#TRENDTHESYRIANWAR

Title#TRENDTHESYRIANWAR
BrandACTION ALLIANCE FOR DISASTER RELIEF
Product/ServiceACTION ALLIANCE FOR DISASTER RELIEF
Category C03. Data Visualisation
Entrant MRM GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Idea Creation MRM GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Media Placement UM Frankfurt, GERMANY
Additional Company AKTIONSBüNDNIS KATASTROPHENHILFE Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company 2 DAS WERK Frankfurt, GERMANY
Additional Company 3 EQOLOT Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company 4 DEVRIES GLOBAL, GERMANY
Additional Company 5 BLOGGERKARTEI Jena, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Martin Biela MRM Germany Creative Supervision
David Broghammer MRM Germany Strategist
Jerome Cholet McCANN Worldgroup Germany Client Service & PR Director
Karin Stelzner McCANN Worldgroup Germany PR Manager
Eva Reckhard MRM Germany Project Management
Christian Endecott MRM Germany Creative Direction
Nico Köhler MRM Germany Art Direction
Dominik Gerhards MRM Germany Motion Design
Lisa Kläver MRM Germany Social Media
Jelena Stamenkovic MRM Germany Art Direction
Alicia Otto MRM Germany Art Direction
Olaf Haarsma MRM Germany Creative Direction
Hendrik Frey MRM Germany Creative Direction
Mark Hollering MRM Germany Digital
Michael Klaiber MRM Germany Digital
Patrick Thomas MRM Germany Creative Excellence Management
Marcel Nebel Universal McCANN Media
Olga Oster Universal McCANN Media
Karen Braxmair Reprise Media
Kerstin Diehl DeVries Global Berlin Influencer Management
Ulrike Fünfstück Bloggerkartei Influencer Marketing
Lena-Maria Peters Eqolot Influencer Marketing
Franziska Falk Eqolot Influencer Marketing

Describe the creative idea

(Tr)end The Syrian War is a data-driven digital campaign. With the help of Google Trends, we created an algorithm to scan all search terms in Germany. It identified thousands of keywords that are searched for more often than Syria. The search trends were visualized in real-time on our platform. We then used the search data to target users based on their search behavior. The campaign highlights the dramatic lack of interest in the country, plagued by war for ten years.

Describe the execution

What began with protests for more democracy in Syria has since cost the lives of more than half a million people. More than 12 million people have fled or are still running in Syria and neighboring countries. However, the fate of these people hardly plays a role in public. The Syrian war has largely disappeared from our collective memory. Since last year the world has been plagued by a pandemic, which has pushed the war on the backburner. We needed a campaign that doesn't blend in with other more traditionally emotional campaigns to cut through the noise. We needed a campaign that caught users in the act of ignoring the devastating war. The objective was to bring the war in Syria back into the public perception so that people, media, and politics get involved and help again. To cut through all the noise, the Action Alliance for Disaster Relief needed a revolutionary approach. We developed an algorithm for the campaign that evaluates search queries on Google. Google Trends is most commonly used to understand keyword search volume or to identify seasonal trends. We used the data to compare shocking contrasts in our search behavior. Our algorithm identified thousands of search terms that, on average, are more important to the people in Germany than the War in Syria. We used this data to compare the results in real-time on our platform and in our advertisements. This way, we were able to use the data to tell a story in a new way. Because the fact is our search behavior speaks volumes about what's important to us and what's not. The data was integrated into our platform and allowed users to discover Germany's trending topics – or at least those that trend compared to Syria.