The goal was to provide the target group with real-time updates and to establish a new platform that allows to get acquainted with the Federal Armed Forces.

For that we developed an immersive series strongly geared to young media consumer behavior that established “everyday operations” as a real part of young people’s lives. Transparent, in real-time and so engaging that users feel like they are following the life of a friend.

We accompanied 8 soldiers on deployment in Mali and communicated their very personal stories in the target audiences’ media.

We used all social web tools in the campaign plus additional on/offline channels. The main vehicle, a storytelling-ChatBot in the Facebook Messenger. Herewith anyone could take part in about 170 bot conversations and experience the story in real time – with 24/7 videos, images, locations and news from waking up, to the Mali marathon and a Tiger helicopter crash to engage with young people in their environment and to communicate with them daily.

We didn't use any expensive VR technology. Instead, we “embedded” several VJ’s who worked around the clock at Camp Castor. This created a digital ecosystem consisting of the YouTube series, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat profiles and the first German-language ChatBot in the advertising world. The audience received push messages via Facebook several times per day or night. A cross-media campaign stirred up hype and made the series a talking point on all platforms.

Duration: 5.10. – 4.12.2017

MALI steered the discourse on the Federal Armed Forces employer brand and its recruiting activities in a new direction, and the in-depth insights alleviated fears. Over 35,000 users and a click-through rate of approx. 18% turned the series bot into the biggest German-language story ChatBot overnight, putting it on a par with successful breaking news bots. The YouTube community expanded by around 80,000 followers and 2.1 million people used the Snapchat lens. However, the most important thing was the positive feedback of the community with a 93% like rate. MALI was perceived as completely serious and “real“.

35,000 ChatBot users

40,000 bot requests daily

Approx. 80,000 new YouTube subscribers

Approx. 440,000 fans on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram

Over 55 million minutes of watch time

16 of 42 videos in the YouTube Trends

2,1 million Snapchat-lens users

Approx. 398,000 Spotify plays

+ 60% visits to the Federal Armed Forces careers website