Adlibbing: Inside PSAs

Great Creative Deserves Recognition

My email has been full this week of advertising that has won an award at the international Cannes ad festival.  So while everyone's mind is on award winning advertising, I want to tell you about two Ad Council campaigns that have recently been selected for prestigious awards -- not Cannes Lions -- but they make us very proud.

Our Underage Drinking Campaign won a National Silver ADDY Award.  This award, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, represents the highest creative standards in the industry.  With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY's are the world's largest advertising competition.  And this fabulous creative from the Kaplan Thaler Group encourages parents to talk to their kids about not drinking.  The approach is powerful, the directing is fabulous and it is sure to be a wake up call for parents who might otherwise put off speaking to their children about alcohol.

The second award was a Silver EFFIE for our Foster Care Adoption campaign on behalf of HHS Administration for Children and Families.  The EFFIE award is one of the most coveted awards in our business as it is judged on the most significant achievement in advertising -- results!  This campaign has received over $80 million in donated media and more than 2,400 families have started the adoption process as a result of this campaign.  Created by kirshenbaum bond + partners, the campaign has already made a dramatic difference in the lives of so many children who beat the odds of being adopted out of foster care.

OK, awards don't save lives.  But the creative that wins them does.  And it's wonderful when our generous and dedicated pro bono agency teams are recognized for their talent.  Bravo!

Every once in a while we get surprised, and two years ago when we launched our breastfeeding campaign was one of those times.  None of us -- even the young moms -- knew how high emotions run on the subject.  But we soon learned!

On the face of it, with sound science behind the benefits of breastfeeding for at least six months it would seem to be without controversy.  But a straignt forward message educating soon to be moms about the science didn't prove to motivate women who were on the fence to decide to breastfeed.

So the creative team chose to frame the concept of not breastfeeding as an undesirable behavior.  The television spots showed obviously pregnant women participating in behavior that you would never see a pregnant woman doing such as riding a mechanical bull or log rolling.  The audio told the viewer that you would never risk you baby's health before it was born so why not eliminate increased risks of certain health issues by not breastfeeding.

Women who chose or were not able to breastfeed were furious.  They felt guilty enough about their choice and didn't want to be made to feel even guiltier.  The campaign was accused of using fear and the battle lines were drawn.

As with so many issues like this, the debate continues with no end in sight.  But two years later, the campaign -- which has expired and no longer runs -- was featured in a NY Times story and picked up by the Today Show.

At the end of the day, we feel all this debate is a good thing.  Whatever side you take, it is getting a lot of people talking about the benefits of breastfeeding.  We consider that success!