Ad Council Updates Iconic UNCF Campaign

Emphasizes benefits of investing in education

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/6/2013 12:14:22 PM

The Ad Council is updating its iconic "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" campaign for the United Negro College Fund to accentuate the positive.

The new "Better Future" initiative will expand the tagline to: "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste But a Wonderful Thing to Invest In."

The theme uses a stock market analogy for quantifying how an investment in education pays dividends in earnings, health savings and the rates of poverty and crime.

The PSAs -- TV, radio, print, outdoor and Web -- will feature students who have benefitted from the fund and shift the emphasis of the campaign from just sending kids to college to affecting social change by investing in education.

The campaign will include a new website that includes an economic "calculator" that demonstrates the return on that educational investment.