Jewish Council For Education & Research: "The Great Schlep " Ambient Advert by Droga5

Type of Entry: Titanium and Integrated
Title: THE GREAT SCHLEP
Advertiser/Client: JEWISH COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Product/Service: THE GREAT SCHLEP
Entrant Company: DROGA5 New York, USA
Advertising Agency: DROGA5 New York, USA
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
David Droga Droga5 Creative Chairman
Andrew Essex Droga5 CEO
Ted Royer/Duncan Marshall Droga5 Executive Creative Director
Jeff Anderson Droga5 Art Director
Isaac Silverglate Droga5 Copywriter
Craig Batzofin Droga5 Director Of Digital Services
Scott Witt Droga5 Creative Director Of Digital Media
Sarah Silverman Writer
Wayne Mcclammy Oil Factory Director
Heidi Herzon Oil Factory Executive Producers
Rhet Bear Oil Factory Director Of Photography
Josh Reynolds Editor
Gabriel Connoly Liberty Concepts Producer
Pascal Rettig Liberty Concepts Programmer
Oil Factory Oil Factory Production Company
Details
Describe the campaign/entry:
Our assignment was to help Barack Obama win the Presidency of the United States over John McCain, with whom he was locked in a very close race. Our target audience was any large group of voters in a key battleground state. We knew Florida was such a key battleground state, and has been instrumental in deciding recent Presidential elections before. In 08’, Florida was up for grabs. An important voting group in Florida is its 400,000 elderly Jewish residents. But Obama was unpopular with elderly Jews, mostly due to misinformation, such as them thinking he’s Muslim. So, to get elderly Jews to vote for Obama, we targeted the one group they’d listen to: Their beloved (and largely pro-Obama) grandchildren, and encouraged these grandchildren to visit their grandparents in Florida to educate them about Obama. This intergenerational conversation was the key to our campaign, which we called the Great Schlep.
Give some idea of how successful this campaign/entry was with both client and consumer:
Within a few weeks, The Great Schlep Facebook group had 25,000 members, and the Great Schlep talking points had been downloaded 1.2 million times. The Great Schlep was featured in every major American newspaper (as well as several international newspapers) and was reported on repeatedly by every major American television station. Networks such as CNN and ABC followed “Schleppers” from all over the country as they descended on Florida. In addition, The Great Schlep video featuring Sarah Silverman was hosted on thousands of blogs gaining more than 4 million views. In total the Great Schlep received 342 million media impressions. On Election Day, Obama received the highest percentage of Florida’s Jewish voters in a presidential election in 30 years, and won Florida by 3 percentage points. (Source: Optimedia)
Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.
We launched the campaign with a website aimed at inspiring, educating and connecting young Jewish people about the Great Schlep. The website consisted of Obama information/videos, a Great Schlep Facebook community component, talking points for engaging Jewish grandparents about Obama, and an online store. In order to drive traffic to the website, we also created a viral video about the Great Schlep featuring Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman. This video was seeded on a few video-sharing website sites, such as YouTube, and on the Great Schlep homepage.