Work done while employed by global public relations firm Weber Shandwick.
The ask: 1 in 3 youth will reach age 19 without ever having a mentor, making them less likely to move forward in school and live successful lives. Research shows that people understand the value of mentoring, but they don’t regard the lack of a trusted adult as a crisis—but it is. We aimed to express the urgency of mentoring as a movement that actually transforms kids lives, sustain the conversation beyond year one, and build up to a long-term conversation.
The strategy: In Real Life encourages people to build relationships in real life, pointing to the power of off-line interactions, which millennials are aware of given critical discussions about online life. Important issues require real-life action, and online activism can only go so far.
The campaign leveraged engaging, storytelling content to encourage millennials to explore mentoring as an avenue to build real relationships and connections. We leveraged MENTOR’s partnership with the NBA to create and distribute content centered around NBA players to demonstrate the impact of mentoring.
My role: Create campaign conceptual and text branding; write insight statement, story, and "in real life" tag line; write spec video script; write campaign messages; draft op-eds.
The story: We may live most of our lives online these days, but we know there are certain things that can only be accomplished in real life. No Facebook status could ever feed our cats for us. Tweeting #catchingzzzs won't soothe our tired eyes—we actually have to get some sleep. Why should it be any different when we think about changing the world? Millennials are champions of hashtag activism: #blacklivesmatter and #yesallwomen were hugely important moments in social media. But we've found a way to gently—and light-heartedly—remind Millennials the things they accomplish online are just a small fraction of the impact they can make. Like when they mentor a real kid—in real life. They can stop being a passive observer and be actively engaged, because when you engage, you create impact.