UNESCO - Backup Ukraine
UNESCO and Blue Shield Denmark approached Virtue Worldwide. They needed an urgent solution to digitally preserve Ukraine's cultural heritage, which was under severe threat of destruction during the war. The challenge was empowering Ukrainian citizens to actively contribute to this vital task, safeguarding their national identity. They wanted an innovative, accessible way to capture and protect cultural sites for future generations and potential reconstruction.
Creative Idea
UNESCO equipped Ukrainians with a 3D scanning app to digitally preserve their cultural heritage and national identity from war.
Polycam created a unique campaign called 'Backup Ukraine' that enabled Ukrainian citizens to use a mobile app to 3D scan and digitally preserve their cultural heritage sites and monuments during the war, protecting their national identity from physical destruction.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
UNESCO leveraged its global authority on heritage protection alongside Polycam’s accessible LiDAR technology, turning professional-grade 3D scanning into a simple mobile tool for the masses.
Category
The category typically relies on specialized experts and heavy, expensive equipment, making preservation efforts too slow and dangerous to execute during active military conflicts.
Customer
Ukrainian citizens felt a profound sense of helplessness as their history was physically erased, desiring a way to actively defend their national identity beyond just survival.
Culture
The invasion saw a surge in 'digital resistance,' where smartphones became tools for truth-telling and crowdsourcing, turning data collection into a powerful act of civilian defiance.
Company
UNESCO leveraged its global authority on heritage protection alongside Polycam’s accessible LiDAR technology, turning professional-grade 3D scanning into a simple mobile tool for the masses.
Category
The category typically relies on specialized experts and heavy, expensive equipment, making preservation efforts too slow and dangerous to execute during active military conflicts.
Strategy:
Democratize high-tech preservation to transform civilian smartphones into a decentralized defense system for a nation's endangered cultural identity.
Customer
Ukrainian citizens felt a profound sense of helplessness as their history was physically erased, desiring a way to actively defend their national identity beyond just survival.
Culture
The invasion saw a surge in 'digital resistance,' where smartphones became tools for truth-telling and crowdsourcing, turning data collection into a powerful act of civilian defiance.
Strategy:
Democratize high-tech preservation to transform civilian smartphones into a decentralized defense system for a nation's endangered cultural identity.
Results
The campaign achieved 2,400 weekly downloads of the Polycam app in Ukraine. There was a 44% weekly growth in heritage scans. The initiative received significant media coverage, with mentions and interviews on platforms like NTD UK News, MSNBC, CNN, and BBC. It was praised by publications such as Fast Company ("An extremely welcome innovation"), CNN ("A solid door into the Metaverse"), and The Odessa Journal ("Anyone can join"). The technology and unlimited cloud storage for scans were donated freely to all Ukrainians by Polycam. The project gained support from multiple organizations including UNESCO, Leica, Skeiron, R3GA, NEMO, Blue Shield, ICOM, ICOMOS, IUAJ, and IPN.
2.400
weekly downloads in Ukraine
44%
weekly growth in heritage scans
Strategy Technique
Build an Utility, Not an Ad
The campaign provides a mobile app as a direct utility for citizens to 3D scan heritage. This tool genuinely solves the urgent problem of cultural preservation during wartime.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Cutting-edge Tech
The campaign leverages a mobile 3D scanning app, a bleeding-edge technology, to empower citizens. This innovative tech provides an accessible solution for urgent cultural heritage preservation.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional for its groundbreaking strategic idea, empowering citizens with innovative digital technology to preserve cultural heritage amidst conflict.
The campaign's technical execution is outstanding, transforming 22 million smartphones into advanced 3D scanners via the Polycam app and establishing a secure cloud library for digital blueprints of heritage.
The user experience and interface design of the Polycam app made the complex process of 3D scanning intuitive and accessible for ordinary citizens, enabling widespread participation.
The magic comes from the perfect synergy between a powerful, empathetic idea born from urgent necessity and cutting-edge digital technology made accessible to empower a nation.
