PBS identified three insights core to the film and the Baby Boomer target audience that fed our creative and media campaign ideas.

1.) The idea of “truth” and finally “telling the truth”: America finds itself today with more questions than answers about Vietnam.

2.) The importance of a diversity of perspectives: The film delivers a staggering number of points of view about the conflict.

3.) The need to emerge from noise and competing voices into a calm and reflective space: With the distance of time and removed from the fog of war, the baby boomer target desired clarity and an evenhanded portrayal of the war.

Out of these insights, the creative campaign anchored by the tagline “There Is No Single Truth In War” was born, and a suite of promotional assets were created that delivered a powerful, reflective, and emotional impression on our target.

Diverse perspectives were reflected in media choices that ranged from Military.com to The Vietnam Post, and Fox News to HGTV to connect with various viewer segments, as well as the use of carousel ad units across Facebook to showcase different voices from the film.

The film was positioned as a profound experience with big-canvas placements like marquee billboards and a full-page ad in the New York Times, spots across cinema screens as well as placements during nationally televised sporting events and dramas on top broadcast and cable networks. Emotional placements like sponsoring the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund “Wall that Heals” as it traveled the country also reached our target.

Notable cultural elements of the era were integrated into the campaign through custom editorial with the Daily Beast and The Atlantic, and unique call-in listener segments featuring stories about Vietnam on terrestrial radio and placements on Pandora reaching classic rock lovers.

The Vietnam War became a rare moment where people of all generations and perspectives watched, reflected and discussed a difficult topic, illustrating the power of PBS and public media.

Our campaign activity from paid, owned and social media to the filmmakers’ media appearances and PBS station events led to strong results on our two objectives.

For viewership, the film tripled PBS’s primetime average and 39 million television viewers tuned to The Vietnam War. Moreover, the film reached 13% of all U.S. adults and 1-in-5 Baby Boomers.

On digital platforms, it streamed 10 million times (9/17-12/31). A Vietnamese-subtitled version generated 1.9 million streams in Vietnam.

The campaign drove a national conversation. More than 300 events brought communities together around the topic. 2,391 individuals submitted stories to PBS.org. It was the 4th most social program on premiere night. And the filmmakers sparked conversation with interviews across top news programs and publications.