The Museum of the Great War opened in 2011 with a double aim : to offer a new vision of World War 1 (a more «shoulder-high» vision), and of course to promote the duty 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, the young people spend more time on the social networks than... in war museums. So we had to find a new way to get them interested in WW1. And Facebook seemed to be the perfect place to target them.

With little money, we could not rely on paid media to achieve our goal. To get the attention, we needed a brand new way of talking about history. With social media at the core because this is where the young people spend so much time. We also had to convey the shoulder-high vision which is specific to the museum. And, if possible, to put the museum collection on the foreground.

So Facebook 1914 was exactly what we needed.

On facebook, people say everything about their life. Their carefree, peaceful life. So we thought : what if facebook had existed in 1914 ? Imagine what they would have posted ! So we did not create a usual brand page about history, but a page looking like a real user profile. The profile of an ordinary young man torn apart from his family and thrown into WW1 slaughter. And we told his everyday life through hundreds of posts and documents. We turned history into a human story with twists and turns, day after day, week after week, to immerge the young generation into that terrible period.

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.