Case Study
Combating COVID-19 in Two of America’s Largest Counties
Los Angeles County & St. Louis County
The Challenge
In 2021, as COVID-19 numbers were spiking across the country, Fenton worked with two of the nation’s largest counties to promote testing and vaccination among highly-impacted populations.
In St. Louis County, residents were hit especially hard by COVID-19 and vaccination rates were low. The St. Louis County Department of Public Health needed to persuade the reluctant to get vaccinated, yet social, political and cultural factors made a single, unified call for vaccination a challenge.
In Los Angeles County highly-impacted populations across the region needed access to resources and information that could help them stay safe and healthy. As the vaccine rollout began, the LA County Department of Health Services needed to reach residents with effective messages about the continued importance of testing and preventive measures during this critical period. And there was an acute need to boost vaccination rates among Latino and Black men.
Our Approach
In both counties, Fenton delivered surround-sound strategies focused on raising awareness and driving behavior change in both counties’ most vulnerable communities.
In St. Louis, we launched Revive STL County, a multilingual, multimedia campaign to encourage vaccine confidence among county residents. After a branding and research-informed message development process, we launched a website to help residents find how to get vaccinated and produced dozens of videos with County residents and leaders. This was combined with robust media strategies and a $900K multi-channel paid ad campaign.
In Los Angeles, we created a multicultural, multi-platform campaign, developing messaging, materials and social media content in 13 languages. The campaign included an online COVID-19 resource hub and extensive email outreach. Fenton partnered with community-based organizations to reach key populations and to provide insights and guidance throughout the campaign. The campaign was designed so that it could be quickly customized and reprioritized to adapt to changing circumstances. And we developed a series of videos and a paid digital advertising effort specifically crafted for and targeting Latino and Black men to get vaccinated.
Impact
Both campaigns were overwhelmingly successful in elevating the importance of COVID-19 safety, testing and vaccination in highly-impacted communities.
More than 88,000 people visited the Revive STL website, with nearly 28,000 clicking to find out where and when to get vaccinated. Over the life of the campaign, the number of county residents who had received at least one vaccine dose rose by nearly 50%. In January 2022, immediately after the end of the campaign, St. Louis County had the highest vaccination rate in the state.
Our Los Angeles campaign strengthened community based organizations in serving as ambassadors for critical health messages. It generated nearly 3 million ad impressions and sent more than 750,000 emails. Our website linked users with up-to-date county resources, while weekly releases of social media content in 13 languages helped CBOs to speak directly to their audiences. Fenton also built CBO capacity through trainings and other support.
