In Germany, branded content is a pay-to-play business. But we had no budget to work with, so we turned the Nazi march into something worth watching: a funny, colourful and entertaining charity walk for EXIT-Deutschland. By using banners, bananas and street markings, we made sure that the general public immediately understood the idea of neo-Nazis unwittingly donating against themselves and helped us spread the word. Thanks to its entertaining character, the campaign quickly gained its own dynamics and the media worldwide reported about the “Miracle of Wunsiedel” – using our content as a central element.

For 15 years, the initiative EXIT-Deutschland has been successfully helping neo-Nazis quit the far-right scene. Yet, despite this socially important and effective work, the initiative lacks sufficient funding and has to fight for its own existence every year. The small German town of Wunsiedel is also fighting against right-wing extremists who are exploiting their right to demonstrate and overrunning the city. But on 15 November 2014, we surprised the neo-Nazis at their annual march in Wunsiedel and turned their demonstration into a charity walk for EXIT-Deutschland. For every metre the neo-Nazis covered, €10 went to EXIT-Deutschland (the money was collected from citizens and regional companies beforehand). Motivated by banners and bananas, the neo-Nazis went the full distance and raised €10,000 to help their own members leave the scene.

As the neo-Nazis set off, so did a meticulously planned campaign. Via the microsite, Twitter, Facebook and carefully chosen social media influencers, we started the live coverage and provided content for the general public and the media. Even during the march, 21,000 people visited the microsite and were able to follow what was happening in Wunsiedel in real time – thanks to the interactive map, the live ticker and the social media wall. But that was just the start. Because three hours after the neo-Nazis crossed the finishing line, another element of the campaign went online: a documentary. Thanks to the immediate release, it became the campaign’s central communications tool, shown worldwide in the original by many TV stations, in some cases even in full length. It was also embedded into and adapted for hundreds of websites.

24 million people were reached, worth a media equivalence of €1 million via national TV and print coverage alone

279 million impressions worldwide through social media

2.8 million YouTube views for the German and English versions of the video reportage

155,000 unique visitors on the microsite in just one week

21,000 visitors followed the march live on the microsite

4.7 million impressions on Facebook in one week

6,900 potential quitters clicked the EXIT button on the microsite

€10,000 in additional donations on top of the €10,000 raised by the neo-Nazis

On 15 November 2014, we secretly turned the annual neo-Nazi march in the small German town of Wunsiedel into something positive: a charity walk for EXIT-Deutschland, an NGO that helps neo-Nazis leave the far-right scene. The moment the neo-Nazis took their first step, we started the live coverage and provided lots of branded content. In the end, we not only amazed millions of people in Germany, but also made the work of EXIT-Deutschland famous virtually overnight.