Situation
Many trans people find it too painful to look at their old childhood photographs. Childhood pictures can trigger gender dysphoria, a condition where people feel their body does not align with their true gender identity. As a result, old photographs and precious childhood memories stay packed away.
 
Idea
The SAVED MEMORIES PROJECT is a social influencer campaign supporting trans people in recovering lost childhood memories with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Old childhood photographs are scanned and then transformed with AI to align the images with the person's true gender identity. At the heart of the project is a documentary short film where we meet Lucy, Alice, and Duke - three German trans influencers who unpack their old photos to have these moments reimagined with AI. The call-to-action drives people to saved-memories.org, where they can learn how to use AI to transform their own pictures or those of a loved one.
 
Execution
First, we built anticipation for the launch with three teaser films released on the social channels of our three influencers. In each film, the influencers revealed their childhood photos for the first time, describing the challenges they faced growing up as trans.
 
Then, we launched the official project film on YouTube on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex Discrimination, and Transphobia (14.04.2023). At the end of the emotional four-minute film, a call-to-action reads "Tell your own story: www.saved-memories.org." 
 
On the Saved Memories website, visitors can learn how to use AI to transform their own pictures or those of a loved one. Detailed video tutorials presented by project AI artist Jacques Alomo, give users a step-by-step guide on how to re-align images to fit a person’s true gender identity. Here, visitors can also find out more about the featured participants and the NGOs behind the project with links to more information and community support.
 
Results
The project has reached over 775 million media contacts with coverage by German mainstream press titles like Stern, Gala, Bunte, Focus, RTL News, MSN, Yahoo, and VIP.de, as well as international features by DW (TV), Arte (TV) and the Daily Mail.