Ancestry is hitting Bondi Beach to unveil insights into its residents DNA and reveal the different cultures in everyone.
Ancestry has produced an online content series that takes 17 residents of a non-descript apartment block in Bondi Beach on DNA journey of discovery, revealing both what connects us and makes each of us unique.
In a serendipitous turn of events, the randomly-chosen residents – tested via AncestryDNA analysis – collectively represent all 26 ethnic regions available from the AncestryDNA test, turning the small, reflecting how multicultural society can be.
In the first part of the four part series, Bondi resident Simon Edds discovers his DNA is comprised of an array of backgrounds, including Scandinavia and Finland.
He explains: “I’m really blown away by this. I’m connected to Europe… I feel closer to everyone now. If this is just localised in one apartment building, imagine if more people around the world took this test and shared that connection.”
Ancestry senior marketing manager Nigel Seeto says the series give a snapshot of some of the individual histories stretching back thousands of years that make up modern Australia.
"Storytelling is at the heart of the Ancestry experience, and with It’s a Small World we recognised the unique position we were in to create immersive content that really brought these stories to life for our audience. It’s been amazing to go on a journey with these Bondi residents and share the personal discoveries from their DNA in this way," he says.
The series was developed by branded content agency hellofuture.tv. The agency is head up by former The White agency exec, Pablo Jeffress, and Emily Bull, who has held roles at The White Agency and Grey London.
Jeffress says the DNA product was a perfect vehicle for storytelling.
"We established the proposition “Ancestry DNA changes the way you see the world,” and then, using broadcast researchers, searched far and wide across Sydney to find our apartment block, unveiling these amazing personalities and stories," he says.
"Now this group of previous strangers have a shared experience and discovered their shared ethnicities. It really does prove that we have more in common than we realise, and that there’s only one race - the human race. Though now I’ve discovered I’ve got Irish in me it’s also a good excuse to drink more Guinness."
Credits
Creative Director: Pablo Jeffress
Exec Producer: Emily Bull
PR AGENCY: HOWORTH COMMUNICATIONS
CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION AGENCY: hellofuture.tv
Producer: Emily Bull / Charlie Billeh / Jo Yates
Director: Pablo Jeffress
DOP: Max Lebigre
