Sacramento County Public Health

In 2022, as the FDA was expected to release an authorization for the use of the COVID-19 vaccines for use in children over the age of five, Sacramento County Public Health commissioned RSE to help raise vaccination rates for children in Sacramento County to at least 50%. RSE developed a targeted, county-wide paid media effort to motivate parents/guardians/caretakers to get their kids vaccinated. Advertising was used to drive motivation with radio advertising, out of home media and digital ads in English, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.

The creative assets developed for each media tactic were designed to communicate to parents the safety, effectiveness and normalcy of vaccines for keeping their children healthy. Wanting it to feel like we were talking parent to parent, talking to – not at – them, RSE implemented a conversational style grounding the conversation in trust. Instead of photography inferring the message was coming from a healthcare professional, RSE’s concept used illustrated representations of items commonly used to protect kids: helmets, life vests, umbrellas and bandages.

We know that public agencies are not blessed with unlimited funds, so RSE recommended a time period that would have the most impact for parents and caregivers: the summer and back to school time periods from mid-June through mid-September.

The overall performance of the campaign was strong, both in terms of engagement and efficiency, delivering strong click-through-rates and cost-per-clicks.