September 11 Tour Brings Americans Together Again
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum Foundation—a non-profit organization responsible for raising funds, overseeing design and operating the Memorial and Museum—has a mission to create a Memorial where people will come to honor those who died on September 11 and reflect on the compassion and humanity evidenced in the days following the attacks.
To do this successfully, the Foundation needed to develop an ongoing relationship that would positively engrain the Memorial and Museum in the lives of the American people.
In 2007, the Foundation sought to execute a national campaign that would reach a wide audience across the US to build awareness and support for the Memorial and Museum. They wanted to establish a national conversation and diminish the perception that a Memorial would be a New York-centric experience.
As a first step, Jack Morton conducted an online survey to better understand the Foundation’s audience. The results found that the country felt it was time to rekindle a sense of “togetherness” like we did around the events of 9/11. People wanted to participate and contribute to a community and be part of a historic legacy.
Jack Morton knew that experiential had to be the centerpiece of this campaign and that we needed to create an opportunity for people to come together again in order for them to feel personally connected to the Memorial and the Museum.
Working with two sister IPG agencies, Jack Morton launched a national tour consisting of a mobile exhibition and theater that travelled a total of 7,800 miles to 25 cities in 2007.
The live experience was made up of several distinct areas:
- Exhibit with over 125 photos—most never seen before
- Theater with award-winning 7-screen film featuring stories of survivors, first responders and family members
- Ground Zero artifacts that will be installed in the Museum
- Interactive kiosks where attendees could make donations and send ePostcards
- Two 4-ton beams that will be used in the Museum’s structure, which attendees were invited to sign
In addition to the travelling exhibition, Jack Morton Digital created an online experience (www.national911memorial.org) that further extended the community engagement of the tour. The Jack Morton Digital team helped shape a more ambitious online presence for the Foundation, including a new design and new user-generated content features such as a multimedia gallery, a community activation toolkit and an interactive timeline.
The tour generated over 200 million media impressions and attracted over 50,000 attendees in its first seven weeks. The new site resulted in a 25% increase in site visitors and a 7% increase in Web sign up/email conversion. More importantly, the tour allowed people to participate in an authentic community and contribute to a Memorial that will be around for generations to come.
JACK360° ©2008, Jack Morton Worldwide
For further information about JACK360°: 360@jackmorton.com