Ahead of the upcoming anniversary of the September 11th attacks, McCann Worldgroup has partnered with a motorcycle club called “Ride with the 40” to raise money for a national memorial at the Flight 93 crash site. According to AgencySpy, 3 producers from McCann have joined Ride with the 40 on a cross-country road trip to generate funds by utilizing social media throughout the journey.
The concept is to encourage people to donate to the cause via their web site and via text message, but also to create a community effort by inviting people to participate in social networking with Ride with the 40 and fellow followers. Ride with the 40 are utilizing Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare to document their journey, which began in Newark, NJ last week and will end in San Francisco.
The web site allows for more traditional networking, that is, face to face communication, as you can register to actually join the ride as it passes through your area. Location-based social networking, i.e. checking in via Foursquare, lets interested parties venture out to meet the riders, as well. Every aspect of the journey is planned in a thorough itinerary published on the site, making it easy for the web-enabled but not-so-social-media-savvy to determine at what point and time they’ll be in the vicinity.
In essence, the Ride with the 40 charity initiative’s web presence, in part conceived by McCann, is a seamless blend of the web we once knew and loved, and the near-limitless social web that’s rapidly unfolding before our eyes. It may not be an uncommon combination, but it’s a powerful one when it comes to connecting people with this initiative. Those responsible for the ride have effectively covered all bases.
The Flight 93 memorial mission is a movement near and dear to the hearts of many Americans. And McCann has made a point to involve the families of Flight 93 in the ongoing efforts. The “Ride with the 40” name was inspired by the 40 passengers of Flight 93, who famously thwarted a fourth 9/11 terrorist attack by storming the hijacked cockpit. The club’s route from Newark to San Francisco mirrors the intended path of Flight 93, which left Newark International Airport bound for San Francisco but met its end in Shanksville, PA.
The first round of construction on the Flight 93 National Memorial requires $30 million in donations from the public. You can view the ride’s progress, donate, and connect via social networking at Ridewiththe40.org.
