Preparing for school in the US means preparing for the likelihood of a school shooting. What a tragedy that is. Sandy Hook Promise still has to warn people about the signs of potential gun violence at school to try to mitigate an absolutely dreadful situation.
More than more than 228,000 US children have experienced a shooting at school since the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. On December 14 2012, twenty children, aged between five and ten, and six staff members were killed at Sandy Hook when a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle before killing himself. By September 19 this year, there had been 302 mass shootings in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive. September 19 is the 263rd day of the year.
Sandy Hook Promise’s campaigns by BBDO New York continue to shock and educate. At the centre of this year’s is a 60-second take on a back-to-school commercial in which children show off their new school “essentials”. These include a skateboard that’s useful for breaking a window so you can jump out to escape being shot, a pair of long socks that can be used as a tourniquet and a phone so you can text “I love you, mom”, perhaps as your final message.
The film ends with a title that reads, It’s back to school time, and you know what that means. School shootings are preventable when you know the signs.
This year, the campaign extends beyond TV and digital to include print, radio and out-of-home, and is being launched to coincide with back-to-school because, according to Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, was killed in the 2014 school shooting, “parents don’t really understand the new normal. They don’t really understand active shooting drills, the violence that goes on in schools, that this violence is preventable.”
The campaign supports Sandy Hook Promise’s Know the Signs programs, which teach students and adults how to recognise warning signs and threats that often precede an act of violence or self-harm and outline the steps to intervene and get help before violence occurs.
PHD, BBDO’s sister Omnicom agency, has secured more than 50 media partners for the campaign, including CNN, IFC, AMC, YouTube, PopSugar, Conde Nast, Snapchat, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Fortune, iHeartRadio, Pandora and Intersection. So far, they have donated over US$2 million in time and ad space.
Credits:
Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer New York: Greg Hahn
SVP Senior Creative Director: Peter Alsante
VP Creative Director: Bianca Guimaraes
Associate Creative Directors: Jim Connolly, Gary Toit & Lance Vining
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
VP Group Executive Producer: Alex Gianni
Associate Producer: Molly Ross
Music Producer: Julia Millison
Business Manager: Grace Kelly
SVP Senior Director: Lindsey Cash
Account Manager: Elizabeth Jacobs
Account Executive: Melissa Blache
Planning Director: Ben Bass
Brand Strategist: Michael Schonfeld
VP Director Of Data: Chris Daniele