The Museum of the Great War openned in 2011 with a double aim : to offer a new vision of World War 1 (a more «level» vision), and of course to promote the need to remember. That is why they wanted so much to connect with the young generations.

Now, it is a fact : in France as in many other parts of the world, young people spend more time on social networks than... in war museums. So we had to find a new way to get them interested in WW1.

Facebook seemed the perfect place to target them. Because this is where they say everything about their life. Their carefree, peaceful life. And we thought : what if facebook had existed in 1914 ? Just imagine what they would have posted.

50 000 Likes within the first 2 weeks.

More than 7 500 shares.

More than 6 500 comments (and hundreds of questions answered by the museum).

9 million people heard about Leon.

The french National Board of Education relayed Leon's page.

+45% of visitors in the museum.

3 million euros of earned media :

- TV : France 2, France 3, Canal+, BFM TV, France 24...

- Radio : Europe1, France Inter, Radio France...

- Internet : The Huffington Post, LCI, Rue 89, Le Nouvel Obs...

- Press : Le Monde, Le Point, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, Marianne...

All for the cost of 400 printed invitations to the press conference : 250 euros.

We did not create a usual brand page about history, but a page that really looked like a personal profile : Leon Vivien’s one. An ordinary young guy torn apart from his wife and family to be thrown into the WW1 slaughter. And day after day, week after week, we told his thoughts, joys and fears through hundreds of posts illustrated by dozens of documents picked from the museum collection.

On the 10th of april 2013, we held a huge press conference. 600 journalists had been sent an invitation looking like the french draft notification of 1914. Ten month of posts were already available on the profile and from this day, we added some new ones everyday.

We turned history into a human story. A story that anyone could follow like a serie. A story that made the young frenchies subtly realize how lucky they were to live in a peaceful country.