Berlin’s Museum Island is incredible, the collection housed across five world class museums covers some 50,000 years and invites visitors to see human history on an unequaled scale.

However Berliners and tourists often feel overwhelmed and fatigued by a museum visit (nevermind five), which dampens engagement and desire. People know Museum Island, but without a clear association to a hallmark collection or hero piece it lacks brand recognition and visitor numbers have dropped 7.4% since 2001.

In 2018 the museums partnered with Google Arts & Culture to digitise their collection, putting it online and accessible to everyone, everywhere.

To celebrate the partnership we created a very different looking social campaign for the museums; #TheHistoryOfUs

Certain human qualities are timeless: We have always been brave, insecure, proud, humble and everything in between and Museum Island has the stories to prove it.

We wanted to retell these very human stories in a way that showed the relevance of history to our *target audience through the channels they use everyday; social.

We worked with the museum partners and researchers to identify relevant artifacts for our campaign and tested their stories with our audiences in surveys and focus groups.

From these sessions we identified six human truths (or themes) our audience seemed most drawn to; Body Image & Vanity, Rebellion, Wanderlust, Female empowerment, Modern Romance and YOLO.

These themes became the bedrock of our campaign.

*18 - 34 yr olds (50% German and 50% international tourists).

Covering some 50,000 years, the museum’s collection allows us to see human history at an unequaled scale. It becomes clear that certain human qualities are timeless: we’ve always been brave, insecure, proud, humble and everything in between, and Museum Island has the stories to prove it.

We brought these stories to life by building on the human truths that this audience found relatable;

Body Image & Vanity, Rebellion, Wanderlust, Romance and YOLO.

We built a mobile and social-first approach, ensuring creative and language was native to the channels used.

We had a 50,000 year communication gap to bridge - so we had to talk as our audience do - imagine a 2,000 year old artwork with emojis or a sculpture GIF revealing its scandalous subtext..

We formed a network of influencers, each of whom embodied a human truth, to use their own BAE/YOLO packed language that spoke to their followers.

This campaign was a culture-conversation starter. Helping people understand the relevance of not just Museum Island but ancient myths and timeless narratives that have shaped human history.

We worked collaboratively with influencers to co-create content, using regional and culturally diverse subject matter experts to ensure a credible network. They shaped the organic feel of the campaign, tapping into key 2018 social trends: live video and AR SnapChat filters brought exhibits to life in new ways.

We launched on International Women’s Day with a 21st century styled Nefertiti, arguable the world’s first feminist. Within hours over 15,000 people were talking about the campaign as our influencers built on the narrative. Their posts shared their own human truth or talked about what history means to them. Paid and organic content across Google’s channels sustained the conversation with live footage, look-twice GIFs and larger than life photography.

Across 12 weeks we focused on a different human truths. Our stories worked seamlessly across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and SnapChat, with the Google Arts & Culture platform as the central narrative guiding force throughout.

Engaging on our audience’s terms was crucial. Their responses helped create new stories and keep the focus wherever the conversation was peaking.

The campaign launch post, watched by half a million, was the second most engaged social post for Google Arts and Culture in 2018.

We reached 8.5 million individuals (85% target audience) through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram alone.

Museum Island in Berlin went from low social engagement to one of the top 5 most socially engaged with cultural institutions.

Beating the likes of Guggenheim, Louvre and the British Museum. People turned to the museum’s platforms to explore more about the Island, history and artifacts.

Conversation was overwhelmingly positive (94%) campaign supporters crowded artifacts and were politely asked to ‘stop live-streaming to Instagram’