Great Nations Eat Launches Unprecedented Billion Impression Media Campaign in 2015 to Transform the Conversation Around Hunger in America

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Great Nations Eat launched an unprecedented media campaign to both raise awareness of the problem of hunger in America and to end it. Great Nations Eat will be featured on every major media platform, both nationally and locally.

The campaign is a five year committed partnership between national anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength, and the filmmakers behind the Participant Media documentary "A Place at the Table."  Great Nations Eat seeks to build upon decades of advocacy from the broader anti-hunger movement.

"Hunger exists in every community and it affects the life of 1 in 6 Americans. That doesn't happen in any other developed nation. It shouldn't happen here," said Billy Shore, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Share Our Strength. "Ending hunger is possible. It will take public awareness and political outreach to build the necessary national will. It will take nonprofits, corporations, media outlets and government, all working together with ordinary citizens. That is Great Nations Eat."

Lori Silverbush, filmmaker and co-creator of "A Place at the Table" commented, "In 1968, the CBS documentary 'Hunger in America' transformed the national conversation about hunger, and we all but eradicated it by the late 1970s. But we've moved backwards, and now it is our turn.  Great nations are capable of great acts. We have millions of dollars in donated media, now we need the powerful voices of Americans crying out for change."

"If the hunger problem in America was just about charity or money, it would have been solved already," added Tom Colicchio, Chef and Executive Producer of "A Place at the Table."  "If you look at the public health issues the government has solved before like yellow fever and cholera--these are issues that we thought were just crises of the poor, issues of the inner city. As a great nation we resolved to end them, and we did. Hunger affects one in six Americans …if you're on a crowded subway in New York, most likely there are people that are hungry sitting next to you; they're in your community, you may know them."

"The media landscape today looks very different than it did in 1968. People consume their news in 40-character bites and 30-second chunks. People also want to play a hands-on, interactive role with the things they see and read," said Tim Castree, Co-Founder of Great Nations Eat and long-time executive in the advertising industry. "Great Nations Eat will leverage modern media to galvanize audiences and create mass movement by combing the power of scale with technology and platforms to help us make our case to the American public for action on hunger."

Great Nations Eat will be featured on every major media platform, both nationally and locally, calling on Americans to "unite to fight hunger."

See below for a snapshot of the campaign's scope. All of this work will result in a billion impressions across various platforms over six months. If each of those individuals took turns saying the word "hunger" it would take 31 years, 251 days, 7 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds:

• Print: We have 21 national print titles, including top publishers such as Time Inc and American Media Inc. (AMI), and 200 local newspapers that will run ads. That means that about 10,680,000 square feet of content will be printed about hunger. With that amount we could cover 107 city blocks, plaster 232 supermarkets, flier the Empire State Building 123 times or create a path from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles.
• Television: In a single month, more than 640 minutes of Great Nations Eat ads will run on national and local TV – approximately the same amount of time it would take to watch the original Star Wars Trilogy TWICE. In total, the campaign has 22 national and 41 local broadcast partners.
• Radio: Ads will be featured on more than 900 radio stations reaching 150 media markets. iHeartMedia radio stations are producing PSAs with partner talent.
• Digital: Through more than 50 digital proprieties and platforms, the campaign will garner nearly a quarter billion impressions across a broad spectrum of social, lifestyle, and news sites. Creating key partnerships to leverage the latest interactive technology, we are enabling our digital media to drive actions within the ad itself, allowing people to join the movement in one quick step, thanks to partners such as Innovid, who are providing advanced video capabilities. There will also be "stunt" like executions within digital media thanks to partners such as Sharethrough and A Plus (Ashton Kutcher's new platform). In partnership with Facebook Creative Shop, social activations will also rally people to participate and show their support and creativity in the drive to end hunger in the US.
• Out-of-Home: Ads will appear in subway systems, at bus stops, on the side of public transit, and in movie theaters (all in in our top target markets) through partnerships with 10 different out-of-home vendors.
• Content Integration: This includes prime-time and high-profile BET spots with celebrity talent; social content created by celebrities and other influencers on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook; and dedicated blog and editorial coverage.

