The Royal Canadian Legion has added a technical twist to the traditional Poppy as a new way to honour veterans this Remembrance Day.
Developed by Salt XC, Canadians can now scan a standard Poppy with their phone to get the story of a fallen soldier, providing a personal connection to one of Canada’s war heroes for the many people who don’t personally know a military veteran. (See the demonstration video below.)
“Through this experience, we hope to add a new dimension to the Poppy Campaign with a new interactive layer designed to give every Canadian someone to remember on Nov. 11,” said Brad Van Schaik, executive creative director at Salt XC
Visiting PoppyStories.ca opens up a scanner on the user’s mobile phone. By scanning a Poppy, the user learns about where a soldier grew up, their family, pre-war work, and even some of their passions. There are 50 stories in total dedicated to Canadian veterans from World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and Afghanistan.
“A large part of the National Poppy Campaign relates to the act of Remembrance itself,” said Nujma Bond, the Legion’s national spokesperson, in a release. “We think this will be an amazing complement to our campaign during the Remembrance period, and will give many Canadians, including those from younger generations, a special Veteran’s name to remember this year.”
PoppyStories is being promoted with a 15-second TV spot, a radio PSA, as well as digital and static OOH, all of which was developed by Salt XC.