NEW YORK – The Advertising Council announced today that it is launching the third round of its Campaign for Freedom work in time for Independence Day.
The new television, radio and print PSAs are designed to encourage all Americans to engage in everyday civic activities that will express freedom in action. The PSAs were created by graduate students from the Virginia Commonwealth University Adcenter, marking the first time advertising students created work for the Ad Council. The Martin Agency donated its services to oversee production of the PSAs, which has been funded in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Home Depot, Inc.
The new creative effort has been spearheaded by Mike Hughes, Chief Creative Director, Campaign for Freedom, and President & Chief Creative Director, The Martin Agency. The advertising students who created the work were led by Rick Boyko, Managing Director and Professor, VCU Adcenter and former Co-President & CCO of Ogilvy & Mather.
The Ad Council’s Campaign for Freedom is an initiative that was developed as an advertising industry-wide response to the tragedies of September 11th. The campaign seeks to inform, involve and inspire all Americans to appreciate, cherish and protect their freedoms. While the previous advertising created for the campaign was inspirational, the new PSAs are the first ads that focus on civic engagement by encouraging Americans to actively support and defend the underlying freedoms that define the American way of life. The PSAs direct audiences to visit a new website, www.explorefreedomusa.org , which provides ideas and resources to engage Americans in cherishing and protecting freedom.
“The response from the first two rounds of the Campaign for freedom was extraordinary. Our research has revealed that the PSAs successfully inspired many Americans to cherish and appreciate freedom, but now it is time to translate that inspiration into action,” according to Peggy Conlon, President & CEO of The Advertising Council. “This new work is compelling and thought-provoking and I believe that it will motivate Americans to become more informed and involved in their communities and their country.”
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According to a recent Ad Council tracking study, when asked about the problem of “people not appreciating the freedoms they enjoy as Americans,” only 17% of Americans say they are doing something about it or considering doing something about it. The new PSAs continue to celebrate freedom, but they also encourage increased civic engagement among individuals. The creative strategy was informed by a research panel of communications, academic and civil liberties and civic engagement experts from organizations including USA Freedom Corps, The Freedom Forum, MTV Music Television and The Advertising Research Foundation.
“The campaign was first conceived as a way to rally Americans around their freedoms,” said Mike Hughes. “Now we’re going one step farther: we’re challenging people to exercise their freedoms. To make them real. The Adcenter students tend to be in their 20s. They understand completely the detached view too many young Americans have about their rights. They found a way in this campaign to get all people-young and old-involved in the causes that are most important to them. Most of us should be at least a little ashamed of how little we do. This campaign points that out.”
The television PSAs feature “man-on-the-street” interviews with Americans who are actively engaged in discussions about their freedom and what they are doing to exercise their rights. The print and radio work use an ironic tone to communicate the importance of participating in simple, meaningful activities that will protect freedom. One print PSA says to readers, “Your neighbors are too loud, but you say nothing. You didn’t sign that petition. Your streets need a stop sign, but you say nothing. You don’t make time for community watch. You only open the door for trick-or-treaters…” Each PSA concludes with the new tagline, “Keep Freedom Strong. Exercise It.” and directs audiences to visit www.explorefreedomusa.org .
“Our students were given the opportunity to work on this project from strategy to execution,” said Boyko. “We’re grateful to the Ad Council and Mike Hughes for trusting us with this important campaign. Our students benefit by being immersed in this real-world project, and our partners benefit by tapping into the talents and insights of a group of young people with their unique view of the world.”
The new website, www.explorefreedomusa.org , is divided into three action oriented areas, “learn about it,” “hear about it” and “do something about it”. The site includes various resources to engage Americans in freedom, in areas such as community involvement (e.g. teaching, mentoring), participating in discussions and debate about current events and issues, voting at the local, state and national levels and being an informed citizen – learning more about current events through news media, classes, forums.
The PSAs are being distributed this week to more than 20,000 media outlets nationwide. Per the Ad Council’s model, the ads will air and run in donated advertising time and space. To date, the Campaign for Freedom has received more than $188 million in donated media.
VCU Adcenter
The Adcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University is an innovative two-year graduate program for advertising that combines business-oriented strategic and media tracks with a creative program for art directors and writers in an agency setting. The mission of the VCU Adcenter is to train tomorrow’s industry leaders to create advertising ideas that stretch past traditional methods and incorporate all types of media to best solve communications problems. For more information, visit the Adcenter website at www.adcenter.vcu.edu .
The Martin Agency
Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, The Martin Agency creates advertising for clients including UPS, Olympus, Coca-Cola, GEICO, NASCAR, The Miller Brewing Company and The Kennedy Library. Last year, the agency created the first Ad Council campaign for the Department of Homeland Security. The agency provided creative direction and production help to the Ad Council students who conceived the new Freedom campaign.
The Advertising Council
Immediately following the tragedies of September 11th, the Ad Council began developing PSAs to help the country heal and remain strong. The decision to develop the Campaign For Freedom was made several days after the attacks at a meeting involving leaders from the major advertising industry associations including: the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Advertising Federation (AAF). It was at this meeting that the Ad Council was selected to lead an initiative to create PSAs that would inform, involve and inspire Americans. This initiative came to be known as the Ad Council’s Campaign for Freedom. Just as in 1942 when the organization, then known as The War Advertising Council, mobilized the ad industry to aid the nation’s war effort, the advertising industry affirmed that the Ad Council would marshal the industry’s talent in America’s war on terrorism.
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshalling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has effected, and continues to effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action, and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org.