Our idea taps into the global consciousness, showing the world that one of our greatest mistakes is being made again. The Shared Story of Harry & Ahmed shows the shocking parallels between Syrian child refugees today and the child refugees of WWII.

In a split screen, Harry (an elderly, Jewish WWII survivor) and Ahmed (a young, Muslim, Syrian boy) describe their real, horrific journeys as child refugees, in their own words. Those words come together to build a single narrative.

Footage accompanies their story, illustrating their strikingly similar experiences: both escaped violence and persecution and were separated from their parents; both fled on their own, endured a treacherous journey by boat, and had to wait for permission to enter the safety of another country.

Their identities are revealed and the message is clear: We didn’t do enough to protect child refugees during WWII and now the story is being repeated.

Trump’s Immigration Ban was executed on Holocaust Memorial Day. The uproar this created was noticeable across the world and ultimately became the stepping stone for the launch of our film – the topic was on the tip of everyone’s tongue and our video showed how the world is making the same mistake again.

The original execution was released on Unicef’s global Facebook page just 5 days after Trump’s ban. This particular video has been viewed over 5 million times and became a centrepiece of the refugee debate. Additional YouTube, native PR videos and native twitter/Facebook videos followed shortly, and the film was translated into in 16 different languages, adding to viewership. Widespread coverage ensued across trade press and mainstream press around the world.

The shared story of two child refuges 80 years apart struck a global cord. With no paid media, and in less than one week, Harry & Ahmed’s story reached an audience of over 7 million people. Its message was widely covered by the mainstream press and shared by major media outlets including CNN, Huffington Post, Aljazeera, Forbes and Mashable.

Key news sources and publications in 15 different countries across the world also covered the story. Unicef offices around the world quickly translated and shared the film, giving it a truly global reach.

Most importantly, over 100,000 people have shared the video on social media, including some of the web’s most high-profile celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, Shakira, P!nk, George Lopez and John Legend.

The film has fuelled global support for child refugees, and Harry & Ahmed’s shared story has become an important piece of the ‘Refugees Welcome’ movement.