Mostly people ignore the preload ads in YouTube, like they ignore the refugees around the world these times.

With a special preload video for Turkish Red Crescent, we try to draw attention to Syrian refugee problem.

The youtube video starts offering two options to the viewer. “Hold my hand” and “Skip ad”. The headline reads “It’s up to you!”.

If you click on the “Skip ad” button and do not donate, the video jumps to a dramatic version. We see the life of a refugee child full of fear, hiding, escaping from soldiers, and in a boat on the way to Greece which will probably end by drowning.

If you click on the “Hold my hand” button and donate, the video jumps to a lively version which shows how a child’s life is supposed to be.

Both videos direct the viewer to Turkish Red Crescent web page for donations.

Production was done in Hatay which is a border city between Turkey and Syria. Our main cast was an ordinary girl from Hatay. Shootings were done in authentic and real places of Hatay without any scenary. The director and cast went to those places and shot the improviced scenes.

Productions budget was around 7.800 Euros for7 days of shooting and post production. So that we can call the project as a low budget interactive video.

In its first three months the campaign grossed a record value of donations for the Red Crescent for a humanitarian disaster cause.

The donation exceeded the target by 350%, reaching 4m USD.

Equally important, once the campaign was rolled-out, several institutions and corporate organizations got in touch with Red Crescent to provide major donations in the form of additional media spending funds, support for visibility projects and other donations.

The campaign generated strong conversation across social media. Red Crescent generated 221 million impressions during the campaign, 25% greater than the target.