30,000 victims die from gun violence in the US every year. People have become numb. How do you overcome their apathy and compel them to get involved?

You bring back the victims to tell their stories.

Introducing Unforgotten—an exhibit featuring lifelike statues of gun violence victims in their actual clothes. A mobile app identified the nametag on each statue, activating video of a life that was lost but not forgotten. The app directly connected you to a website where you could read and share more stories of victims. Most importantly, the app also enabled you to immediately take action by volunteering and by signing a petition for change.

A Wi-Fi hotspot let exhibit visitors immediately download the app on premise. Exhibit visitors were encouraged to sign a petition, wear nametags in memory of the victims, post pictures at #unforgotten, and change their Facebook profile picture to represent a victim. We also documented the event with an online video.

The Unforgotten campaign was created to raise public awareness of the problem of gun violence. With no paid advertising, public relations alone drove awareness and engagement. Targeted media outreach spread the news about the exhibit, shared the victims’ stories, educated the public regarding the mission of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, and drove website traffic. As a result, we turned apathy into action with unprecedented public attention and public participation thanks to over 100 million earned impressions.

The lifelike statues of gun violence victims worked to draw people in. Once they got close, they saw the nametag on each statue. A mobile app used augmented reality to visually identify the nametag, activating video of each victim’s life. A Wi-Fi hotspot on premise let exhibit visitors immediately download the app. Viewers were also invited to share the video and visit the Unforgotten website. Once on the site, you could learn more about gun violence, sign our petition, and share additional stories.

Unforgotten did what all the headlines and news couldn’t, it stopped people in their tracks, moved them deeply, and motivated them to take action to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. With over 100 million earned impressions, The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence achieved unprecedented awareness and engagement. Due to the success, the exhibit is currently touring and impacting communities beyond the launch.