NEW ORLEANS – When Courtney Spence, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based creative agency, CSpence Group, heard of the devastating floods in Southern Louisiana that have affected 60,000 homes — the country’s worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy — she teamed up with her father, legendary ad man Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M, and a few other longtime friends, including actor Matthew McConaughey and Indie band, Wiretree. Together they reached out to their friends at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and said, “We want to help.”
Realizing that lack of awareness was hindering relief efforts in Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes, the father and daughter team developed an idea for a :30 second PSA in partnership with the Ad Council.
Along with a small band of passionate creatives, the team created “Our Turn To Help,” a PSA that raises awareness of the Louisiana disaster and drives the public to OurTurnToHelp.org, an Ad Council initiative that is raising donations for various charities to aid those affected. “CSpence Group and GSD&M have been on the ground in Louisiana for the better part of the past decade, after Katrina and most recently, with our collaboration, Louisiana Calling,” Courtney Spence said. “We consider Louisiana our second home and the people of Louisiana our family. We are here for our dear friends and colleagues in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas. And when we began to understand the magnitude of the damage, we were called to help.”
This is not the first time Courtney Spence has stepped in to help communities, both in the United States and around the globe, during times of devastation. Following Hurricane Katrina, Spence and her team worked with the Broadmoor community and Make It Right Foundation on rebuilding and recovery efforts. And through Students of the World, a nonprofit she founded as a student at Duke University, Spence has helped empower and amplify the voices of young, diverse, millennial creatives, providing them with the skills and channels to tell the stories from the frontlines of social change from communities around the world.
“Our Turn To Help” is now being broadcast nationally.
