{"id":5579,"date":"2026-07-20T07:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=5579"},"modified":"2026-08-10T05:49:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:49:52","slug":"dnastone-wins-ad-age-small-agency-award-for-gun-safety-campaign-built-on-radical-empathy","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/news-press\/dnastone-wins-ad-age-small-agency-award-for-gun-safety-campaign-built-on-radical-empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA&amp;STONE Wins Ad Age Small Agency Award for Gun Safety Campaign Built on &#8220;Radical Empathy&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2520\" height=\"808\" src=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5581\" srcset=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1.jpg 2520w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1-300x96.jpg 300w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1-1024x328.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1-768x246.jpg 768w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1-1536x492.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_AA_SAA-1-2048x657.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2520px) 100vw, 2520px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seattle-based ICOM member <a href=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/agency\/dnastone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DNA&amp;STONE<\/a> has taken home a 2026 Ad Age Small Agency Award for a campaign that did something most gun-safety messaging doesn&#8217;t: it left politics out of it entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The winning work, created for Seattle Children&#8217;s Hospital, promoted free gun lock boxes to keep firearms secured \u2014 and kids safe \u2014 without lecturing gun owners or wading into the broader gun-control debate. Ad Age called it &#8220;an apolitical gun safety campaign that worked.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seattle Children&#8217;s original brief asked DNA&amp;STONE to promote a stricter &#8220;triple safe&#8221; protocol \u2014 unloading a firearm and storing it and its ammunition separately. But after talking with real gun owners, the agency&#8217;s team realized that approach would shut the conversation down before it started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So they pitched a different idea: quick-access lock boxes, which let gun owners keep their firearms secure from kids while still being able to reach them fast if needed. Seattle Children&#8217;s, whose priority was simply keeping children safe, was open to the shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s what&#8217;s so great about our relationship with Seattle Children&#8217;s,&#8221; the agency said. &#8220;They just want to keep kids safe and are flexible on the best way to get that done.<br><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The campaign deliberately avoided the shame-or-scare tactics common in gun-safety PSAs. Instead, it started from an uncomfortable but honest premise: gun owners buy guns to protect their families, and any message that ignores that will fail to land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Seattle-Childrens_Family-Fast-Draw_PSA_60_OTT_0711\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1216094923?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DNA&amp;STONE calls this approach Radical Empathy: the idea that behavior only changes once you&#8217;ve genuinely felt what drives it, rather than judging it from the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To bring the concept to life, the agency staged the Family Fast Draw, a real competition held at a working gun range with real gun owners and their kids. Children were offered oversized carnival prizes if they could get to a locked-up firearm (a dummy training model) before their parents could unlock it. The catch: only the parents knew the lock box code. The kids never stood a chance \u2014 the parents opened theirs in seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unscripted footage from that day became the campaign&#8217;s PSA films, giving the message a documentary honesty that a traditional shoot couldn&#8217;t have replicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The campaign helped Seattle Children&#8217;s distribute more than 4,500 free locking devices. It also opened doors: the American Medical Association reached out to DNA&amp;STONE directly, citing the campaign&#8217;s original take on a difficult subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We&#8217;re big believers in Radical Empathy,&#8221; said <a href=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/leaders\/matt-mccain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Matt McCain<\/a>, Founder of DNA&amp;STONE. &#8220;This firearm safety work shows the power of trading your own perception for your audience&#8217;s perspective. This recognition is further validation that our approach leads to effective, unexpected work.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Candi Nicholson, Director of Brand &amp; Creative Services at Seattle Children&#8217;s, echoed the shift in tone the work made possible: &#8220;This idea completely shifts the conversation we can have with gun owners who have kids at home.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The win comes a year after DNA&amp;STONE took Silver at the Small Agency of the Year Northwest awards, and roughly a year after the merger that formed <a href=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/news-press\/dna-and-little-hands-of-stone-merge-to-create-dnastone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DNA&amp;STONE from DNA and Little Hands of Stone<\/a>. For the agency, this recognition is less about the trophy itself and more about confirmation that its way of working \u2014 cutting through assumptions to connect with audiences honestly \u2014 is resonating.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Seattle-Childrens_FirearmPSA_Case-Study_D_V9_021026\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1216094922?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Seattle-Childrens_Fast-Draw-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5582\" srcset=\"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Seattle-Childrens_Fast-Draw-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Seattle-Childrens_Fast-Draw-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Seattle-Childrens_Fast-Draw-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Seattle-Childrens_Fast-Draw-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Seattle-Childrens_Fast-Draw.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5592,"template":"","news_category":[17],"class_list":["post-5579","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin 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