Featured Speaker: Ro Patrick - Senior Vice President, Group Campaign Director for the Ad Council | View the entire meeting here (Ro's presentation comes in at 31:08)
Ro Patrick is a Senior Vice President, Group Campaign Director for the Ad Council, the national nonprofit that mobilizes the energy and talents of the communications industry to make a measurable impact on the most critical social issues of today. She leads the development, implementation and evaluation of national public service campaigns at the Ad Council, particularly on critical efforts to reduce gun violence and address the drug overdose crisis.
With over 20 years of campaign development experience, Ro has a proven ability in evolving campaign models and working with external partners to drive innovation and bold changes on America’s most pressing needs.
Prior to joining the Ad Council, Ro held senior client services roles at advertising agencies FCB and Ogilvy. She has a M.S. from Columbia University and a B.S. from New York University.
A native of Hong Kong and a long-time New Yorker, she currently resides in Savannah, Georgia. Her parents were both teachers and they moved to the US when she was 12. She’s always been a foodie and was able to travel the world with her first job out of college, working with huge firms such as Kodak and Motorola, and living her best life in her early 20s.
She bought her first apartment in NY when she was 27. She was then was accepted to Grad School at Columbia, then she met Brad soon afterwards. She landed her dream job at the Ad Council in 2008. (She had been experiencing some burnout so this was a huge deal!) She’s been working remotely since 2016, but still travels along the East Coast on a regular basis.
The Ad Council is a 501(c)3 national non-profit and was founded in the 1940s right after WWII. They use the power of communications to drive impact on America's most pressing social issues. Currently, their largest areas of focus are mental health, gun violence, the overdose crisis, and combating hate & violence. Their model is creating powerful, one of a kind coalitions, via advertising, media & tech, to impact society in a non-partisan way. They consider themselves "Switzerland" and have worked with every administration since FDR.
Super Powers of Ad Council:
- Huge budget of pro bono resources from the ad industry to donate over a billion dollars annually
- Through Leadership & Convening
The Ad Council’s Research Institute focuses on suicide prevention, ERPO (Extreme Risk Protection Orders), rebuilding trust in elections, and substance abuse treatments.
Their track record for “bending the curve” on the biggest social issues of our time is impressive, dating back to Smokey the Bear (follow Smokey celebrating 80 years on social media: IG @smokeybear)! Other examples of significant campaigns over the decades include the driving safety/crash test dummies, friends don’t let friends drive drunk, and COVID Vaccination that involved everyone from Elmo to the Obamas, the Pope, etc.
4 Priority Issues:
- Mental Health
- Gun Violence Prevention
- Overdose Crisis
- Combatting Hate & Bias
The Ad Council is considering adding Climate Change as a fifth priority.
What does the Ad Council do?
- Issue Advisors
- Academic Researchers
- Federal & State Government
- Foundations & Philanthropy
- Faith-based Community
- Schools/Community Organizations
- Creative Community
- Media & Tech
- Sport Leagues
- Cultural Influencers/Celebrities
- Brands
- News Media & PR
- Employers
Ro commented that she realized she used her work as her “volunteer hat” as well but it didn’t connect her with her local community. This is one of the biggest reasons she wanted to join Rotary. She’s always down for getting a coffee or a drink. Ro left us with 3 topics she will ALWAYS want to discuss:
- Dogs
- Travel
- Light-hearted “beach reads”