MARCH OF
THE LIVING
EVERY YEAR ON HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY, MARCH OF THE LIVING UK ARRANGES FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TO LEAD THOUSANDS ON A 3KM WALK FROM THE GATES OF AUSCHWITZ TO THE GAS CHAMBERS AT BIRKENAU, WHERE OVER A MILLION VICTIMS WERE MURDERED BY THE NAZIS, AS PART OF AN IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE.
In 2021, with travel to Poland not possible due to the pandemic, Frank was tasked with bringing the concept closer to home. With Holocaust survivors decreasing in number, time was running out for the survivors to share their testimonies and the charity needed a medium to do that.
As a result, we created a series of films – ‘Meet The Survivors’ – where we paired up leading British celebrities and influencers Matt Lucas, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Robert Peston, Baroness Karren Brady and Eyal Booker with some of the Holocaust survivors who would have normally led the march, to create a series of emotional, hugely moving, inspirational and educational films. The walks and talks were then edited into a series of five individual 15-25-minute films which went live on Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 8th. We worked with each celebrity to maximise the promotion of ‘their’ film via their social media channels, producing cut-down versions and clips and providing still photography and other relevant collateral.
We then used the release of the series of films as a news hook on Holocaust Remembrance Day and secured significant coverage where survivors were interviewed by broadcasters such as Sky News, ITV News and BBC News, who also shared clips of their ‘Meet the Survivors’ films. This included a 15-minute piece with Eyal Booker and survivor, Mala Tribich, on Channel 5 News. These segments drove traffic to the YouTube site to watch the full versions. More importantly, they significantly increased Holocaust education awareness, the primary objective of the campaign.
March of the Living UK’s ‘Meet The Survivors’ content series was watched by 973,000 people across YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and via surrounding social and traditional media activity, increasing Holocaust education substantially which was the key objective of the campaign. Through the surrounding PR activation, an additional 38.6 million people were reached via traditional and broadcast media, alongside the wider social campaign, who as a result are now more aware of the Holocaust.
