75 years ago, the only hope four year old Michael Floersheim had left was his teddy bear, Arosali. In 1942, Michael and his mother, both Jewish, were deported to the Westerbork Concentration Camp. The Nazis only allowed Michael to bring one toy- he chose his bear Arosali.
Later, he and his bear were deported to Bergen-Belsen, the place where Anne Frank died. But Michael survived – with the help of his bear Arosali.
Dr. Yonat Floersheim, Michael’s wife, remembers in a video interview: “You had the feeling that he truly felt he owed the teddy bear his life and that he drew a calming and powerful support from it.”
Inspired by Michael’s story, Spielzeux, a toy store from Frankfurt, and Ogilvy & Mather decided to reproduce Arosali as an original replica on the German market to bring back hope to others who may need it.
The Arosali project is accompanied by an online presence at http://arosali.com/ as well as a social media campaign, supported by the influencer platform indaHash, which urges influencers to take a picture of themselves with their special stuffed animal friend and share it with the Hashtag #Arosali to raise awareness of the project and donate to Kinderträume e.V. with the purchase of Arosali – The Bear of Hope.
DIVERGE spoke to the Ogilvy team in Germany to find out more:
Where did this idea come from?
While developing a campaign for Spielzeux, we came across the original Arosali from 1942 in an exhibition in the Netherlands. The story of Michael Floersheim and his teddybear Arosali touched us so deeply that we as Ogilvy decided to bring their story to life. Based on Michael’s experiences, Ogilvy created the storytelling campaign: Arosali – the Bear of Hope (German: Arosali – Bär der Hoffnung) in order to demonstrate the power of toys through thick and thin.
Why is it significant?
The story of Michael and Arosali demonstrates that you can reach your hopes and dreams if you fight for it and be strong – but also shows that you always need support and that that’s ok. In the case of Michael, he took the strength and encouragement from his teddybear Arosali, who helped him survive two concentration camps. With the pro bono project Arosali – the Bear of Hope, we want to highlight the central role of toys for children and their development.
What kind of response have you gotten from it/do you hope to get from it?
In addition to raising donations for Kinderträume e.V. (an organization dedicated to fulfilling the last wishes of chronically ill children), we want to transport this moving story to a new generation of parents and children. Through a successful social media campaign launched in the end of January (#Arosali), we have been able to raise awareness of our cause across hundreds of thousands of people. In response to this achievement, Serdar Kantekin, Creative Director, states, “Our social media campaign asks people to share a picture of themselves with their special stuffed animal friend using the hashtag #Arosali to raise awareness for the project and spread the cause to their friends and followers. To date, all Instagram posts have garnered over 45.000 likes and have achieved a total reach of over 730.000. That makes us very happy.”
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/arosali/
Why is it essential to share this story and offer hope?
If we look around today, we can see people all over the world giving up hope for a brighter future. By sharing the story of Arosali – the Bear of Hope, we want to motivate people to keep fighting – just like Michael did with the help of Arosali. Together, they overcame a horrible nightmare to gain the strength needed for a better future. By transporting their story into the present context, Arosali becomes a symbol of hope for the new generation of parents and children.
Who is the team behind it?
Stephan Vogel, Chief Creative Officer EMEA
Serdar Kantekin, Creative Director
Marius Sommerfeld, Copywriter
Hugo Kotterman, Art Director
Tejmur Sattarov, Senior Art Director
Charles Dennewald, Junior Art Director
Martin Mazcurek, Art Director
Sophie Wolf, Copywriter
Kenny Blumenschein, Executive Creative Director
Esra Büyükdoganay, Art Director
Kerstin Schon, Head of Project Management
Simone Schröder, Senior Account Director
Nathalia Juric, Art Buyer
Anna Karina Berels, Account Manager Corporate Communications
Valerie Weber, Junior Account Executive
Mandana Maget, Junior Account Executive
Isabelle Jubin, Senior Account Director
Stefan Selge, Technical Director
