• by Paul Gough , February 19, 2003

Less than two weeks after the latest terror alert rattled the country, the Department of Homeland Security launched a cross-platform advertising campaign to educate Americans about how to counter the threat.

The department, along with the Ad Council and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, announced the campaign during a news conference Wednesday at the American Red Cross in Cincinnati, Ohio. The campaign – with TV, radio, print, online and outdoor executions – was created by The Martin Agency, a Richmond, Va., division of Interpublic.

The campaign is being boosted by media partners like the Yellow Pages, the U.S. Postal Service, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, the Outdoor Advertising Association, the National Association of Broadcasters and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. NAB and NCTA have both donated satellite feeds to assist in the distribution of the PSAs.

Some of the PSAs feature Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge; others have New York City firefighters, police officers and emergency-management workers discussing the threat and what Americans can do.

“The message is pretty simple and clear: That there are some important, simple steps that American families can take to help them be safer in the event of a terrorist attack,” said Ken Hines, copywriter for The Martin Agency. Ridge and the New York City emergency workers say Americans shouldn’t fear terrorism but instead be ready and “arm yourself with information,” as the campaign counsels.

The ads come after two weeks in which the news media was chastised for hyping the threat and causing at least some Americans to dart to the store for bottled water, canned foods and duct tape. Hines acknowledged that the campaign’s creators were walking a fine line.

“The tonality of the campaign was a little trickier. We wanted to create a sense of urgency so people would take this message seriously and act on it but on the other hand, we didn’t want to scare people,” he said.

The television ads included several :30 plus a :15 and a 1-minute spot that includes features of the shorter spots. Focus groups were used; they told the campaign’s creators that they didn’t think the ads should be slick or feel produced.

“They said that this is important information and we also need to learn this and act on it, but we don’t want it to come across in a gimmicky, advertising agency way. It needs to be straight, simple, clear, honest, genuine. They also endorsed our hunch that that information would best come from certain messengers,” Hines said.

Hines said that view was one of the campaign’s challenges and effort was put into convincing people throughout the country that every American family needs to pay attention. Ridge tells viewers that families should know how to prepare for an attack just as sure as Florida families know what to do in a hurricane and California families know how what to do in an earthquake. A New York City firefighter who appears in the commercial tells viewers that the threat doesn’t just involve New York City.

“I thought that was such a powerful statement that we made a TV commercial out of it … That’s a very important statement,” he said.

Like all Ad Council work, the spots and other ads will run in donated media time and space. It isn’t clear how soon the TV or radio ads will begin, although The Ad Council said there haven’t been any network commitments yet. That could change.

It’s not the first time The Ad Council has worked with the government on a terrorism-related campaign, although it is the first to provide tips in case of an attack. The Ad Council’s “I Am an American” spots began running within 10 days of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Its predecessor, The War Advertising Council, launched campaigns during World War II that included “Rosie the Riveter” and “Loose Lips Sink Ships.”

Spokeswoman Ellyn Fisher said the goal is to reach all Americans through the various media employed.

“The agency and everyone involved … took great care not to scare people with these ads but really provide the information that they think the American people need,” Fisher said.

Hines said, “The goal for the campaign as a whole, after having seen it, read it, heard it, people will come away feeling determined, maybe challenged but determined and hopeful,” Hines said.