REUNITING A FAMILY MORE THAN A CENTURY LATER
SITUATION
Black Americans face challenges in tracing their lineage due to the erasure and lack of records during slavery. Given this, many within the community believe there are too many hurdles to learn more about their family history and often do not know where to start.
Ancestry’s Freedmen's Bureau records — documents from the Civil War-era federal agency established to help formerly enslaved people transition from slavery to citizenship — were digitized and released at no cost to support the Black community in making family discoveries. Within those records, Ancestry’s genealogists discovered letters from a freedman - Hawkins Wilson - who sought to be reunited with his family but his letters were never delivered. Ancestry began a mission to find his living descendants to arrange a present day family reunion, detailing the journey in a short but powerful docu-film timed to Juneteenth
Ancestry desired to use Hawkins’ story and this reunion to dispel the misconceptions to communities about family discoveries through a campaign that would attract diverse consumers, drive consideration and increase site traffic.
ACTION
From the creative treatment to the media strategy, I ensured the film’s campaign would resonate with both the Black community and general market - from our partners, messaging and overall story.
With the creative treatment leaning on Hawkins’ letters and his descendants family records, talent partners were identified based on their relationship to the intended audience in addition to being authentic to the brand in valuing family history. Ancestry genealogist Nicka Sewell-Smith, respected historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and “Black-ish” and Law & Order” actor Anthony Anderson served as our spokespeople to bring the journey details to viewers. Additionally, I enlisted Anthony’s “Black-ish” co-star Yara Shahidi with her mother Keri as our influencer partners to further promote the film and share their own personal stories of family connection and history.
Ahead of the film’s launch Juneteenth weekend, I implemented a month long rollout beginning in May with broadcast media followed by top-tier lifestyle, AA, and local media (Texas and Virginia) spanning print and online. The rollout would conclude with Yara and her mother’s content going live on Juneteenth to further amplify the film.
RESULTS
The launch of “A Dream Delivered: The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson” garnered 2.7 million film views and more than 1.8 billion media impressions including stories in USA Today, The Washington Post, Good Morning America, People and Today Show.
Additionally, our partnerships with Yara and Keri Shahidi resulted in more than 25 million social media impressions inclusive of comments, likes and shares across Instagram.
The campaign and film has received five industry awards to date including:
2022 Anthem: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
2022 Shorty Impact: Documentary Short
2023 PRWeek: Best in Multicultural Marketing
2023 SABRE: Purpose-Driven Branding
2023 Shorty Award: Branded Content
Momentum continued following Juneteenth with an appearance by Anthony on Jimmy Kimmel where he further promoted the film and Ancestry’s ability to bring families together.