Ancestry Stories | Honouring Legacy Through Storytelling
Geelong Cemeteries Trust (GCT) is more than a provider of end-of-life services. It’s a custodian of legacy, memory, and family connections.
Working to deepen local ties to regional history, the Trust is committed to helping people discover the stories that have shaped the Geelong region and their family’s legacy.
Disciplines
Creative Campaign Strategy
Paid Media (Meta)
Video Production – True South Film
The Challenge
The Trust wanted to show the public how exploring ancestry can be both accessible and deeply rewarding. At the heart of this was their underutilised family history search tool, a digital portal for discovering ancestors and locating their resting place across all 13 locations.
The marketing brief asked to craft a social campaign that would:
- drive qualified local traffic to the search tool
- educate and inspire the public through story-driven video content
- engage a diverse local audience
The Solution
Our concept was inspired by telling relevant local stories that connected families in Geelong with their ancestors. So, the Ancestry Stories campaign was born.
In collaboration with True South Film, Ancestry Stories was a three-part docu-series celebrating the lives of notable Geelong individuals buried across their cemeteries. This included refrigeration pioneer James Harrison, trailblazing doctor Mary DeGaris, and Australian Football icon Charles Brownlow.
Each story was transformed into a short-form video designed for social media, combining archival visuals, on-site interviews, and emotionally resonant storytelling from real descendants. This was utlised across a targeted Meta Ads campaign and organic channels. The campaign was crafted to spark curiosity whilst leading users toward the family history tool to explore their own stories.
The Result
Over the span of the campaign, Ancestry Stories achieved strong local impact:
- 223,640 people reached across Geelong and Melbourne
- 639,000+ impressions
- 14,524 landing page views at an average cost of just $0.38 per view
- A 46% video hook rate
- Meaningful engagement from older demographics, especially females 65+
- A wave of positive public sentiment, with locals expressing newfound pride and fascination in their family history
Qualitative data confirmed that the content wasn’t just being seen. But being felt. People were surprised, moved, and inspired to reconnect with their heritage. Most importantly, users actively engaged with the family history search tool, proving the power of storytelling to drive action.
