Source: Adweek
The fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is Thursday. And Sandy Hook Promise, the gun violence prevention nonprofit born from that tragedy, remains focused squarely on preventing a repeat of the tragedy.
A new PSA, “Tomorrow’s News,” follows last year’s “Evan,” which Sandy Hook Promise co-founder and managing director Mark Barden told Adweek was “an important milestone” for the organization in communicating that “everybody has the potential to prevent something bad from happening if they know the signs.” That spot led to “a huge uptick” in awareness for the organization, he added.
In addition to quickly eclipsing the organization’s goal of 1 million views (eventually totaling around 150 million), “Evan” went on to win myriad industry awards for creativity.
Designed to mimic a local news broadcast, “Tomorrow’s News” opens on a newscaster reporting on a school shooting, the day before it actually happens. She interviews a series of the shooters’ classmates and teachers, as well as a parent of one of the victims. All of them describe how they will react to the impending event, with many expressing remorse for not having done or said something to prevent it or pointing to signs that could have predicted the shooter’s behavior.
“Tomorrow’s News” concludes with the message, “You can stop tomorrow’s shootings if you recognize the warning signs today,” followed by a call for viewers to donate to Sandy Hook Promise via its website.
The ad will run on Sandy Hook Promise’s social pages and will be among the first Facebook videos to feature the platform’s donation button, on posts from both Sandy Hook Promise and its influencers.
The ad was done by BBDO New York, and was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of Smuggler. BBDO New York, which worked with Sandy Hook Promise pro-bono on “Evan” and “Tomorrow’s News” has a relationship with the nonprofit dating back years, with earlier efforts including 2014’s “Monsters Under the Bed.”
