The DNA Journey
momondo2016
The DNA Journey is a 2016 online film for momondo, created by &Co., Copenhagen.
Why it works
A five-minute online film for the Danish travel search site momondo, made with AncestryDNA. Sixteen people from different countries are asked on camera about their nationality and the nations they dislike, then handed DNA results tracing their ancestry across many of those same places: a man who is no fan of Germans learns he is partly German, and two participants discover they are distant cousins. Released through social media in June 2016, it had passed 23 million Facebook views by 7 June, and won a Gold and two Silver PR Lions at Cannes in 2017; the awards entry claimed close to 400 million views and a 2% gain in global market share. It is studied both as purpose-led branding at scale and for the scrutiny that followed: Danish scientists questioned whether DNA can be pinned to modern nations, and momondo acknowledged that casting agencies had supplied participants, that ten had acting or extras experience and that the 'two weeks later' caption was a storytelling device.
Techniques
- Purpose and cause A travel search site argues against national prejudice, showing people who dislike certain nations that their own ancestry runs through them.
- Pathos Participants' surprise as DNA results upend their views, including two who discover they are distant cousins, gives the film its emotional charge.
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