9/11 Day Foundation spent the last 19 years turning this solemn day of remembrance into a day for doing good. Today, 9/11 Day is the country’s official Day of Service—but this year, they had to lead a “day of service” during a global pandemic. To get people to volunteer, while staying safe at home.
Our goal was to change the conversation around 9/11 and realize 9/11 Day’s mission. To do this, we needed to:
1) Unite people behind the cause of 9/11 Day with a simple message of doing good
2) Identify meaningful acts that were quick and easy to complete from home.
3) Create a platform where millions could do good deeds, realize their impact and inspire others to join in.
In 2019, people's perception around 9/11 trended towards pessimism (with key words surfacing like, “anger, victims, terrorism”). To shift people’s negative emotions into positive actions, we needed to create an equal and opposite upswell of optimism. Our insight was that people would be motivated by the sharing of a common experience—a good deed in honor of those we lost on 9/11.
So, we created #911day At Home: 11 Good Deeds. A social campaign and digital platform comprising of 11 socially conscious deeds to complete from home. Our message was clear: Never forget what we’re capable of doing together. And our hashtag made sharing simple: #911day.
#911day At Home, gave people a way to connect virtually with others, and give back to their communities during this difficult time. It resonated with people who were quarantined during a global pandemic, dealing with polarizing politics, natural disasters and more.
We partnered with over 50 nonprofit organizations to create deeds that were timely and relevant to our culture today. Deeds ranged from feeding first responders, fighting for equality and registering to vote. In partnership with 9/11 Day, each organization promoted their deeds, with help from top celebrities and prominent public figures.
We designed the experience to be simple and easy: Anyone could complete a deed within minutes. On our digital platform (911day.org) we connected visitors with nonprofit partner’s APIs, so they could complete their deeds without leaving the site—or their couch. A clean interface invited visitors to stay, explore and get inspired. Bright colors, handmade illustrations, and actionable statements presented the deeds in a joyful and hopeful light.
Leveraging the optimistic tone of the site, our social campaign promoted specific #911day deeds and celebrated their completion with shareable badges. These badges were used by key influencers like Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Kimmel and Barack Obama, who helped promote the mission of #911day. When people saw how easy the deeds were to perform, they rallied friends and connections to be part of #911day At Home. We not only shifted the mood of the day, but we were able to motivate millions to take positive action.
The #911day At Home campaign and platform shifted the conversation, raised mass awareness of 9/11 Day’s mission, and most importantly engaged millions to complete good deeds on 9/11.
9/11 Day had a 51 point positive shift in net sentiment. From a -35pt negative sentiment in 2019, it rose to +17 hopeful sentiments in 2020. People overwhelmingly used words like, “honor, heartfelt, unity and service” to describe #911day.
The campaign garnered over 1.1 billion earned impressions. Millions of Americans became aware of the #911day At Home mission. High-profile figures, from Jennifer Lopez to Barack Obama, urged their followers to complete deeds on 911day.org and shared deed completion badges on their social channels.
Over 29 million people participated in #911day At Home in the U.S. Volunteers completed all kinds of good deeds, including delivering over 42,000 meals to first responders as thanks for their service, while supporting local restaurants across the nation. Over a million students across 25,000 classrooms engaged in service-learning for #9/11day too.
Key results
1.1B+ Social Media Impressions 9/11 Day
29M Participants in the US
42,000 meals delivered to first responders on 9/11
1M students engaged in service-learning for 9/11 day
1000% Increase in Site Traffic from 2019
33 fold increase in 911day.org impressions from 2019
12 fold increase in total mentions of 911day.org from 2019
+300% increase in donations to the site’s initiatives from 2019
+51pt increase in net sentiment towards hopefulness from 2019 to 2020
