MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the Midwest, there is a bounty of food for all. But, according to Second Harvest Heartland’s director of brand strategy and communications, Elizabeth Cooper, “Not enough of that bounty gets to the people who really need it.” Research shows that one in eight Minnesota children has no idea where his/her next meal will come from. Families on the edge of poverty, or even above it, often make choices such as whether they should buy gas to get to work, or buy dinner. “With the right support, Second Harvest Heartland can efficiently fill the food shelves across Minnesota with food from grocers and farmers that would otherwise go to waste,” Cooper says.
Early this month, Preston Kelly put its Good Wins marketing approach to good use, taking on the Second Harvest Heartland holiday fundraising mission. “Even though people in your community may be hungry, or food may be all your kids’ classmates at school can think about, hunger is really an invisible problem,” according to Preston Kelly Chief Creative Officer, Chris Preston. “For every dollar raised by Second Harvest, they can create three meals for people in need.”
Preston Kelly’s “Invisible Problem” campaign dramatizes this issue by showing children who quite literally blend into the background in print and broadcast. “They are hard to see in life, so we wanted to give people a little wake-up message,” according to Preston. “Ideally, you will get a memorable double take when you realize there is a child hidden in the scene you were watching. And the hope is more people, thus engaged, will respond to the fundraising campaign when Second Harvest Heartland asks.”
“To actually be engaging, Preston Kelly believes creative work must be welcome in people’s lives,” according to associate creative director, Sarah Hoehn. “This approach for Second Harvest gives our audience credit for their intelligence, and lets them start to see the problem for themselves. We hope it will be much more effective than the usual fundraising PSA.”
Credits for the TV campaign include Drive Thru Productions’ director Mike Neleson and Editor Matt Silver. Music and sound design for TV and radio by Echo Boys. Print, outdoor and digital photos by Jim Gallop Photography. Preston Kelly broadcast producer, Lisa Thotland; retoucher, Mike Fritz; print producer, Beth Elmore; account director, Betsey Ruesink; art director, Sarah Hoehn; copywriter, Chris Preston.
About Second Harvest
Second Harvest Heartland is one of the largest, most efficient and most innovative hunger relief organizations in the nation. In close partnership with nearly 1,000 food shelves, food pantries and other meal programs, Second Harvest Heartland helps the one in 11 people in Minnesota and western Wisconsin who faces hunger every day. On average, 74 percent of the food that our partner agencies distribute comes from Second Harvest Heartland. In 2018, Second Harvest Heartland helped provide a record of nearly 89 million meals to more than a half million people. We will continue to leverage our unique position in the emergency food chain to advocate, educate and provide food, until everyone in our service area has what they need to thrive. For more information, visit 2harvest.org or call 651.484.5117.
About Preston Kelly
Preston Kelly is a business-building agency that makes brands positively matter, by creating experiences so meaningful that they are welcome in people's lives. We do this by finding a brand’s authentic purpose and emotionally engaging consumers with work driven by the belief that Good Wins. We have seamless collaboration across our multiple in-house disciplines: account planning/research; advertising; brand strategy; media; design; direct; digital; public relations; and social marketing. Preston Kelly has consistently been among the U.S. top agencies in the Effie Effectiveness Index. To learn more about Preston Kelly, visit prestonkelly.com, become a fan on Facebook and Instagram, or join the conversation on Twitter.
