KPN | EVERT_45 | 2018
A Voice from 1945, Speaking to You on Social Media / KPN "EVERT_45"
What if a boy living in 1945 had filmed vlogs just like kids do today? KPN actually turned that idea into real posts on YouTube and Instagram.
The problem
In the Netherlands, the number of war veterans who could share their stories in person kept shrinking. It all started with words from a former resistance fighter: "It's up to you to keep this story alive." The telecom company KPN decided it was their job to connect young people today with the past.
The insight
Simply handing young people the weight of history doesn't reach them. So KPN decided to deliver history through the exact format young people already watch every day. Evert_45 is a fictional boy, but his experiences are based on real accounts from Dutch citizens. Historians oversaw the project, so none of it was made up.
The idea
Evert_45 is a boy who escapes a labor camp in April 1945 to search for his brother. His journey was shared as vlogs on YouTube and Instagram. The visuals mixed the look of today's vloggers with the fonts and colors of that era, complete with boomerang videos and stickers. On a dedicated website, the footage played in an auto-scrolling sequence, with narration from the voice of the actual veteran running underneath.
What happened
The campaign ran over three weeks spanning Remembrance Day, and people voluntarily watched a total of 1.3 million minutes of history. It was adopted into the Dutch school curriculum the following year. It also won the Grand Prix in the Entertainment category at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
"A brand doesn't need to show its face in every piece of content. It just needs to mean something to people." That line says it all. KPN didn't use advertising to sell something—they used it to pass history on.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2018
Featured in
- Fictional People Started WorkingFive people who don't exist — and reality answered back anyway.
