Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence: Teddy Gun [image]

Credits & Description:

Title: Teddy Gun
Agency: Fcb Chicago
Brand: Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence
Country: USA
Entrant Company: Fcb Chicago
Advertising Agency: Fcb Chicago
Pr Agency: Current Marketing, Chicago
Production Company: Lord + Thomas, Chicago / Duck Pond Creative, Los Angeles
Additional Company: Hero Solutions, Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: Liz Taylor (Fcb Chicago)
Director Visual Effects Supervisor: Roman Mendez (Lord + Thomas)
Executive Prodcuer, Content Integration: Lindsay Tyler (Fcb Chicago)
Svp, Executive Creative Director: Max Geraldo (Fcb Chicago)
Vp, Creative Director: Gustavo Dorietto (Fcb Chicago)
Svp, Executive Creative Producer: John Bleeden (Fcb Chicago)
Vp, Executive Producer: Jared Stachowitz (Lord + Thomas)
Lead Developer: John Skibicki (Fcb Chicago)
Associate Business Analyst: Derek Tucker (Fcb Chicago)
President: Virginia Devlin (Current Marketing)
Creative Director: Bruno Mazzotti (Fcb Chicago)
Vice President: Alexis Valenti (Current Marketing)
Creative Director: Dean Paradise (Fcb Chicago)
Svp, Creative Director: Ben Flaherty (Lord + Thomas)
Account Supervisor: Ky Anderson (Fcb Chicago)
Assistant Account Executive: Mackenzie Woods (Current Marketing)
Executive Producer: Katie Roach (Lord + Thomas)
Senior Editor: Steve Immer (Lord + Thomas)
Senior Manager Digital Development: Michael Chesta (Fcb Chicago)
Senior Developer: Morgan Bates (Fcb Chicago)
Tech Lead: Erik Christianson (Fcb Chicago)
Senior Retoucher: Greg Olsen (Lord + Thomas)
3d Artist: Eduardo Borges (Lauré Studio)
Social Manager: Mike Norgard (Fcb Chicago)
Senior Project Manager: Mamo Arima (Fcb Chicago)
Executive Director: Colleen Daley (Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence)
Outcome:
Teddy Gun did what all the headlines and news coverage on the gun violence epidemic couldn’t: It stopped people in their tracks, moved them, and motivated them to take action—to put pressure on Congress for more common sense gun laws. With over 135 million earned impressions following the introduction video, and a total earned media value of $2.62MM, ICHV achieved new levels of awareness and engagement. Due to this success, the Teddy Gun exhibit is touring and impacting communities beyond the launch. And now an ICHV-supported bill is gaining unprecedented momentum in the state legislature.
Strategy:
Every year the public is bombarded with thousands of stories about gun violence and the debate about gun regulation. With so many stories, people had become numb, making it difficult for organizations like ICHV to make a significant impact. We needed a way to wake people up and pay attention. The striking visual of the Teddy Gun immediately drew people in to find out more.
Synopsis:
The US government has long established a history of protecting its citizens from inherently, and even not inherently, dangerous products by instituting health and safety standards. Without this oversight, we all would be far more susceptible to injury and death. The majority of US citizens believe the gun industry faces high-level government oversight. However, even though guns are the most inherently dangerous consumer product, the manufacture of guns is not regulated in any significant way. By contrast, children’s teddy bears harm only a fraction of the number of people guns harm, but are required to meet far more health and safety standards. The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence (ICHV) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on handgun violence prevention and advocates for common sense gun laws at both state and federal government levels.
Execution:
Teddy Gun was developed to start conversation and put pressure on Congress, so every execution and placement needed to do the same. To generate awareness and exposure, we created a traveling Teddy Gun exhibit that compared teddy bear and Teddy Gun regulations visually. The exhibit appeared numerous times in downtown Chicago and neighboring communities, at the offices of state legislators and even all the way to the Mall in Washington DC. Teddy Gun postcards were distributed at Teddy Gun exhibits, asking people to put pressure on Congress directly—by mailing it to their representatives, or by visiting TeddyGun.com. There, a state selector tool allowed you to tweet directly to your senator, and a zip code tool allowed you to tweet directly to the representative in your district, putting direct pressure on your exact legislators.
Campaign Description:
Teddy bear manufacturers are required to follow incredibly strict safety regulations—unless, of course, the teddy bear is a gun. Introducing Teddy Gun. Created to shine a light on the nonsensical lack of government oversight on the gun industry, Teddy Gun became a tragic, ironic, powerful symbol of the disproportionate lack of regulation that contributes to the gun epidemic across Illinois and the country. We used Teddy Gun to ignite a groundswell of outrage and political pressure for common sense gun laws.
Relevancy:
The Teddy Gun campaign was specifically designed to target and mobilize the unengaged citizens of Illinois, and across the country, to act in response to the nonsensical lack of common sense gun regulations that contributes to the preventable deaths of over 30,000 people per year.