Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence: Teddy Gun, 2

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)
Relevancy:
Nowhere is gun violence a bigger problem than in the US. In Chicago alone, more than 1,000 people are shot annually. We launched a public awareness campaign on behalf of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, a nonprofit that advocates for state and federal gun laws.By contrasting manufacturing regulations for guns and teddy bears, we started a national conversation about common sense gun regulations. PR was the main vehicle for spreading awareness about Teddy Gun, and then getting them to act through our social tool.
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.Using powerful storytelling and arresting visuals, PR became the vehicle to raise awareness of, and generate conversation about, the lack of common sense gun laws, ultimately spurring action.
Execution:
Teddy Gun was developed to start conversation and put pressure on Congress, so every execution and placement needed to do the same. We began by seeding the campaign announcement with national media. Immediate coverage helped build awareness and credibility at launch. It sparked conversation about gun regulations and led people to TeddyGun.com. There, a state selector tool allowed you to tweet directly to your representative in your district, putting direct pressure on your exact legislators. We then brought Teddy Gun to the real world to further the conversation. A Teddy Gun installation, which compared teddy bear and Teddy Gun regulations, appeared in places near senators and representatives in Illinois and Washington DC. Chicago media came out in droves to cover the traveling exhibits. Finally, we generated national coverage and conversation by sharing a documentary-style film.
Outcome:
At a time, in the ever-evolving PR industry, when we have to create value to generate awareness (and not the other way around), the Teddy Gun campaign did what all the headlines on the gun epidemic that came before it could not: It created a conversation, inspired people to take action and motivated real change.We effectively and efficiently took aim at gun violence with outreach that garnered 210 quality news stories. As a result, new legislation from Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence (ICHV) is gaining unprecedented momentum, and ICHV saw a record number of site visits, reporting more national visibility than ever before. ICHV is declaring the campaign the most successful initiative for spreading awareness and maximizing engagement in its 43-year history.As our client is a nonprofit, we delivered these high-impact results with no paid media support. To date, we secured coverage in outlets like Fast Company, Chicago Tribune and Huffington Post totaling 130 million earned media impressions, for a cost per metric/impression (CPM) rate of 56 cents, and an ad equivalency value of $2.62MM, while 97 percent of coverage featured a visual of the Teddy Gun.Due to the campaign’s success, the Teddy Gun installation’s next appearance will be in the nation’s capital, Washington DC, to continue to create a dialogue and effect change. And now an ICHV-supported bill is gaining unprecedented momentum in the state legislature.
Strategy:
The media are quick to report on and sensationalize gun violence, impacting people’s understanding of the politically charged topic. People have become despondent as daily stories flood news streams and talking heads debate gun laws and regulations without merit, making it difficult for organizations like the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence to break through and have a significant impact. Particularly in Chicago, where gun violence reports lead the evening news, we needed to capture media interest in a different kind of gun story. Our multiphase approach first used the striking visual of the Teddy Gun to capture attention. Then, an event in a high-traffic area in Chicago followed, and a documentary-style video was distributed. This approach gave us multiple opportunities to tell the Teddy Gun story, engaging media, influencers and the public in ways that traditional advertising could not.
Synopsis:
Guns, one of the most inherently dangerous consumer products, aren’t regulated in any significant way, from manufacturing to sales. There are many unexpected challenges for building a safer world free from gun violence, including that US Congress has banned federal gun violence research for 20 years.*The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researches and regulates virtually every other consumer product, but doesn’t research the root causes of gun violence. In fact, teddy bears are required to meet far more health and safety standards than guns. For the record, teddy bears have killed no one in the United States, but there are more than 30,000 gun-related deaths in America each year.As our client, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, works tirelessly towards achieving more common sense gun laws by putting pressure on elected officials, we set out to spotlight the lack of government oversight on the gun industry.