Our objective was to drive awareness around the new documentary Welcome to Chechnya and generate discussion around the atrocities of Chechnya’s gay purge, via social engagements (reach, views, likes, comments). Further, we sought to partner with influential, credible talent who can help amplify the message through social engagement
We recorded a socially-distant “Culture Closeup” video for the Welcome to Chechnya documentary, which broke down the documentary’s key takeaways and offered a behind the scenes scoop for audiences to better understand the ins and outs of the story and “making-of” process. We partnered with Roxane Gay to guide the discussion with the documentary’s director, David France. Together, Roxane and David discussed the impact and importance of telling the story and how David was able to bring the story to life.
It was important to us to bring this project to life with Roxane, as she is an influential and inspiring activist to the queer community. Her understanding of the topic matter and community established her as a credible interviewer to lead the conversation with David. Her reach also allowed the story to reach not only a large audience - but the right audience.
This Culture Closeup was an opportunity for us to tell the story of Chechnya in a snackable, palatable manner. Roxane posted the video to her Instagram account, and we also featured it on the documentary’s social handles and website.
Across various platforms, the video received an impressive amount of traction and positive audience engagement:
Roxane Gay Social Post
Potential Reach: 227K
Views: 22,257
Audience Engagement:
“Terrifying. What an amazing effort to save lives. Thank you for the interview”
“So important. So painful.”
Wow wow wow. What brave souls”
Welcome to Chechnya Culture Close-up on HBO.com
Video Plays: 238
Unique Video Plays: 167
95% Completion Rate: 22%
Welcome to Chechnya Facebook post
Total views: 11K
Total clicks: 2.2K
Total audience engagement: 261
