PHOTO: The Denver Post/Jerry Cleveland A billboard along Interstate 70 in Wheat Ridge, asking viewers to ‘pass on’ the message, is part of the Foundation for a Better Life campaign anonymously backed by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz. The campaign also has spread to movie and TV screens.
Philip Anschutz is talking to you, more and more each day. You just don’t know that it’s him telling you to “Pass It On.”
In the four years since the Anschutz-backed Foundation for a Better Life quietly launched its multimillion- dollar public-service campaign, Anschutz’s anonymous messages have spread to thousands of billboards, movie screens and TV screens across the country.
In New York’s Times Square, Kermit the Frog gazes out from the foundation’s 40-by-60-foot banner stretched across the side of the Marriott Marquis. There, the Muppet advises passers-by to “Live your dreams.”
On the walls of Denver International Airport, a poster of blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer carries the description, “Climbed Everest. Blind.” The message, also on the sign: “Vision.”
Off Interstate 70 in Wheat Ridge, a billboard features a little girl holding an American flag at a post-Sept. 11 rally. The message: “Unity.”
In all instances, the tagline reads, “Pass It On.”
Celebrity participants in the nonprofit campaign include basketball star Shaquille O’Neal (perseverance), actress and dyslexia sufferer Whoopi Goldberg (hard work), and figure skater Michelle Kwan (dedication).
Nearly as many ads feature everyday heroes such as Weihenmayer and a man who donated bone marrow to a stranger (sacrifice). All donated their images.
“When you consider this list of qualities and attributes that lead to a better life, I think it’s a novel idea of spreading a message of values to people without preaching,” said actor and campaign participant Christopher Reeve, 51, whose portrait appears on one of the campaign’s posters. “I’m very honored that they chose me for ‘strength.”‘
Reeve’s portrait appears on a foundation spot with the message, “Super man. Strength. Pass It On.” The portrait was shot in 1995, months after Reeve fractured the uppermost vertebrae in his spine in a horse-riding accident, paralyzing him from the neck down.
Anschutz’s name appears nowhere on the posters nor in the commercials. Nor does the name of the Denver billionaire’s Anschutz Foundation, which supplied all of the campaign’s budget. That amounted to more than $3.7 million in 2001 and $2 million in 2000, according to tax reports filed by the nonprofit.
The “Pass It On” campaign budget is a fraction of the Anschutz Foundation’s assets, valued at $532 million in the 2001 tax report.
The Foundation for a Better Life, based in Denver, neither accepts donations nor solicits members. The billboards give no phone number. They request no direct action from viewers other than passing on the message.
The Denver Post discovered the campaign’s connection to Anschutz by researching the owner of the promotional website, forbetterlife.org. The registrant is the “Anschutz Corp.”
“It’s a very interesting approach,” said Buddy Ketchner, a partner in Boulder-based branding and marketing firm Sterling-Rice Group, who reviewed the posters displayed on the foundation’s website. “It appears the spots and the advertising are attempting to revitalize classic American values. Post-9/11, there are a lot of negative messages out there. I think people have a desire for positive messages.”
Anschutz, 63, and his representatives declined to comment, as did Foundation for a Better Life director Gary Dixon. Acquaintances of Anschutz say the 52 traits in the campaign fit his interests in promoting traditional values.
Withholding Anschutz’s name is likely deliberate. Anschutz, who made fortunes in oil, railroads and real estate, has built new empires in sports, movie theaters and telecommunications. His 17 percent stake in Qwest International and boardroom influence at the struggling phone company have made him a controversial figure, as well as the target of lawsuits.
Anschutz quietly launched the “Pass It On” campaign in 1999 with several public-service spots tailored for TV. At the time, Qwest was still flying high and had announced its merger with US West, the 14-state phone company.
Inserting a big-business name into a nonprofit campaign, controversial or not, could detract from the campaign’s message, marketing experts say. It could also lead to unintended conclusions by viewers.
“His name on it would hurt the campaign,” said Barbara Kahn, a professor of marketing and branding at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “If he’s conservative or religious right, I can start making connections which may or may not be right as to why someone would promote this campaign.”
Anschutz is known as a devout Christian and political conservative. One of his political heroes is William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian and member of Parliament who, in the early 1800s, challenged the British government to abolish the slave trade.
Anschutz, notoriously publicity shy, nonetheless provided a promotional blurb on the back cover of a biography about Wilberforce published in 2002.
Anschutz also has been one of the biggest contributors to the Republican Party, including the presidential campaign of George W. Bush in 2000.
Yet, no aspect of the “Pass It On” campaign mentions politics. A few messages include religious figures. One poster features a portrait of Mother Teresa and the script: “Reaching beyond yourself. Compassion. Pass It On.” A billboard features the last Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi, with the text: “What makes Gandhi Gandhi. Soul.” A TV commercial shows a rabbi, a Christian clergyman and a Muslim cleric happily playing checkers.
Four of the campaign’s two dozen commercials include narratives in Spanish. Those often run on Latino TV networks such as Telemundo.
Details regarding the launch of the campaign can be found on the foundation’s website and were also provided by those familiar with the project.
The foundation slated the billboard campaign to begin Sept. 13, 2001, in Times Square. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted a delay, with the subsequent addition of new images that showcased New York’s “determination” and “unity.”
TV networks and media companies donate all billboard space and air time for the campaign. Roughly 3 percent of the TV airings come in prime time. Several movie-theater chains, notably Anschutz’s Regal Entertainment Group, run the foundation’s spots among the pre-movie advertisements.
“Certainly the fact that the Foundation for a Better Life is associated with our owner is one of the reasons we feel strongly in supporting it,” said Cliff Marks, president of marketing and sales at Regal’s advertising and promotions arm. “But by no means is it the only foundation that we support.”
This year, Regal donated the equivalent of $1 million in advertising time on its movie screens and lobby displays to the foundation’s campaign, Marks said. With more than 6,000 screens, Regal is the world’s largest theater chain.
The billboard campaign is just as ubiquitous. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America helped put the ads on 10,000 billboards nationwide. In some cases, the campaign runs on billboards temporarily when the space is not leased for regular advertising.
“We thought it was a strong, worthwhile campaign,” said Stephen Freitas, the association’s marketing chief.
The campaign’s impact will be nearly impossible to measure, said Sterling-Rice’s Ketchner. With stable funding, the foundation likely can afford to let the campaign build over time with similar ads carrying simple messages, he said. Yet there’s no way to measure the campaign’s reach.
“Will it make bad people better? Probably not,” Ketchner said. “Will it inspire good people to do more good things? Maybe.”
