shift society to the right-wing. The small anti-racism organization “Gesicht Zeigen!” (well known from their project “Mein Kampf against racism”) strives to fight back.

Describe the creative idea

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!

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!”. We kicked off the campaign in the heart of Berlin’s political district, involved the press and spread the film by involving a network of 300,000 influencers.

Describe the execution

We kicked off the campaign in the heart of Berlin’s political district with a stunning installation and the presentation of the film in front of the press. Simultaneously, we spread the film by involving a network of 300,000 young influencers with a focus on Germany. We had one big bang PR event followed by the engagement of influencers and additional journalists within the next three days to create a strong impact on media platforms and social media channels. After a few days, when YouTube stopped our video in 30 countries, the campaign got an additional awareness push!

List the results

Our campaign hit hearts everywhere and young influencers joined the fight against racism. 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.