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.

Every year the public is bombarded with thousands of stories about gun violence on our news streams. With so many stories, people had become numb, making it difficult for organizations like The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence to make a significant impact.

We needed a way to make people feel this senseless loss of life. Up close, personal, and face-to-face. The Unforgotten exhibit did that by humanizing the tragedy and connecting people with the victims in a way that simply couldn’t be ignored. Once at the exhibit, a mobile app identified the nametag on each statue, activating video of a life that was lost but not forgotten. A Wi-Fi hotspot on premise let you immediately download the app. Most importantly, the app also enabled you to immediately take action by volunteering and signing a petition for change. Our mobile strategy was to create an experience that would have a visceral impact on people—one that traditional advertising could not have achieved.