‘Racism is real, but race is a figment of our imagination’

Our idea was that bold. DNA testing reveals more than our family tree; it reveals who we ‘are’ at our basic core and shows us that every person on this planet is a perfect mixture of many things, and that there is no such thing as a ‘pure race’. We are all ‘mutts’, many of us even containing the DNA of pre-humans. So let us demonstrate the surprising discovery of one persons multi-ethnic identity and show how that information challenges any preconceptions we might have, and how it challenges the very idea of race itself.

It was important to be authentic when placing our brand at the heart of an open and honest dialogue about race. In Prince Ea we found a voice that was actively engaging with the issues affecting his generation and the world around him, and a person who was comfortable confronting the preconceptions of his own racial identity. Ea discovered that along with the certainty that he had ethnic ties to West Africa, he learned he was also partially Finnish, British, West and Eastern European. This led him to confront the idea, ‘to which race do I belong?’. The writing of this journey was his and his alone, no editing, no ‘mandatories’ from the client or agency. And in that authenticity he finds the answer. The key to our narrative and the brands future; MyHeritageDNA can open us up to richer personal identities that enable deeper understanding and empathy for others.

• Tier 1: Media Outputs - After launching only a few days ago on April 20th, we have already made an impact on a global scale. The video has been trending in the top 50 on YouTube and has over a million views, and has accumulated 50 million total impressions via strategic media placement and earned media coverage.

• Tier 2: Target Audience Outcomes - The resonation of our campaign has proven to be successful with our target audience, as responses via Twitter and YouTube. Many Twitter replies expressed gratitude for this message with a promise to order the MyHeritage DNA kits, and YouTubers even filmed their own response videos, which highlighted their piqued curiosity about race and its social constructs – the precise reaction we were seeking to compel audiences to need a DNA test.

The ‘Poetry of DNA’ campaign resonates with the objectives of the PR Lions because of it’s ambition to elevate a brand sales pitch to acknowledge and address one of the most important and complex cultural issues of our time, race and ethnic identity. If DNA testing can change what we know about ourselves, can that knowledge also change our views about others? We think it can and by sharing the personal experiences of one influential voice we were able to spark a bigger cultural conversation while building a distinct and emotional voice for our brand.

There were two incredibly important strategic decisions that led to this work.

1. Do not try to ‘sanitize’ the complex issues of race and ethnic identity; rather, engage in its raw emotions. Focus on the surprise and even the discomfort of personal discovery and how in those moments dramatic shifts in perception are possible.

2. Focus on a younger demographic. Traditionally the ‘ancestry’ industry is the domain of the ‘family historian’ -- delighting in being the authority of a family's identity and narrative. We spotted the trend among the millennial generation to uncover family history as a process of a building a more interesting life and of connecting to others. DNA can be a catalyst to the future -- not simply a nostalgic trip through the past.

With much smaller budgets than its competitors MyHeritageDNA needed to find a way to stand apart from the generic message of family history that was the category norm. Our insight was that in a time of great social and political anxiety around race and identity, we saw an opportunity to be bold and position MyHeritage DNA testing not as a self indulgent luxury, but as a social and cultural necessity. Instead of avoiding the difficult questions around race and ethnic identity, we embraced them to spark a broader social dialogue while positioning the MyHeritage DNA brand as an example and one that understands the importance of demonstrating a deeper understanding and empathy with the challenges we face today as a human race.