France has no overly complicated or particular restrictions and regulations regarding museum advertising. However, when you are a new museum, specialized in a very narrow part of history, located outside of Paris, with very little money, you start with a real handicap compared to the big and famous museums. So when the Museum of the Great War opened in november 2011, they approached us to spread their vision of World War 1. A vision focused on human beings and promoting the 'duty to remember'. We were facing a cross-media competition from much bigger 'museum brands' with bigger media budgets. We knew from the start that we had to find a fresh way to spread the message.

The Museum of the Great War opened in 2011 with a double aim : to offer a new vision of WW1, "on a human level", and of course to promote the duty to remember. That is why they wanted so much to connect with younger generation.

Now, it is a fact: in France as in many other parts of the world, the 15-35 yr olds 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.

We targeted them on Facebook at first because this is where they tell everything about their life. Their carefree, peaceful life. So we thought: what if Facebook had existed in 1914? Imagine what people would have shared!

We did not create a usual brand page about history, but a page that completely looked like a personal profile: Leon Vivien’s one. A 29 year old school teacher torn apart from his family to be thrown into the slaughter of WW1. A young guy who shared his life, through hundreds of posts and comments.

The Facebook page then became a book on the demand of many fans and teachers. Not an ordinary book, but a one enriched with a new digital content easily accessible through flashcodes.

The book became another efficient way to show everyone the wealth of the museum's collection: tens of pics and drawings, objects replaced in a 1914 context, songs and posters were not only illustrating our soldier's story, but also creating a kind of printed extension of the museum.

Thanks to Leon's adventure, we turned history into a human story that anyone could follow like serialized fiction with daily twists and turns. A story that subtly made the young Frenchies realize how lucky they were to live in a peaceful country.

Before being a book, "Léon 1914" was an immensely successful Facebook experience: we created a personal profile of a young soldier, posting everyday the details of his nightmarish life in the trenches. Thanks to a fantastic buzz, Léon was already famous when we launched the book at the end of November 2013.

The book was created on the demand of fans. Some wanted a souvenir and many teachers had been asking for a printed version they could use in class. So we mainly used our 65,000 fans to create a buzz about the book, by posting a new message from the museum on Léon's facebook page.

We also contacted the journalists who had written enthusiastic articles about Léon's page.

The ROI of the Facebook page had already been amazing:

for an expense of 250€ (the price of 400 printed invitations to the press conference held in April 2013), we got more than 3 million euros of earned media.

Léon's book was published at no cost for the museum:

some editors spontaneously got in touch with us because they were deeply interested in making a book for Léon's 60,000 fans. So, in terms of ROI, it was a complete bonus.

At the end of November 2013, the book allowed us to increase Léon's success:

- 5.000 copies were sold within two weeks

- N°2 on Amazon's book sales ranking

- over the year 2013, more than 1,000 press releases (press, web, radio, TV)

- 30% of the amount of earned media were made thanks to the book

The number of Léon's fans is still growing (nearly 66,000 in mid-April 2014)

The book clearly helped Léon's page to reach a new peak in December

The number of the fans of the museum's Facebook page increased by 300%

The number of visitors on location raised by 20% thanks to the PR around the book

Léon's book is now used at school in France, complementary to the Facebook page.