Serve Marketing has once again partnered with the Coalition for Children, Youth and Families to bring attention to the need of foster care families in Wisconsin. They worked with foster parents, foster children, college students and the surrounding communities to create the "Shelter From the Storm" campaign. A follow-up to last year's Silver Anvil nominated "Turn A Life Around" handstand campaign, umbrella flashmobs across the state will occur throughout the month of May (Foster Care Awareness month). These bright yellow umbrellas symbolize the safe haven that a foster family can provide to a child in need.
Billboards and a televised PSA direct viewers to FosterParentsRock.org, where information about becoming a foster parent is available. Through traditional and social media outreach, Serve was able to garner the attention of communities to join the events and support the cause. At these events, potential foster care parents were able to interact with other foster families to learn more about this unique parenting challenge and erase the negative stigmas that surround foster care.
"These kids’ lives are like being caught in a virtual storm every day," explains the campaign’s creator, Gary Mueller. "That’s why we chose to use iconic yellow umbrellas as the metaphor for foster parenting and what it means to these children. That when you become a foster parent, you’re literally giving kids shelter from the storm."
"Our end goal in this campaign is to change the stigma about what it means to be a foster parent," Colleen Ellingson, CEO of the Coalition for Children, Youth and Families, says. "By getting out there, being visible in the community and giving passerby the opportunity to talk to real foster families, we hope to inspire people to make a difference in a child’s life and be their support system."
Credits:
Created by Serve Marketing — an all-volunteer, nonprofit advertising agency.
Print Credits
Art Director: Scott Krahn
Creative Director: Gary Mueller
Copywriter: Gary Mueller
Photographer: Nick Collura
Photo Retoucher: Anthony Giacomino
Producer: Terri Burmester
PSA Credits
Director: Rob Fischer
Exec Producer: Sue Karpfinger
Editor: Dave Kuhnen
Audio: Peter Batchhelder, Independent Studios