When the Chicago Fire Department asked Columbia’s music department to come up with a jingle they could use to educate the public about smoke detectors, they were anxious to find alternative ways to get their message out to the people of Chicago. They were put into contact with faculty member Laurence Minsky, whose ad-agency classes have launched several successful campaigns for area non-profits.

“The smoke-detector campaign fit the mission for the ad-agency class perfectly,” says Minsky. “Having a real campaign for a real issue is such an important learning moment for my students. They can see the effects of their work and they are truly helping people at the same time.” For the class, students meet with clients, report back to their “agency,” and pitch and produce theme-based ideas for print ads, television commercials, and radio spots.

“Traditionally, smoke-detector campaigns soft pedal the issue with images of smiling children or instructional images of families installing smoke detectors in their homes,” says Minsky. “The Fire Department wanted to bring a more powerful message—something that would make them want to run out and either buy a working smoke detector or put new batteries in their existing home device.”

Showing the fires and devastation of the buildings was something the students felt very strongly about. The stories that are communicated in the images of this ad campaign come across loud and clear. One (see above) shows a black dog in front of a burnt-out house. Below the dog are the words, “This family of five didn’t have a working battery in their smoke detector. There was only one survivor.”

The ads appeared last summer and fall throughout Chicagoland on bus shelters and public transportation.