About the Campaign

In 2007, the Ad Council and NeighborWorks^® America created a foreclosure awareness campaign “Nothing is worse than doing nothing.” The campaign’s call to action asked homeowners in financial distress to call the HOPE Hotline, 1-888-995-HOPE. Through aggressive marketing and media outreach, the Public Service Announcements (PSAs) were placed in highly visible locations in major cities across the country. The visibility of the campaign increased the call volume to the hotline from a monthly average of 42,912 (September ’07) to 55,770 (September’09).

Leveraging the success of the first campaign, NeighborWorks and The Ad Council refreshed the creativity of the campaign and launched a second round of PSAs on May 13, 2010. With the research Cossette conducted in the development of the refresh, they learned that many homeowners in our target audience are feeling frustrated with the slow loan modification process, confused about the best path or strategy to take, and fearful of making the wrong decision. Unlike the period during our first campaign message three years ago, borrowers today are taking action. However, the action is not resulting in timely or satisfactory results—meaning more homes going into foreclosure. Therefore, the new messaging campaign must deliver a strong message of clear and reliable information.

The new campaign “The Right People” uses subtle humor to engage homeowners. The campaign includes two new TV ads (English and Spanish), three radio ads, and print ads--including outdoor ads and a suite of collateral materials--that can be distributed to target audiences. As with the previous campaign, the new PSAs continue to encourage homeowners to call the HOPE hotline for foreclosure assistance.