In its four weeks of airing, a campaign to raise awareness and funds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico has aired in the nation’s top ten markets, on over 150 Spanish-language stations and networks, providing some 3.5 million household views in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to Nielsen.
The three, 60-second videos are the work of Christian Rivas, a 24-year-old San Juan-based commercial filmmaker/photographer and alumnus of the Boys & Girls Clubs, which he joined at age 8. The highly personal videos, in Spanish, were produced by Rivas in close cooperation with the Club members he profiles. The full project involves 10, 2-minute vignettes.
The project has gained considerable support from the industry, both services companies and media owners and distributors. The media agency for the PSA campaign is Modi Media of GroupM Worldwide; distribution of the spots is being handled by Extreme Reach and monitoring by Nielsen. All these companies are providing their services pro-bono.
“The Boys & Girls Clubs’ efforts to help Puerto Rican children living below the poverty line to reach their full potential is something we’re excited to support, along with Beet.TV and many of our valued industry partners,” said Marissa Jimenez, President, Modi Media. “We’re delighted to get the word out about this important work, by helping with the media planning for this campaign.”
Generous inventory has been provided by NBCU/Telemundo, Univision, AT&T/Xandr, DISH and others. Earlier this month, we spoke with Kirk McDonald, CMO of AT&T’s Xandr unit on its commitment to the cause in Puerto Rico. Others committing inventory to the project in Q4 include Comcast Spotlight and Vevo. (Newer creatives for the campaign will be in English and some will be 30 seconds.)
In a statement, Kevin Arrix, SVP of DISH Media Sales said: “DISH is committed to supporting local communities. We’re proud to leverage our market-leading addressable technology to help raise money for programs that empower strong futures for the children and families of Boys & Girls Clubs in Puerto Rico.”
For me, supporting Puerto Rico has been a commitment since Hurricane Maria. In looking to help rebuild for the future, I aligned with the Boys and Girls Clubs at the suggestion of by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, D-NY. The Congresswoman and I were both part-time residents and neighbors on Vieques, the small island off the eastern shore of Puerto Rico. Like thousands of other on the island and off, we did what we could to help.
Says Nielsen’s advanced TV GM Kelly Abcarian: “We are delighted to be associated with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico to support this PSA campaign. The work of this organization is essential and we hope our services will help support the campaign and its goals.”
The PSA’s were distributed by Extreme Reach to over 200 Spanish-speaking TV stations and networks for their consideration. The level of use by the PSA’s has been “exceptional” notes Melinda McLaughlin, CMO.
The videos were debuted on August 7 at the Beet Retreat in the City at GroupM. Introducing the videos was Olga Ramos, President of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico in a segment taped in San Juan on August 5. Ms. Ramos’ brief comments are followed by the three PSA spots.
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