Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

The Unfiltered History Tour is an AR guerrilla tour of the British Museum’s disputed artefacts.We created Instagram Filters that scan heavily disputed artefacts on display at the Museum. From Egyptologists, to the seventh descendant of the Gweagal Shield - 10 experts and underrepresented colonial voices, for the first time ever, play tour guide in narrating the true histories of artefacts from their homelands. The authenticity of the Tour led to social media hot takes being replaced by debates. Personalities like Shashi Tharoor, Marc Fennell championed the campaign. On TikTok, users generated tour experiences garnering over 1.3 million earned views.

Background

The British Museum is the world’s largest receiver of stolen goods with over 8 million objects - that’s a lot of potentially looted artefacts. But for centuries, we’ve only heard the imperialist version of how they got there. An equitable environment can only be created when silenced voices express the intergenerational trauma caused by colonial loot. Brief To place VICE World News at the forefront of conversations around colonialism and challenge dominant cultures by opening up dialogue to countries around the world to create a balance in the way history has been told. Objectives 1. Give a platform to underrepresented minority voices to share their accounts of artefacts that belong to their country. 2. Re-ignite the ongoing conversation on repatriation and postcolonialism with VICE championing marginalised voices. 3. Educate young people about the untold side of history using a tool as accessible as Instagram filters to tell unfiltered stories.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

The Unfiltered History Tour is a guerrilla tour of the British Museum carried out via AR Instagram filters that the internet is no stranger to. Instead of adding dog ears to a selfie, the technology was re-engineered to scan life-sized 3D artefacts in differing light conditions and unfilter centuries of colonial narrative. In this alternative interactive tour, visitors can scan 10 disputed artefacts of the Museum and see them being teleported back in time to their homelands, with experts from there playing tour guide by narrating the true story of loot. Those who aren’t at the British Museum can unfilter history from wherever they are in the world, with immersive audio-video experiences and extended podcasts hosted on the Unfiltered History Tour website. The Tour used popular platforms to turn social media hot takes into debates and give marginalised voices space to express their colonial trauma for the first time.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Through an exhaustive selection process in consultation with an art historian, disputed artefacts with an imperialist narrative were chosen, with equal representation across continents and cultures - Jamaica, Easter Island, Egypt, Greece, Nigeria, Ghana, Iraq, India, China and Australia. Authenticity was at the forefront of the project, in collaboration with native experts from 10 countries who presented a side of history never seen or read in textbooks or by the Museum. This approach went against the mainstream narrative around colonial artefacts pushed by major publications and the Museum itself. We went social-first and spoke to young people on platforms they were most likely to take notice of - Instagram, Tik Tok, Spotify, Apple Music and other audio platforms. Call to action Visitors to the British Museum were invited to experience another side of history by taking the Unfiltered History Tour. And people across the globe could

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The Unfiltered History Tour was developed by a 100-person strong team working remotely for 18 months across 10 timezones. We got expert voices from the countries these artefacts belonged to - Ghana’s Ernest Domfe and Haki Shakur, Nigeria’s Victor Ehikhamenor, Egypt’s Heba Abd el Gawad, Iraq’s Max Joseph, Jamaica’s Sharifa Balfour, Greece’s Petros Apostolakis, Australia’s Claire G Coleman and Rodney Kelly, China’s Fu Yiwen and Rapa Nui’s Tarita Alarcón Rapu and Sergio Rapu. Their accounts of the intergenerational trauma and suffering of their ancestors, along with the looting of their cultural treasures formed the bedrock for the extended 10-part podcast series and Instagram Augmented Reality filters that launched in December, 2021.

List the results (30% of vote)

In its first month, the campaign has received endorsement from former UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor, award-winning journalist Marc Fennel and the British Committee, amongst others. Earned media worth $631K 32 million social impressions 40% rise in TikTok followers and 49% increase in total impressions on Instagram 21,583 podcast downloads and 5,200 filter uses (in 30 days) Change in behaviour According to a 2014 survey, 59% of Britons were proud of the British Empire. In a poll conducted weeks after the Tour was launched, 59% of Britons said they believed the Parthenon Marbles (part of the Tour) belonged in Greece. The podcast series let us go a lot deeper with the project and give audiences something heavily educational, not found in British history textbooks. What some users had to say after taking the tour: “Confronts and challenges colonial origins.” “Hearing the past told by multiple perspectives gives depth.”

Please tell us how disruption in your market inspired the work

VICE World News is a newly formed brand, to provide global news reporting for young audiences internationally. To grow their cross-platform audience significantly, we needed to cut-through a crowded media environment. The Unfiltered History Tour tackled the marketing challenge of developing awareness and consumption by leveraging the centre of all art history symposiums - Instagram - in a novel way, with Augmented Reality backed by journalistic reporting to capture their audience’s attention. Providing a platform for underrepresented minority voices, allowed VICE World News to travel to Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Jamaica, Rapa Nui, Iraq, India and several other countries. They provided a deeply authentic, international perspective which can often be lost in mainstream news reporting around repatriation of the British Museum’s objects. The podcast series allows users to delve deeper with something heavily educational, moving listeners beyond the habit of simply reacting to news events through headlines and hot takes on