How can we generate interest in history with young people? ECCO Poland/OnBoard PR invented a virtual 'time tunnel' on Facebook shifting the audience back to the days of the 1944 Warsaw ghetto uprising.

1. ECCO Poland/On Board PR

2. Mate from the past. 1944 Live.
A Social Media case study
ECCO Poland/On Board PR

3. How can we generate interest in recent history
among young people?
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4. How can we generate interest in recent history
among young people?
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48% of young Poles says that events
from World War II are not very
interesting (Pentor, 2009)

5. Challenge! ! !

6. Challenge! ! !
• 2009 – the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising

7. Challenge! ! !
• 2009 – the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
• How to ensure that the momentous events from the past are
not forgotten?

8. Challenge! ! !
• 2009 – the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
• How to ensure that the momentous events from the past are
not forgotten?
• How to revive the history of the Warsaw Uprising and make the
great tragedy of the Polish capital during World War II a part of
the present?

9. Challenge! ! !
• 2009 – the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
• How to ensure that the momentous events from the past are
not forgotten?
• How to revive the history of the Warsaw Uprising and make the
great tragedy of the Polish capital during World War II a part of
the present?
• How to make the young people today understand what their
counterparts felt 65 years ago?

10. Challenge! ! !
• 2009 – the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
• How to ensure that the momentous events from the past are
not forgotten?
• How to revive the history of the Warsaw Uprising and make the
great tragedy of the Polish capital during World War II a part of
the present?
• How to make the young people today understand what their
counterparts felt 65 years ago?
• The objective in the beginning was to engage at least 100,000
people directly.

11. Challenge! ! !
• 2009 – the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
• How to ensure that the momentous events from the past are
not forgotten?
• How to revive the history of the Warsaw Uprising and make the
great tragedy of the Polish capital during World War II a part of
the present?
• How to make the young people today understand what their
counterparts felt 65 years ago?
• The objective in the beginning was to engage at least 100,000
people directly.
•

12. SOSNA & KOSTEK –
OUR MATES ON FACEBOOK
Two fictitious profiles of insurgents:
Sosna 24 and Kostek 23
Detailed scenario of their activities
over the 63 days of the Warsaw
Uprising.
They were a couple of young Text
Warsaw inhabitants who “by bending
time” were able to tell the story of
their everyday experiences “live from
1944”, for 63 days from the
beginning until the end of the
uprising, 24 hours non stop as if it
were happening today.

13. 1944 LIVE ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 4a
The mate from the past. 1944
Live.1944 Sosna and Kostek
profiles content:
 photos: Warsaw from the forties.
 songs from the uprising
short movies about Uprising
historical quizzes.

14. 1944 LIVE –! ! ! ! ! ! 5a
MOVIES RECONSTRUCTING
EVENTS! ! !
We made short documentary
movies by mobile phone. Thus we
managed to harness new
technologies to bend time and go
back to 1944 for a short while as
well as really interact with young
people getting them involved in
lively discussion of historical
events.

15. 1944 LIVE – STREET GAME IN REALITY!

16. Meeting the fans! !

17. Meeting the fans! ! ! !

18. Meeting the fans! ! ! !
At the end of the project we organised a meeting for all
Kostek’s and Sosna’s friends, fans and media. In this way
they could learn more about the background to the project,
talk to the people who played the Kostek and Sosna roles
and hear the most interesting inputs from facebook.

19. SOSNA & KOSTEK in the media

20. SOSNA & KOSTEK in the media
More than 5 million spectators from TV coverage

21. SOSNA & KOSTEK in the media
More than 5 million spectators from TV coverage
Almost 85,000 listeners from radio coverage

22. SOSNA & KOSTEK in the media
More than 5 million spectators from TV coverage
Almost 85,000 listeners from radio coverage
Coverage in all Polish dailies, weeklies and theme
press

23. The project!! ! !

24. The project!! ! !
“Mate from the past. 1944 Live” - is the first project to connect modern
history education with a social media campaign. The project was
innovative in that we used the latest technologies and popularity of
social media to bring historical events close to home and more
attractive to young people.

25. The project!! ! !
“Mate from the past. 1944 Live” - is the first project to connect modern
history education with a social media campaign. The project was
innovative in that we used the latest technologies and popularity of
social media to bring historical events close to home and more
attractive to young people.

26. Results
 63 days with relations
 4000 friends also celebs, journalists
 800 posts
 1512 hours of vivid discussions on
the uprising

27. We generated a great deal of emotion among
followers

28. The project!! ! !
The project was conceived and created under the patronage of the
President of Warsaw and millions of people found out about Sosna
and Kostek through reports and interviews on TV, radio, press and
the internet and 4000 people experienced the death of one of their
friends.
All the people that took part in the project did so pro bono.

29. You want to know more?
Please contact us
Kathryn Bishop
Phone +44 2070893695
kathryn@ecco-network.com
ECCO International Public Relations Ltd.
156 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ
United Kingdom