WhatsApp's Dynamic Family Spot Captures a Year of Covid and Human Connection

WhatsApp just launched a new campaign, called 'A Family Diary', which takes us on a year-long journey of one family and their key moments during 2020, and how they were able to stay connected and support each other almost as if they were face to face.

The campaign - be running on Instagram and Facebook in the UK, US and Brazil - sees a family living through familiar experiences during Covid.

The film starts with a family message on WhatsApp saying “Phew aren’t we all happy that this year is finally coming to an end?!”. It then goes back to the start of the year, and – through WhatsApp messages, videos, calls, voice notes and pictures - taking us through the journey of the family’s year, including delivering groceries to an elderly relative, a trip being cancelled, pregnancy news being shared, a bedtime story being told, and finally a baby being born. The film ends with the line ‘What kept you close is what got you through.’

Eshan Ponnadurai, WhatsApp’s director of brand and consumer marketing, said: “WhatsApp was created as a private messaging service designed to connect people with their friends and families. We play a meaningful role in ensuring people are able to create and nurture the deep connections and relationships in their lives that really help them move forward. That role was further amplified this year beyond what we could have ever imagined, as we have all been separated from our loved ones. That connection for billions of people around the world meant that they could share the highs, lows, mundane and extraordinary moments with those closest to them - despite not being together in person. We wanted A Family Diary to provide a reflection and snapshot of one family’s journey through the year through the lens of WhatsApp messages and all the moments they were able to share together despite being apart – an experience which mirrors so many of our own experiences in 2020.”