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Bev Deev: Not at all! At that particular time, the house hippo, for example, was about media literacy. But today, media literacy is mandatory in today's curriculum. In the case with most of our spots, we were very progressive and ahead of the rest of the people in this space. We were doing gender differences with "We Are Girls" and "What's Your Thing" long before we were talking about gender differences and feminism so openly. We try to approach these topics in a way that's effective and engaging. They stuck with you clearly!How do these ideas even come about? Some of the concepts were pretty off-beat.
We have a fantastic network of marketers, some of the best minds in the industry. The beauty of our spots is that they're timeless. Our bullying trilogy, those are still relevant today. We get there by checking with our issue experts about where ideas are going and what is being untouched, and tap into that in a creative way.So there was a really popular ad you guys did called "Don't Put it in Your Mouth." It's pretty weird—a lot of jokes about in the comment section on YouTube. Can you tell me about that one?
Oh yeah, "Don't Put It in Your Mouth," the Muppet one? I'm embarrassed to say. I honestly can't even speak to that one because that's not something that relates to what we do now. We look toward PSAs that messages are still relevant today—that have evolved with the times. That one didn't. The bullying spots, for example, those hasn't changed. Telling somebody to just walk away from a bully? That's something that can still be used by today's youth.
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Substance abuse isn't something that's in our wheelhouse anymore because, as you said, our outlook has shifted. We're looking at healthy active living, bullying, media literacy, and mental wellness. Those are the four issue buckets that we deal so youth can get a better ground-up approach.Do you feel that, when looking back on any of that commercials, that you guys got wrong or that aren't up to today's progress?
Well, the one thing that we've always done right is that research guides us. Research guides our strategy, and the due diligence we undertake prior to producing a PSA has really been the secret to their effectiveness. Sometimes the message wins out, but sometimes it's the charm. The house hippo was popular because it's a cute little hippo and kind of made people think about whether it was actually real or not. It was before the internet, so you couldn't look it up, and you get the punch line at the end of the commercial about not believing everything you see [on TV].Speaking of TV: Most kids use the internet now and are probably bombarded by way more catchy ads than before. Internet memes and that jazz. Do you think your new ads stick out as much?
One of things we're working on is our reach. Our ads are geared toward kids ages six to twelve, so TV is still a prime spot for a lot of them, and we do have programs on family-friendly YouTube channels and such.
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Totally. You would have saw the after-school special, Health Rock? Do you remember that?Oh yeah, that was a big one in class. Did you have a favorite commercial?
I did have a favorite commercial! Because I'm a mother of two girls, I loved "We Are Girls," because it speaks to the gender differences and kind of gives girls that confidence to be a businessperson, to be a sports player, to be successful. How about you? The house hippo?That one stuck with me mostly because me and the hippo share the same name, but I really did like the "Smart as You" commercial and "The Trap."
Wow, you really know these. I'm honestly so impressed. I'm going to have to keep you in mind if we do any feedback on some of our past work.How do you guys feel about these commercials going viral now?
I can't speak for our founders, but I will tell you that, as part of our twenty-fifth anniversary, they were all there and they are so proud of all the [work we've done.] Did we have any idea? Probably not. But I can tell you that they're super happy to see it's stuck around and everything we're doing going forward.Follow Jake Kivanc on Twitter.