The challenge
The Ad Council needed to advance gun violence prevention without alienating audiences on any side of the issue.
The insight
Bypass the political by focusing entirely on the personal. When a credible messenger relates a vivid and specific lived experience, people listen.
The strategy
Three in four Americans don't know that gun injuries are the leading cause of death for children in the US. Turn the statistic into a platform. The Number One uses a journalistic lens to center real people speaking from experience. It's simple enough to extend across video, live event programming and service journalism without losing its central idea.
Strategic innovation
Opened the platform to other publishers. T Brand Studio at the New York Times and re:think at The Atlantic signed on to contribute, the first cross-publisher collaboration of its kind.
What we made
Four people, one thing they need you to know
I cast and creative directed a four-part social video series: a mother who lost her son, a pediatric trauma surgeon, a community violence interventionist and an ER doctor. Each speaks directly to camera about the one thing they need people to know.
A mother who lost her son
A pediatric trauma surgeon
A community violence interventionist
An ER doctor
The Event: Washington Post Live tackles the number one killer of kids
A flagship Washington Post Live newsroom event anchored the launch, followed by a published recap that extended the conversation across The Post's audience.
Practical advice for parents and caregivers
A service-journalism release written to keep working long after the launch window closed. Plain advice, not a campaign asset disguised as one.
Competing Publishers, One Platform
From the start, my goal was to take The Number One beyond The Washington Post. The Ad Council and I partnered to brief T Brand Studio at The New York Times and re:think at The Atlantic, inviting each to create their own expression of the platform. It was the first cross-publisher branded content collaboration of its kind.
Performance
2.0M
Total video reach
430K
YouTube views
29K
Likes
1.6K
Comments
175%
Above article pageview goal
Page and video performance exceeded all benchmarks and over-delivered on goals.
