We realised that as time passes and with no surviving veterans, WWI is becoming a distant memory. Now days our only connection to the past and memories of the soldiers are kept in old black and white photographs, so to reconnect NZ with our history we decided to create a Tableau Vivant which brought a black and white WWI photo to life on the streets of Auckland. It was essential to partner with people who could deliver an excellent level of design, costume detail, performance direction, including a full surround sound soundtrack that was completely authentic to WW1.

We created a Tableau Vivant and brought a black-and-white WWI picture to life on the streets of Auckland. The 8-hour performance was based on real New Zealanders’ true stories. An authentic surround sound audio track recreated a day in the trenches and brought their memories flooding back. You could hear the conversations, letters and even the ritual singing before lights out.

We helped NZers reconnect with the past by bringing them face to face with history. Audiences blogged and shared the event on social media locally and globally. It was the number one viewed story on NZ Herald online, was covered by One News, and shared by the BBC, which resulted in the entire activity reaching an audience of over 22,835,710 people. The value to the History Channel brand was not about generating revenue but raising awareness and remembering for one of NZ's most historic events. It was a social awareness message that demonstrated the core brand values of the History Channel of documenting, educating and preserving the past. The Unforgotten Soldiers also raised triple the usual donations, for the RSA's annual appeal in just one day.

History Channel believes they have a duty to preserve the past, so for the 100th Anniversary of Gallipoli ( New Zealand’s first significant engagement in WW1) they wanted more than a tribute they wanted to keep the memory alive. Our aim was to help New Zealanders reconnect with the past as well as help raise money for the RSA’s (Returned Service Association) Annual Poppy Appeal. People responded by making donations at the live event.

History Channel is a TV channel on the SKY TV Network and H100 commemorates the 100th anniversary of WW1. As the History Channel is committed to preserving the past, they wanted to do something to mark NZ's 100th anniversary of Gallipoli, (NZ's most significant WWI campaign) which is now a national day of remembrance called Anzac Day.

The History Channel audience is typically Men and Women 40-55+ but for the 100th Anniversary event in association with the RSA, they wanted to reach a wider audience of 25-54+. As well as raising awareness the live event raised money for the RSA annual Poppy Appeal.

History Channel curates programmes that document and preserve historical events. To mark WWI, History Channel became H100, and featured programmes to mark the centenary and significant WWI events. As you’d expect, programmes about the wars use genuine footage, shot on black and white film. This is how the past appears but this effect causes us to disconnect to the reality of what we are seeing. It doesn’t seem as real as seeing it in colour. By recreating a living black and white picture we would bring people face to face with the reality of our WWI history, in the present day.