Advertising Campaign for the Prevention of Foreclosures Reached Over 100 Million Households
Over 100 million households in the United States have been reached by a foreclosure prevention advertising campaign supported by the mortgage industry. The national public service campaign is led by the partnership of Neighborworks America and Ad Council.
The campaign drive, which includes television, the Internet, radio and outdoor advertising, was launched with financial and material support from the financial and mortgage services industry in June 2007.
Ad Council’s public service advertising focuses on providing information to homeowners facing foreclosure about where to look for help if they are having difficulty meeting their mortgage payments.
The said campaign has also generated about $74 million donated advertising time from lenders and non-profit organizations. It has helped homeowners who were experiencing difficulties meeting their mortgage payments find and contact housing counsellors and received information to protect their properties from foreclosure.
NeighborWorks America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Wade said that the over 100 million Internet, outdoor and broadcast media impressions indicated that the campaign was a huge success. He also said that because of the campaign, many homeowners avoided filing for foreclosure proceedings.
The campaign advises homeowners facing financial difficulties to contact Homeownership Preservation Foundation’s Homeowners Hope Hotline. The foundation has received over 916,000 telephone calls since the start of the campaign.
Meanwhile, on the associated website for the campaign, homeowners are being urge to call their mortgage servicer. NeighborWorks America, a HOPE NOW Alliance member, knows that property owners are responding more to mortgage servicers.
Wade blames the current economic crisis to the poor housing market. He believes that continuous outreach efforts and providing the right information to homeowners on how to avoid foreclosure are critical to reversing the current downtrend in the market.
He adds that the NeighborWorks America’s outreach efforts will continue until 2009. The organization is also working to add more programs to help strengthen and stabilize the housing market and communities.
