DOOH4Relief Update: Numbers wanted; effort to continue and grow

April 12, 2011 by Dave Haynes

It has been a month since the Japan disaster and while the nightmare is far from over there – the nuclear accident now ranks at the same level as Chernobyl – it’s time to start looking at what was done at this end and what that means going forward.

We know the DOOH4Relief spots that were created at no charge by numerous companies (and with one spot, by individuals) have been run what is probably hundreds of thousands of screens, generating millions of impressions. But we’d like to nail that down quite a bit.

The DPAA has put out a call to its members to round up their numbers. That group has asked for:

• Length of spots run
• Flight
• # of venues
• Estimated total spots
• Estimated Adults 18+ audience

That’s a pretty good list to follow, so we’d like to hear the same from non-DPAA members, as well as what happened in Canada via CODACAN and individual networks. We’d also like to know what was done in other countries.

You can email me what you have at dave.haynes AT presetgroup.com

Some of the folks from Insteo, rVue and Context Media who got active with this early did a call with me Monday, so that we could talk about what was done, how it worked, and whether this was something to be continued.

What has come out of that discussion is a plan to make this effort as permanent as we can without building a lot of structure around it and adding too much cost or work for anyone involved. The idea is to have a place where this industry can quickly turn when something big and, frankly, awful like the Japan quake and tsunami happens.

We have millions of screens we can light up with awareness and call to action spots and can spread the word like few mediums.

When the next Japan happens, our goal is to already have:

• a dedicated website where produced material can be uploaded and downloaded;
• an asset archive that has the cleared images and narrative from the Red Cross;
• direct donation links;
• information about the effort and impact of past campaigns.

There is no point starting from scratch every time disaster strikes, and a central committee and website will streamline the response and get the agencies that funnel the money more easily on board.

We’re also going to tweak the name, as relief may not always be what is needed in a large effort. We see this as a way to store and distribute video PSAs for ongoing missions of the Red Cross and perhaps some other organizations. There is not now any truly active repository for such PSAs and we think such a site is needed and would be welcomed.

A lot of stuff needs to get worked out, particularly the order of magnitude that kicks in this effort. Haiti in 2010 and Japan in 2011 were obvious, but there are quakes and firestorms and floods somewhere every year, and rolling disasters like Sudan.

We also need to establish rules and specs on metrics, creative and branding. The GREAT majority of people who chipped in for Japan knew it was all about the effort, not their company. But …

We’ll announce the new name when I have confirmed the domain is reserved, as well as provide more detail as to who is involved and how, if you are game, you can get involved. We have people in place to steer creative, ops, network outreach and the overall effort, and looking for a couple more to fill certain roles. The DOOH4Relief site will remain up and please keep your ads running if you can. Eventually, DOOH4Relief will redirect to the new domain.

Stay tuned … and send me those numbers.