Preston Spire took home "Best of Show" at the 2026 Minnesota AdFed awards for "Project Lockdown," a campaign created for Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence. As an independent agency driven by the "Good Wins" philosophy, Preston Spire also earned "Best in Public Service" honors and seven gold pins at the event, known locally as "The Show."
Project Lockdown tackled a sobering reality: two-thirds of school shootings involve unsecured guns from the home. To make safe storage impossible to ignore, the agency developed the "Gun Lock Stand"—a child-hosted activation that used the simplicity of a lemonade stand to reframe a complex crisis. The work went beyond awareness, integrating "Lock-a-Gun Now" one-click purchasing with major retailers to drive immediate utility.
The results proved that purpose-driven creative delivers measurable growth. The campaign sparked a 232% increase in web traffic and over 31,000 unique social views for Teachers Unify. By transforming a heavy topic into an actionable movement, Preston Spire demonstrated how authentic brand strengths can be supercharged to create both cultural impact and clear results.
