Ancestry Inspires People to Discover, Preserve and Represent All That They Are With “It’s a Family Thing” Integrated Brand Campaign
By Tanner James
Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, today unveiled a new integrated brand campaign designed to help consumers understand Ancestry is so much more than family trees. The powerful creative shows how Ancestry not only helps people understand their family history and DNA, but to do something even more powerful – represent it.
“It’s a Family Thing,” inspires and empowers people to discover, preserve, and represent all they are through Ancestry, which now provides anyone with the tools to curate and keep the stories of their family, not only from the past but also from today and into the future. Ancestry customers will no longer solely be finders of history. They’ll now also be keepers of it, creators of it, and sharers of it.
The campaign was developed in partnership with Ancestry, Wieden+Kennedy and the Blackstone Portfolio Operations Brand Transformation team.
“After decades of leadership in family history research, this work marks a major milestone as we look to the future and broaden the appeal of Ancestry,” said Paige Grossman, Ancestry Vice President, Global Creative and Brand Marketing. “We’re changing the narrative and inspiring people not only to learn about their past but also be active participants in preserving the family history that is happening now and represent it daily.”
The “It’s a Family Thing” campaign has brand and product-centric films featuring three unique families, including:
- The Hughes Family: A family of Black cowboys based in Illinois who have competed in rodeos for generations and can now use Ancestry tools like StoryMaker Studio to document family milestones and preserve their legacy.
- The Serrano Family: A multi-generational family with a passion for vintage cars and lowrider cruises in Southern California that used Ancestry to connect with their history and celebrate their heritage.
- The Karam Family: A family of 70+ LSU tailgaters that bleed Tiger purple and used Ancestry to compare and contrast their DNA and traits, and document their family traditions.
- “It’s a Family Thing” anthem spot celebrates unique and ever evolving family stories and highlights the importance of carrying traditions forward.
“Ancestry and Wieden+Kennedy are excited to take the first step in making family history not just a thing from the past, but something that you proudly carry with you every day,” said Jarrod Higgins, Creative Director, W+K. “The new tagline, “It’s a Family Thing,” will take family history from something that is in the past to a more modern place by highlighting three real families who represent their legacy through the passions they pass down through the generations.”
“This has been a very fruitful partnership to reframe Ancestry in the eyes of consumers to reflect the real evolution the company has made in product and purpose,” said Jonny Bauer, Managing Director, Blackstone Portfolio Operations.
The new campaign will be supported through a cross-channel media plan, including Hulu, YouTube, ABC, NBC, CNN, Peacock, EyeQ, and more.
Ancestry has selected Publicis Vita, powered by Starcom, to lead global media planning and buying. Publicis Vita’s focus areas will include media strategy, planning, partnerships, and buying. The move to a new global media agency was timed to support and amplify the new brand creative campaign, and maximize the reach of Ancestry’s marketing efforts globally.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside Ancestry during their next phase of evolution,” said Michael Epstein, Starcom Global CEO. “Our team is excited to explore how the power of family opens new opportunities for connection in media-driven experiences.”
The announcement comes after an extensive agency evaluation, led by strategic advisory firm MediaLink, for a media agency of record to support future growth and brand-building initiatives.
“MediaLink designed a strategic global media review process focused on agency transformation in service of growth,” said Sosti Ropaitis, Executive Vice President, MediaLink. “We were thrilled to advise Ancestry from the release of the RFP to final selection. We congratulate Publicis Vita on their win, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of this new partnership come to life.”
The new campaign brings to life the evolution of Ancestry from a research-based solo activity to a place where families can discover, craft and connect around their family story together – and preserve it for generations to come.
Ancestry’s tools allow customers to scan, upload, enhance and colorize old family photos and tag them with details to bring those images to life. Customers can record and upload audio of their parents’ and grandparents’ stories told in their own voices, cherished family traditions, their children’s sports and scholastic accomplishments, and their cousin’s first piano recital. In addition to tree building and DNA, these tools allow customers to capture, save, and share their family’s memories and stories, for current and future generations to remember forever.
“We’ve spent the past 2 years transforming our product experience to enable customers to collaborate and share around past and present family traditions and memories with a portfolio of industry first product feature launches,” said Brian Donnelly, Chief Commercial Officer at Ancestry. “We are proud of what we’ve built and are ready to let the world know about it. That’s exactly what we’re doing by selecting Publicis Vita as our new global media agency of record – to amplify the reach and impact of our new creative and brand campaigns developed with our partners at Wieden + Kennedy.”
With over 23 million AncestryDNA® customers, over 40 billion records, and more than 133 million family trees, Ancestry provides the best resources for consumers across the globe who are interested in finding out who they are and where they came from.
