The American Red Cross lost little time in assembling fund-raising PSAs asking for disaster relief contributions in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Working with lead agency BBDO, the organization produced two TV spots in a 36-hour period early this week as the extent of the damage caused by Sandy became apparent.
Staff from the ad agency’s New York offices, which were closed Monday and Tuesday, used Red Cross creative elements to assemble the first wave of spots. Editing began in earnest on Tuesday and was completed by 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
One of the commercials, Action Alert, is a straight-forward appeal for donations and is expected to break tonight during NBC’s Sandy relief concert, benefitting the Red Cross, which is featuring artists from areas hit by the storm like New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi and Long Island’s Billy Joel. The second commercial is a personal appeal for Red Cross donations from President Barack Obama. Advertising will also appear on Nov. 5th, during Disney/ABC Television's “Day of Giving,” which will use all programming dayparts to get viewers to contribute to charities like the Red Cross. The organization and BBDO are currently editing additional commercials which will use actual footage from the storm in future ads.
The Red Cross was among those coming under fire this week as frustrated storm victims on Staten Island criticized disaster relief responses to their communities.
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