The Anne Frank House is the place where the Frank family and four other Jews were hiding from the Nazi’s during WW2. We are always in search of new ways to keep this story alive.
In 2019 Tim Vloothuis and Frank de Horde (Everymedia) contacted us with the idea of a video diary based on Anne Frank’s diary. The concept is elegant and simple: Anne's diary becomes her video camera; her readers become her viewers.
YouTube discussion about the video diary
We decided on professional international market research to test and improve the initial concept. Different panels from three countries were involved. To reach our target audience (10-20 years olds around the world) we decided on YouTube as its distribution platform and Instagram as the series main marketing channel.
Soon after its launch in March 2020 (Covid-19 had just put the world in lockdown) the series turned out to be a great success. Hundred thousands of views, thousands of positive comments, 100’s of youngsters in the YouTube live chats when a new episode came online, and many good reviews in traditional media.
This was especially exciting because we were a bit nervous about adapting Anne Frank’s story into a video diary, since we are always focused on historical authenticity in our products.
I think it was the rather simple concept, the high quality of execution and the love and care of all people involved, that convinced our viewers and also the jury of the HiM-awards.
Anne Frank video diary, cast (people in hiding) in living room, copyright Anne Frank House, photographer Ray van der Bas