2020 Census COVID-19 Response

April 1 is officially Census Day. That’s not an April Fool’s joke. It’s the law. But in the weeks surrounding April 1, 2020, the COVID-19 crisis engulfed the country and dramatically altered the landscape. The world changed with stay-at-home orders and social distancing. This national emergency happened at the exact moment we hoped the majority of U.S. residents would respond to the census online. The pandemic led Reingold and Team Y&R to throw out the carefully planned Motivation stage playbook and call a series of strategic audibles. Reingold led the way with national TV spots that addressed the crisis in real time. We used video footage we shot across America to make TV and digital spots that spoke to the moment. Our message: In the wake of the pandemic’s economic and social impacts, the need to respond to the census was greater than ever.