Adlibbing: Inside PSAs

The Perfect Holiday Campaign

As we all head out to share Christmas or Hanukkah with our families and friends, we are preparing for the "perfect" holiday.  There's always last minute shopping, wrapping, cards, cooking and the mad dash for the highway or airport.  Except for the stress imposed by a ridiculous timeframe (I'd love to see these holidays pushed back to February) it's very nice to focus nearly exclusively on what we can do for others.

It's the perfect season to turn our attention to the Generous Nation campaign that inspires people to act on their best intentions to help those in need.  View the campaign by visiting www.dontalmostgive.org.  The campaign, announced in September, is really just now getting into rotation in television and outdoor.  We are delighted that the Radio Advertising Bureau has selected Generous Nation for their holiday roadblock to be supported by over 12,000 radio stations through the holidays and all of January.  Newspaper PSAs go out today.

So who is it we want to "Give"?  Well, how about all those people who received multi million dollar bonuses at Goldman Saks?  But seriously, the astonishing fact is that 85% of Americans report that they give to charity.  So what is the goal for this campaign?  Not just one annual gift, but yearlong engagement.

It's only human, this "almost giving".  We are such an overscheduled society.  But what if everytime we saw someone in need we actually acted on the impulse to help.  Sometimes it's a donation of money.  But it doesn't have to be money.  Taking a meal to an elderly neighbor, a spare coat to the city coat drive, watching your neighbor's kids so she can take a much needed nap.  The opportunity is to sieze the moment.

I know this campaign will work.  Because generosity is part of the American DNA.  We simply need to acknowledge that if we don't act when we see the need, the chances are we won't act at all.  And that's the type of message so well suited to public service advertising.

Don't Almost Give. Give.

How many times have you seen someone who needed help -- passed a homeless person on the street, read about a family who lost everything, intended to bring an elderly neighbor a hot meal?  But then you got busy or forgot.  If you're like me, lots and lots of times.

That's the insight behind the Ad Council's Generous Nation campaign that launched this morning.  America is the most generous society in the world.  And when our hearts are touched -- as they were by the images we saw after the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina -- we give and volunteer even more.  How, we pondered, after the hurricane images faded from the news could we continue to turn people's best intentions into action day in, day out?

The answer came (pro bono of course) from a legendary advertising team lead by Phil Dusenberry who headed creative at BBDO for over 25 years.  He went to his longtime colleagues Ted Sann and Charlie Meismer.  When they read our brief, they created a poignant campaign to turn "Almost Givers" into "Givers".  The TV spots show people in need and the voice over talks about the people who almost helped.  But they didn't.  The spots end with the line "Don't Almost Give. Give." and feature the website www.DontAlmostGive.org.  The website was designed pro bono by Tribal DDB.  Go to the website and view the ads -- and find out about giving while you're at it!

The website is a portal that allows visitors to select issues they are passionate about and find non profit organizations that address these issues.  It also allows people to search by zip code tens of thousands of non profits to donate or volunteer in their community utilizing links to three major web aggregators.

While the Ad Council has been around for over six decades, this is the first time we know of that it has funded all the "out of pocket" costs associated with a campaign.  Usually the non profit whose logo is on the PSA pays for them.  But we felt that this was bigger than one organization and wanted to benefit the entire non profit community.  Our hope is that by stimulating giving, all boats will rise.

The Generous Nation campaign reminds me that our founding fathers called the Ad Council "Advertising Gift to America."  So true.