Understanding the lives of our ancestors can help us make sense of who we are, and why. It is a deeply emotional and personal endeavour. Findmypast, a UK based genealogy website, wanted to inspire and enable more people to start out on that journey of self-discovery.
The family-history market is bland and sepia-soaked - dominated by US-owned Ancestry, which is longer-established and has far deeper pockets than Findmypast. We needed to build a brand that was contemporary, distinct and ownable.
The identity we developed focused on the ‘my’ of Findmypast. Our creative framework has the freedom to personalise every iteration by changing the ‘my’ to reflect the individual referenced in the communication, embracing illustration to create a look and feel that feels like it’s always in development, just as life is.
We worked with media partners to define a broadcast strategy hinged on performance TV and digital channels. By developing creative that was designed to break beige category conventions, we captured the emotion of making a discovery in your past and the impact it can have on your life today.
Over the following 18 months we released three instalments of the campaign, covering military records, the British Newspaper Archive relationship and the pivotal 1921 Census release.
In 2022 our work to date won a DMA for effectiveness and Findmypast has grown significantly in the time we’ve been working with them to become the fiercest competitor to Ancestry in the UK.
Focusing our identity around the My has enabled our customers to put themselves at the centre of the story of their history. The Favour the brave team not only ensured our look drives differentiation in the market but enabled us to drive stand out with the continued launch of new features and product developments. They’re our go to team.
