The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has kicked off another phase in its marketing campaign to raise money for the memorial. Back in July, they introduced ads that said we needed the spontaneous memorials then and we need one (as in donating to one) now. The new ads come as we head to the fifth anniversary of September 11 - they ask "Where Were You When It Happened". There are TV, radio, and print ads - the TV and radio ads have real people saying where they were on that day. We wonder how effective the ads will be in driving donations - they are definitely conversation starters.
The WTCMF's ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day created the ads, and executive creative director Gerry Graf told the AP, "The first thing I thought was this was our Pearl Harbor." The Memorial Foundation still needs to raise another $170 million; the foundation needs $300 million total, as various agencies will be pitching in the other $400 million. Gothamist received a direct mail piece from the memorial foundation - we'll analyze it for the weekend.
And a recent poll shows that 59% of New Yorkers have thought about September 11 recently (versus 47% of average Americans) and 54% of New Yorkers (and 61% of DC residents) are worried about another attack where they live, while only 31% of average Americans are worried. You can see the AP-IPSOS results here (PDF).
