Every Pin Tells A Tale
The Royal British Legion
Issue 49 | December 2018
Agency
Geometry London
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Elspeth Lynn Creative Director Jez Cripps Art Director Josh Crossley Copywriter Stephanie Gane Designers Yan Cucco, Jonathan Heuser AV Editor Michael Friddle
Production Team
TMB Art Metal Managing Director & Founder Christopher Bennett Blippar Developer Edgar Adamovics Project Managers James Mathers, Marie- Claire Lindsay Account Manager Alisa Anantvoranich Royal College of Music Music score
Other Credits
Planner Brendan Sturrock Business Director Karl Turley Senior Account Manager Vicky Yau Project Manager Nathan Royle
Date
2018
Background
The Royal British Legion is a charity that supports veterans of the British Armed forces. Its biggest fundraising campaign each year is the Poppy Appeal, held every year in November around the signing of the armistice to end WW1 at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month 1918. 2018 was the centenary of the end of the war and an unmissable opportunity for the Legion to connect with the British public. The age of the average donor was over 60 so the task was to raise both interest and donations to the Poppy Appeal.
Idea
The Passchendaele Poppy Pin was created as a beautifully crafted tribute to every son, brother and father who died fighting for their country. 60,083 unique poppy pins were made from shells collected from the battlefield and dedicated to an individual soldier who fell. Every pin served as a “voice of the fallen”, providing a direct link to the stories of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives. When the pin was scanned with Blippar on smartphones and tablets, the custombuilt AR experience activated, bridging the physical and digital worlds. The horrible conditions of the infamous battle came to life. When scanned, the mud of the trenches filled around the box and poppy. Next, letters, diary entries, old photographs and fact files emerged from the pin. Users could swipe through the engaging and interactive content to learn more about each soldier’s life and discover their stories, what they achieved in life and who they left behind. The ‘voices of the fallen’ were played along with the animated, hand-written letters.
Results
An incremental £2 million revenue was generated. Thousands of younger donors purchased the pins at a price many times greater than the typical £1 paper poppy.
The pins inspired action. Thousands went online: sharing how they were made, expressing their pride and remembering the soldier commemorated by their pin. Some were even motivated to go on a pilgrimage to Flanders and pay their respects to the soldier they now felt so close to.
The AR experience received a previously unheard of 40% interaction rate, ten times higher than Blippar benchmarks. Users averaged one minute and 14 seconds in the experience, which is more than double the engagement with a traditional TV spot.
Our Thoughts
The centenary of the end of WW1 in the UK this year really did connect with a younger audience. Without being preached to, many millennials discovered for themselves the debt we all owe. In the UK, one in three men under the age of 25 died in that war. New Zealanders, Australians, South Africans, Indians and volunteers from the Caribbean died. Think about it. Imagine 30% of your male friends dying.
Four of my great uncles died. My grandfather was shot and captured. Most families will have stories to tell and that’s what this idea does so movingly. In telling the individual stories of individual soldiers, each pin tells the story of Everyman, every soldier who fought.
Clearly this idea resonated. Several of the pins are on Ebay as I write. One, priced at £155, has had 33 bids, another at £250 has ten people watching to see if the price comes down. A pity the pins are now making money for Ebay merchants rather than for the Legion.