• by Les Luchter , February 27, 2025

Can Americans of all political stripes “Agree to Agree” that decreasing gun violence is a good idea?

The Ad Council definitely thinks so, and backed by a vast coalition of businesses and healthcare companies, today launches its year-in-the-making  $40 million “Agree to Agree” campaign.

“The campaign is trying to dismantle the idea that conversations [about guns]  always end in arguments,” Michelle Hillman, chief campaign development officer for the Ad Council, tells Marketing Daily. “We can have productive conversations.”

That’s certainly the lesson of the first “Agree to Agree” PSA, a nonscripted film featuring real student debaters. The question: “Who holds the greatest responsibility to address the gun violence that impacts children and teens?”

The kids start debating, but then stop to ask “Why are we fighting about this?” Then they confront the real parents in the audience with the fact that firearms have become the leading cause of death for children and adolescents.

A woman who, at the start of the spot, had said, “I feel really safe and secure having a gun in the house,” now acknowledges, “We have a real problem in this country.”

The film, from GUT Miami, is targeted at parents and others with kids in their lives, such as relatives, caregivers and neighbors.

In addition to the campaign’s consumer component, “Agree to Agree” is also targeting healthcare professionals (HCPs) in association with the American Medical Association (AMA). Four films launching from Electric Park are designed to foster “nonjudgmental, collaborative conversations with patients and families.”

“Talking about firearms and safe storage is just part of the medicine that we give,” a pediatrician says in one of the films. She then brings up car booster seats as a precedent: “Back in the early 2000s, motor vehicle crashes used to be the number-one cause of death in children and teens, and there was this huge advocacy campaign around that. We did a really good job about decreasing the rate of death caused by motor vehicle crashes. We can do the same around firearm injury prevention.”

Also coming on the HCP front, the Ad Council promises creative assets from Ogilvy Health that will direct medical professionals to a new AMA resource hub.

For now, though, the creative for both campaign elements directs viewers to AgreeToAgree.org, where Hillman says they’ll find conversation guides, tips, and other resources from various partners.

In addition to what’s launching today and the upcoming Ogilvy effort, “Agree to Agree” also plans to launch a community violence intervention effort in close collaboration with, and funded by, Levi Strauss, with support from the Translation agency.

Today’s “Agree to Agree” spots and last year’s initial announcement were both unveiled at Northwell Health’s annual Gun Violence Prevention Forum. Northwell, a New York Metro healthcare system, has been one of the leaders in preaching kids' gun violence prevention via ad campaigns.

Northwell is also one of the funders of “Agree to Agree,” along with the AMA, the Children's Hospital Association and 14 other regional healthcare systems nationwide, including Maryland’s LifeBridge Health, which recently ran its own campaign against gun trafficking.

“Agree to Agree” is also being supported by data providers CMI Media Group, Deepintent and Datonics, whose contributions, per Hillman, will include “providing valuable audience data so that we can target our programmatic media flights to make sure we're hitting parents and caregivers where they are with the right messages.”

The Ad Council has been fighting gun violence for the past seven years, with a previous focus on safe storage of firearms and red flag laws through such campaigns as “End Family Fire.”

Hillman says the new effort is different because it’s the first “unifying health systems and hospitals across the states. Red states, blue states are coming together…This campaign is for gun owners and non-gun owners, because everyone has a role to play in ending this crisis.”

The gun violence issue “may feel impossible or divisive,” but “we have more in common than we think,” she says, citing 2024 Ad Council research showing 80% of Americans agree that productive conversations can help reduce gun injuries and death.