OVERVIEW
For the 2024-2025 year, Ad 2 Minnesota partnered with Native Governance Center (NGC) for their 2024-2025 public service campaign. NGC is a Native-led nonprofit created to empower Indigenous communities by strengthening their governance systems.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of NGC and its mission, ultimately driving financial support. The strategy involved extensive research, including audience analysis, competitor analysis, and understanding NGC's strengths. The execution included creating an annual impact report, producing video content featuring real NGC participants in urban settings, and developing various digital assets like social media posts, ads, and banner ads. The campaign secured significant donated media impressions and monetary sponsorships. The team also provided evergreen templates and strategic guidance to NGC for long-term partnership.
The campaign is currently in progress, with preliminary results showing high-value media placements, donated funds, and volunteer hours, amounting to over $122,000 in value. The goal is to measure donor growth, engagement, and funds raised by the campaign's end.
CONCEPT
When coming up with the campaign, we came across many challenges, especially in addressing one important aspect: the general public's perception of Native people. Historically, Natives were often seen as figures of the past, or 'frozen in history'. We also discovered a lack of general awareness regarding NGC and what they do. These findings sparked extensive discussions, leading us to a pivotal decision: Our campaign must not only amplify NGC, but also effectively represent Native people. This insight allowed us to frame the campaign with a unique perspective, shifting the narrative away from outdated stereotypes, aiming to showcase Natives not as relics, but as dynamic, evolving forces of today and the future, emphasizing the impact that NGC brings to these communities.
Photography Inspiration via The Red Road Project
CREATIVE
Our vision was important - to put the spotlight on Native people. As the Creative Director, I had the honor of helping, in part, to bring it visually to life. We enhanced NGC's existing branding, integrating it with impactful imagery that highlighted Native individuals and supported it with bold, powerful messaging that aligned and resonated with NGC's values throughout different media, including social media and digital banners.
Concepts of creative executions would include the person (or people) in frame, present in a setting that allows them to be shown in a significant spotlight (through photoshopping or from an actual setting), with the headline filling in for the background space, but also behind the subject for an intentional depth effect. Cultural patterns would scatter throughout the background where deemed fitting, and finally, with the footer and CTA for NGC below.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Our vision with this campaign was to elevate and provide a platform to the organization and put the spotlight on Native individuals, with every resource we could work with. With assistance from the Public Service Team and local photographer Jamie Cooper, we set up a day for a photoshoot at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on March 8th, 2025, with many talents to use as resources and content, ranging from video ads and banner ads to social media.
BANNER ADS + SOCIAL
ANNUAL REPORT
To be continued....
