ABOUT

When Ancestry approached me about creating a social campaign celebrating the 100th birthday of David Attenborough, the challenge wasn’t simply producing commemorative content - it was making people care enough to stop scrolling and share it.

The brief quickly evolved beyond “birthday posts.” The real opportunity was to create something that felt culturally relevant, visually rich, and emotionally familiar. Content that audiences would genuinely want to engage with rather than passively consume.

From the beginning, the creative benchmark became clear: editorial-first social content inspired by the storytelling language of National Geographic. Large-format photography, cinematic pacing, bold hooks, and conversational storytelling all became central to the direction.

Rather than positioning Attenborough as a distant public figure, the campaign focused on the idea of shared cultural memory. Almost everyone has a relationship with his work - whether that’s childhood documentaries, iconic narration, environmental awareness, or even internet moments like Boaty McBoatface. That insight shaped the entire campaign structure.

The concept combined celebration, education, humour, and audience participation through a mix of statics, motion, and carousel storytelling. Each piece was designed around one simple internal question:

“Would someone share this in a group chat?”

That became the filter for every creative decision.

I led the project across concept development, narrative structuring, copywriting, visual direction, and social content planning.
The campaign included:
- Engagement-led static social posts
- Educational and entertainment-focused carousels
- Motion content celebrating Attenborough’s legacy
- Interactive audience prompts designed to drive comments and shares

Using archival research, Getty imagery, and Ancestry’s historical resources, I developed a visual system that balanced editorial aesthetics with platform-native social design. Particular focus was placed on creating carousel narratives with strong pacing, emotional payoff, and shareable hooks.

The campaign helped shift Ancestry’s social content toward a more editorial, culturally engaged direction, moving away from traditional corporate social publishing in favour of storytelling-led content designed for genuine audience interaction.