First 5 Sacramento + Sacramento Public Health

In collaboration with First 5 Sacramento and Sacramento County Public Health, RSE created the Unequal Birth campaign to raise awareness of Black infant and maternal death disparities in Sacramento County as a result of social and systemic racism. By way of background, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Sadly, African American families in Sacramento County are disproportionately affected. Black women are four times as likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth and their infants are dying at two times the rate of other children.

RSE launched the Unequal Birth mass media campaign in February 2020 in order to impact behavior change of the general public with the goal of promoting action and advocacy in the future. This campaign was successful across all media platforms but was especially successful in reaching audiences through video assets created to run on digital platforms.

The campaign targeted adults ages 18 to 54 in Sacramento County and reflected the realities for African American families and the stories they have shared. The campaign used multiple touchpoints to reach Sacramento County residents where they work, live and play to generate awareness around the issue. RSE implemented a comprehensive advertising campaign that included out-of-home, radio and paid social media.

RSE conceptualized and designed a series of digital (LED) billboards for display on high-traffic freeway locations. These ads ran on 14 LED billboards in the Sacramento area. The RSE creative team wrote and tested a variety of scripts for 30-second radio ads which ran for eight weeks. RSE monitored their effectiveness, finding that the ads on average achieved 35 rating points, the target level for this metric.

For paid social, RSE scripted a video optimized for placement on Facebook and Instagram. The video ran successfully for an entire 18-month period, generating a substantial number of impressions and click-throughs to the Unequal Birth website. RSE also designed and produced a digital banner that ran on Pandora. For the Facebook, Instagram and Pandora runs, the purchased placements were optimized for viewing by the target demographic (18- to 54-year-olds in the Sacramento area).

In just five months, more than 20,000 people visited the campaign page at a cost per visit well below industry standards. With strong negotiating skills, RSE was able to secure more than 4.8 million bonus impressions, extending the value of the media buy and the campaign’s impact in the community.