The introduction of e-cigarettes to the U.S. market in 2007 reversed decades of progress in the fight against addictive tobacco products. In just two years, vaping among middle school students increased by 218% and 135% among high school students. Most parents and mentors at the time could not identify vaping products especially those that look like everyday objects like pens or USB drives or keep up with all the new products. They also had limited understanding of the effects of nicotine. In 2020 with the rise of Covid, reports showed that those who smoke and/or vape were at higher risk for serious illness and death.

Acento, along with other agency partners used segment insights to carry out a multiyear campaign to educate Hispanic, Asian and African American audience of California parents about these new products, raise awareness about the harmful ingredients in e-cigarettes and their effect on developing brains and empower parents to protect their children from these products.

Taking a 3600 approach, partner agencies led segment specific strategy/research, media planning and buying, analytics and optimization, and omnichannel creative to reach parents and mentors. We also leveraged relationships with our media partners to provide value-added editorial content to further our message.

Assets were developed in collaboration with partner agencies to create message synergies and cost efficiencies while at the same time transadapting the concepts to reflect nuances and message needs of Hispanic, Asian and Black communities.

Creative featured clear, simple messaging and imagery that was representative of the different age groups and diversity of California’s middle and high school kids.

Achieved over 50mm impressions and drove over 800K pageviews and 200K site actions which included sending a letter to a local mayor and downloading educational guides. Efforts directed at bilinguals increased engagement and online actions by 40%, also increasing awareness of nicotine in e-cigarettes and ability to identify e-cigarette devices.The overall opinion of flavored tobacco products shifted significantly with more Californians agreeing that the tobacco industry uses flavors and deceptive marketing practices to hook kids.

ln late 2020, as the country was preparing for the Covid-19 vaccine roll out with limited doses for healthcare and other essential workers, we started working with Banner Health on a communication and creative plan for the larger population, eligible for vaccination in the following phases of the roll out.
As we monitored the social conversations in Banner Health’s service area, we identified a large volume of social media conversations showing vaccine hesitancy related to Covid-19 among the Hispanic and African American segments. This insight was also confirmed by early vaccine trackers showing low vaccine confidence with only 26% of Hispanics and 20% of African Americans wanting to get the vaccine as soon as possible, compared to 40% of Whites, pointing to extreme impact of misinformation.

As a cross cultural agency, we understand many factors influence the vaccine decision-making, including cultural, social and political factors. With this understanding and with the main goal of tackling vaccine hesitancy, our Strategy and Analytics teams conducted additional research and social media analysis to uncover insights and paint the full story that prevented most Hispanics from trusting the vaccine.
At the same time, our Media and Creative teams started mining for audience media usage data and working with social media platforms to stay informed about any developing messaging or advertising policies related to Covid-19.

We pinpointed key health and attitudinal differences between audiences and identified the main questions being asked by the Hispanic community online. Our analysis and research found that Hispanics had strong trust on doctors and other medical professionals but still lagged behind in overall vaccination rates. Hispanics wanted to more information before seeking vaccinations. Some had also had previous experiences that affect their view in the health system, which also affected their decision to get vaccinated.

By leveraging Banner Health’s high levels of trust among the Hispanic community, established through previous efforts, and the credibility of their health professionals, we developed messaging and a series of doctor videos explaining the vaccine and asking people to get it as soon as they become eligible. Hispanic doctors and other health workers, all lent their voices to the vaccination campaign. By taking the time to acknowledge their concerns and answer their questions; including vaccine development, how they work, safety and side effects and benefits; Banner Health helped people become confident in their decision to get vaccinated. This was complemented by infographics, safety messages and blogs.
This had a real and strong impact as confidence in the vaccines within communities leads to higher vaccination rates, which leads to fewer Covid-19 illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Our creative team partnered with Banner Health doctors and developed the video series “Hablando Claro: La Vacuna Covid-19”, a series of videos featuring doctors from different specialties, including pediatrics and gynecology, answering the most common questions about the vaccine.

Not surprisingly, as social media became a main source of vaccine information for nearly 40% of Hispanics, the content was well received by Banner Health followers and achieved high levels of engagement.