All of the advertising for the Great Nations Eat launch was created by the award-winning creative agency, BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) New York. As the goal of the campaign was first and foremost awareness, the creative allows for the facts to evoke the emotion. The campaign PSAs use an unconventional approach to contrast the problem of hunger in America versus other countries, surprising viewers with the facts. Samples of the creative, including a recording of today's call, can be found at GreatNationsEat.org/Press.  The full website GreatNationsEat.org will be available when the creative goes live on Monday, June 29^th.   

The campaign website was created by Seattle's digital creative agency, 8ninths. The site will provide users with unique "hunger experiences" that highlight the stories of who is hungry in America and why.

Sgt. Erik Hanno and his wife Stacy embody the struggle with hunger in America today. Sgt. Hanno is an active-duty infantryman from Colorado who served in Afghanistan and is currently taking courses in criminal justice. His wife Stacy is in nursing school and works hard to take care of their two young daughters, Kaylie and Teagan, while Erik is overseas. Despite there being two working parents in the family, the Hannos have to rely on WIC benefits to provide sufficient food for their family.

Jahnique lives in Detroit with her mother and older sister. Her mom, Marquel, is a single mother also working her way through nursing school. In spite of working 50 hours per week at two nursing assistant jobs, Marquel's two daughters would be hungry without the free breakfast and lunch programs at their school. As Marquel works toward her degree, she must rely on summer meals programs and SNAP to provide three meals a day for her family.

The launch of this campaign is made possible thanks to the generous support of a group of individuals, corporate and foundation partners who recognized early on the impact their investment could make on the lives of millions of Americans.

About Share Our Strength
Share Our Strength was founded with the belief that everyone has a strength to share in the global fight against hunger and poverty, and that in these shared strengths lie solutions. Thirty years later, the organization has raised more than $520 million to combat hunger and poverty and is renowned for finding scalable, pragmatic solutions to social problems. Today, Share Our Strength is focused on ending hunger in America through the No Kid Hungry and the Great Nations Eat campaigns. Learn more at NoKidHungry.org.

About BBH
BBH New York, a part of BBH Global under Publicis Groupe, is a full-service, creatively-led agency. Capabilities include brand strategy and identity, comms planning, and creative development across all media: TV, film and digital video production; digital UX, design and build. The agency works with a number of global clients including Sony PlayStation, Newell Rubbermaid, Vaseline, Unilever and Westin Hotels. In 2014, the agency was named to Creativity's "Innovators of the Year" as well as AdAge's "Ones to Watch" list. BBH New York was the only North American agency to win Cannes Lions in both the film and cyber categories. In 2012, BBH was named "Agency of the Year" by the Webby Awards. The 4A's has named BBH NY the "U.S. Mid-Sized Agency of the Year" five out of the last six years. For more information, please visit http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com/newyork/.

About "A Place at the Table"
A Place at the Table is a documentary produced by Participant Media and Magnolia Films.  It tells the powerful stories of three Americans who maintain their dignity even as they struggle just to eat.  In a riveting journey that will change forever how you think about the hungry, A Place at the Table shows how the issue could be solved forever, once the American Public decides—as they have in the past—that ending hunger is in the best interests of us all. More information about the film is available at http://www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable/.

About 8ninths
8ninths is a Seattle based digital development studio focused on story telling through creative uses of technology. Named for the hidden fraction of an iceberg, the studio creates web, mobile, virtual and augmented reality applications for Fortune 500 companies seeking to reach audiences through novel uses of digital media. Specializing in Strategy, UX Design and Development, 8ninth's clientele includes NASA, Microsoft, Toyota, Holland America & Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. 

SOURCE Great Nations Eat

Related Links

http://GreatNationsEat.org