Ad Council and StoryCorp take ‘One Small Step’ towards a meaningful conversation
You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative that should be on your radar. Today, the Ad Council works alongside StoryCorp in the hopes of bringing together strangers with opposing political beliefs.
At a time when the US is more divided than ever, it is important that communities come together wherever possible.
To emphasize the power of listening as a tool that can unite disparate communities, the Ad Council announced a new partnership between its Emmy-award winning ‘Love Has No Labels’ campaign and StoryCorps, the national nonprofit dedicated to recording, preserving and sharing the stories of Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs.
Developed in collaboration with creative agency Wordsworth+Booth and StoryCorps, the national PSA campaign educates audiences on how to have meaningful conversations and encourages them to sign up to participate in the One Small Step program, the new StoryCorps initiative that brings together strangers of opposing political beliefs for a conversation about their lives.
The new campaign will include radio spots made of meaningful conversations between individuals on different ends of an ideological spectrum, who develop new bonds and connect with each other by uncovering common ground. The multi-platform campaign also includes digital out-of-home and banners. The radio PSAs, digital out-of-home and banners will be distributed nationally per the Ad Council’s donated media model.
“There is profound value in engaging in conversation with one another to remind ourselves of our shared humanity and work towards a more united, empathetic world,” says Ad Council president and chief exec Lisa Sherman.
“We are so grateful to our partners at StoryCorps and Wordsworth+Booth for providing this incredible platform to help erode bias and find common ground based on who we truly are at heart, despite our identity labels.”
StoryCorps started in 2003 with the mission to create a culture of listening in America, and since its inception, more than 600,000 people have recorded their stories.
Dave Isay, its founder and president, says: “One Small Step helps to decrease feelings of contempt across political divides, allowing Americans to see one another as human beings.
“We have developed a proven method to address the toxic polarization in this country and we are excited to work with our partners to help remind the country that it’s our patriotic duty to see the humanity in those with whom we may disagree.”