NC S.A.F.E.

North Carolina was facing an urgent problem.

Firearm-related deaths among children and youth in the state more than doubled between 2019 and 2021. At the same time, nearly 30% of high school students surveyed reported they could access and fire a loaded gun within an hour, without adult permission or supervision. Alongside this alarming data, a spike in firearm thefts signaled an urgent need for public education around safe gun storage.

To help address this public health and safety crisis, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) enlisted Reingold to lead a comprehensive, statewide awareness campaign. The goal: educate North Carolinians on the importance of safe firearm storage and motivate them to take action — ultimately protecting families, preventing firearm theft, and saving lives.

In under four months, Reingold launched NC S.A.F.E. (Secure All Firearms Effectively) from the ground up. This included establishing a powerful brand and multi-channel presence rooted in research and strategy.

• Brand Development: Created the NC S.A.F.E. name, logo, visual identity, and narrative voice.
• Content Creation: Produced a suite of materials, including digital ads, print collateral, videos, and a campaign website (ncsafe.org), all designed to inform and inspire behavior change.
• Paid Media Strategy: Developed and executed a paid media plan targeting high-priority geographic regions across digital, radio, and out-of-home channels.
• Multilingual Outreach: Produced bilingual resources and toolkits to support statewide partner engagement.

To personalize the issue, Reingold worked with NCDPS to identify and document real stories from North Carolinians affected by firearm tragedies or working in firearm safety. These firsthand accounts formed the basis of testimonial videos used across campaign platforms.

To amplify awareness, Reingold helped launch and support an NC S.A.F.E. Week of Action every June with NCDPS and the Offices of Governors Roy Cooper and Josh Stein. The inaugural year included a high-profile press event at the governor’s mansion and drove more than 300 media mentions and a potential reach of 437 million, including Associated Press coverage republished by 78 outlets nationwide. These summer events bolstered the campaign’s momentum, supported by statewide partner engagement and gunlock distribution efforts, digital assets, and earned media outreach.

Team Reingold continued to support NC S.A.F.E. with ongoing campaign development and strategies, including the NC S.A.F.E. for Schools initiative. The campaign provided custom resources to help school districts engage parents and communities in safe gun storage education.

Since the campaign launch in May 2023 through June 2026, the NC S.A.F.E. campaign reached every county in North Carolina — amplifying the safe storage message through education, health care, government, law enforcement, gun-related, faith-based, and other types of organizations.