Raising Digital Awareness for Darfur

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By Matt Clark

Though the genocide in Darfur is one of the great tragedies of this young century, there is still shockingly little attention paid to this issue. Presented with this problem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum enacted a comprehensive digital marketing plan to raise awareness and get people to take action.

Issue:

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum wanted to educate the public, and their visitors, on the genocide in Darfur. They didn’t want to just educate the public, but wanted to make the situation real, they wanted people to understand what’s really happening and feel the pain. Scare tactic? Maybe. But sometimes scare tactics are necessary.

Solution:

The Museum teamed up with Google and BrightEarth Project to create a Web site that would properly eductate visitors on the situation in Darfur. The campaign, “Crisis in Darfur”, incorporated Google Earth multimedia and satellite imagery to put the war across the world right in front of users. The Museum Mapping Initiative uses tools like Google Earth and animated maps that allow users to understand Holocaust history and see places around the globe where genocide is still a distinct threat.

Working together for over a year, volunteers pooled data on village destruction, locations of refugee camps and humanitarian access. Along with Google, they created layer over layer of death, destruction and genocide on an interactive map of Darfur.

Using a satellite image, users are able to see the impact that the genocide has had on regions down to individual homes. The site includes a compilation of refugee camps showing the scope of devastation. Visitors can click through to read about villages and individual stories. Most importantly, there is a call to action with a “How can I help” link that informs users of ways they can get involved.

Results:

Launched in April 10, 2007, the project has garnered international attention. The Museum’s site traffic increased by 50% and international visitors have increased from 29-53%. Nearly 200,000 people have clicked the “What Can I Do” page since the launch. That’s about 40k visits a month – up from 2,000. Furthermore, subscriptions to the e-newsletter jumped 20% in the first month of the launch.

The campaign won the 2007 PR News Nonprofit PR Award in the “advocacy campaign and lobbying effort” category and received an honorable mention in the “corporate partnerships” category.

More importantly, the project has made an impact on the amount of attention the world pays towards Darfur. If you haven’t already, please check out Crisis in Darfur to see how you can help.