With antisemitism rising to global all-time highs – Israel’s role as the sacred keeper of Holocaust memories becomes prominent. While the entire country shuts-down, broadcasting only survivor stories on conventional media - the future generation, GenZ, escapes to the non-stop gaming world in which Holocaust is just an afterthought.

In order to engage Gen-Z’ers with survivor stories, connecting them to this important narrative - we brought these stories into their gaming world, connecting to one of their favourites: Call of Duty WWII. Using gaming influencers and gameplay – we were able to finally translate Holocaust remembrance to the next generation.

Antisemitism is at an historic all-time high: US incidents increased by 36% in 2022 (3,697), UK increased by 34% (2,255). Meanwhile even in Israel, where Holocaust remembrance is a pivotal part of the narrative - it’s becoming less eminent. If once survivor stories were common in homes, schools and media – times are changing: few survivors remain, and those who are left have to bridge the gap of age, attention and platforms to reach Israeli audiences, especially teens. The result - survivors and their stories are becoming irrelevant ancient history for Gen-Z’ers. 76% of Israeli students have never met a Holocaust survivor, 38% who did found it boring and only 22% think the subject is important in schools. Thus, the future generation of Holocaust remembrance is growing jaded - and disconnecting. “Zikaron Basalon”, a NGO focused on creating face-to-face connections with survivors - set out to change this trend.

The connection between Holocaust remembrance and Israeli Gen-Z, the fourth\fifth generation of survivors, is thinning: the subject is taught late in high-school, it’s no longer an organic part of house-hold narratives and teens have grown jaded to it.

How do we get teens to care? We bring the stories to them, conquering their natural habitat - gaming. Israeli teens lead the world in gaming - 65% report playing more than 5 times a day (50% global average), adding up to over ~21 weekly hours. Their absorption into games translates into ~2.6 hours a day - increasing exponentially on Memorial-day shutdown. While mainstream media focuses only on the Holocaust - gaming continues as is, unaffected.

In order to make Holocaust remembrance relevant to teens - we needed to not only take over the gaming world but tailor the stories into the game itself, making it an organic part of the context.

With our insight in tow - tailoring survivor stories into the gaming world - we set out to disrupt the Holocaust Memorial Day and for the first time ever bring into the gaming arena, real Holocaust survivors with their stories.

How? We took over one of the most popular games – Call of Duty WWII, which depicts authentic Holocaust locations – and recreated history with our living survivors’ testimonies through gameplay. The big idea: teaming up famous gaming influencers (who are Gen-Z’ers themselves) with Holocaust survivors who told their survival stories via the game’s platform.

Thus, the gamers listened to the survivor’s tales and live-streamed a walk-through the game replica of WWII, mapping out their words using the game's images. Basically, we not only brought the stories to TikTok and YouTube, connecting them to teens' worlds – but brought them to life, giving them a whole new dimension and longevity.

In order to fully reach as many teens as possible - we collaborated with 5 of the biggest Israeli gaming influencers, connecting them to 6 survivors. On the days leading to the launch, the influencers invited fans to join them on their channels (TIKTOK & youtube) for the special event, explaining the purpose and importance of the project. This was backed up with a social media takeover of teaser trailers, glimpsing the survivors taking over the game.

On the day itself, we launched six 10-min videos boosted by PR in Israel and abroad: prime-time interviews on Israeli TV, more than 150 items in US media, more than 40 Israeli influencers organically re-sharing the project. We also took over more than 1,000 classrooms across the country - broadcasting it to 2 million students. That's not all, we are making it timeless: uploading 5 episodes to the Amazon Prime Video platform.

This Memorial Day, we successfully integrated the Holocaust narrative into Gen Z lives, culture and most importantly - gameplay.

With over 1.5 million organic views on Memorial Day, we were able to reach 67% of Israeli teens. That’s 1.5 million Gen Z teens organically watching at least one 10-min film fully!

The campaign achieved 8.5M impressions overall, 53% organic. Adding 82M prime impressions around the globe, the campaign brought in a total of 7.2M$ in earned media, conquering the #1 spot on youtube’s gaming category and #8 position overall.

Furthermore, the power of the project even translated into the culture of the physical classrooms: 1,500 schools added the project to their curriculum, reaching over 2 million students in one day.

Moreover, “Zikaron Basalon”, saw a 168% increase in website entries YOY, +183% in brand searches YOY while doubling the number of participants in Zikaron Basalon events on Memorial Day!

Anti-Semitism is on the rise. 55% increase in antisemitic activity in Europe in 10 years, 150% increase in antisemitic social media activity in 2022 with a long list of countries experiencing this trend (2021-2022): 73% increase in France, 34% in the UK, 36% in the US. Israeli ambassador to Germany: “almost every 3 hours, an antisemitic incident occurs''.

Israel, the core hub of Holocaust remembrance, is also changing: Only 150,600 survivors remain, most are +85 - and every month their numbers are decreasing. Thus their effect on Israel’s Gen-Z is dwindling – most teens have never met or heard a testimony firsthand, schools reduced the subject’s volume and delayed its entry into the curriculum. Since teens have many worlds (especially gaming) to hide in – connecting them to the Holocaust is a tall order. “Zikaron Basalon” leads the way in survivor-community connectivity - bringing their vision into the 21st century.