The Lost Class
Change the Ref
Issue 60 | September 2021
Agency
Leo Burnett Chicago
Creative Team
Global Chief Creative Officer: Liz Taylor EVP, Executive Creative Director: Sam Shepherd Associate Creative Directors: Jason LaFlore, Matt Turnier Copywriter: MacKenzie Hart Art Director: Sofia Gahn Junior Copywriter: Kelley Barrett Junior Art Director: Katie DiNardo
Production Team
VP, Design Director: Kyle Poff EVP, Head of Production: Mike Davidson SVP, Executive Producer: Ashley Geisheker Associate Producer: Kaitlin Bucaro SVP, Director, Production Operations: Michael Shanahan Production Manager: Julie Lewandowski Production Company: Hungry Man Director: Bryan Buckley Producers: Matt Lefebvre, Jordan Cohen Executive Producers: Caleb Dewart, Mino Jarjoura Director of Photography: Scott Henriksen Photographer: Neil Dacosta Web Development: Unicorns & Unicorns Executive Producer: Adrianne McCurrach Producer: Meg Amicucci Technical Creative Director: Sun Komen Associate Creative Director: Ceara Adamson Development: Danny Wirick Edit: No.6 Editors: Jason Macdonald, JK Carrington, Ryan Bukowski, Chris VanDyke Asst Editors: Grace Yang, Riley Donigan Resolve Finisher: Maxwell Redinger Executive Producer: Corina Dennison VFX: Parliament Color Studio: Primary Colorist: Gregory Reese Color Assists: Corey Martinez, David Oh Producer: Jenny Bright EP; Thatcher Peterson Music, Mix & Sound Design: Beacon Street Music: Andrew Feltenstein & John Nau EP: Leslie Dilullo Mixer: Rommel Molina Producer: Lindsey Lerman
Other Credits
CEO: Andrew Swinand Account Director: Amy Walloch Head of Planning: Kaylin Goldstein VP, Strategy Director: Nimisha Jain Strategist: Sean Logan Creative Resource Director: Nancy Parnell Associate Creative Resource Director: Phoebe Alvarez
Date
June 2021
Background
3,044 students should have graduated high school in the U.S. this year – but lost their lives to gun violence. Change The Ref, an organization that advocates for gun control, approached Leo Burnett with a stark request: How do we force pro-gun advocates to reckon with the consequences of their punditry? And how can we honor the memories of the victims? After speaking with Change the Ref founders, Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin was one of the 17 victims in the Parkland massacre, Leo Burnett Chicago came up with the idea to stage a graduation ceremony with unlikely guest speakers.
Idea
On June 4th, 2021, Change The Ref and Leo Burnett invited former NRA president, David Keene, and prominent economist and gun advocate, John Lott, to speak at the graduation of James Madison Academy in Las Vegas, NV. Ironically, if these men who dedicated their lives to opposing background checks had conducted one in this case, they would have learned that JMA was a fictional institution devised by the team at Leo Burnett. Instead, Keene and Lott walked on the stage to face 3,044 empty chairs, each representing a would-be graduate of the class of 2021 who lost their lives to gun violence. The tragic irony of both speeches, encouraging the graduates’ future ambitions, was unmistakable in the final product – a series of videos that went viral. Keene and Lott were forced to reckon with the consequences of gun violence head-on. The video was meant to be cinematic, filmed with five cameras as they knew they only had one take. The white chairs were intentionally lined up like graves, and the video was cut with audio from previous school shootings. The rallying cry: sign a petition to pass universal background checks for gun sales. There have been about 38,000 signatures to date and hundreds of millions of media impressions. While this project was risky, Leo Burnett persevered and pushed the envelope. This was an emotional and powerful project for everyone involved. And it was an honor.
Results
Leo Burnett Chicago’s “The Lost Class” campaign drew significant press coverage, including Buzzfeed News, The Hill, The Washington Post and The Rachel Maddow Show. Ad Trades such as Adweek and Little Black Book also wrote in-depth features of the work. The work trended on social media, gaining recognition from celebrities such as Demi Lovato and Katie Couric. The campaign was picked up by 33 news outlets, with 3 broadcast placements. It earned 211,193,535 total impressions.