HIGHLIGHTS

• Every single county in Western NC, along with 4 additional community organizations, voluntarily participated in the My Reason WNC COVID-19 campaign.
• Between September 2020 and May 2022, our campaign reached more than 1 million unique individuals on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 
• In a public survey conducted in May 2022, 30% of the survey participants who saw the #MyReasonWNC campaign ads said the ads affected their behavior.
• The CDC highlighted the work of the My Reason Campaign as one of their COVID-19 Vaccine Community Features.
• The #MyReasonWNC campaign was presented at a national NCHCMM Conference, titled, “Using a Collaborative Regional Approach to Shape More Impactful Public Health Communications.”

OUR STRATEGY

Recognizing that community leaders and advocates are often some of the most trusted voices in their communities, the My Reason WNC public health campaign featured images and video testimonials of more than 150 local leaders and residents of different ages, cultures, and professions who shared their motivations for practicing the 3 W’s of COVID-19 safety (wearing a face covering, waiting 6 feet apart, and washing hands frequently) and encouraged others to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The program also provided up-to-date COVID-19-related health and safety resources.                                                                                    

In September 2020 we helped launch a three-month, five-county pilot of a collaborative regional COVID-19 communications campaign. Based on the success of the pilot, in December 2020, Dogwood Health Trust provided funding to expand the campaign to co-design, test, implement, and evaluate shared communications tools and resources from September 2020 to May 2022. 

TACTICS

• JB Media and WNC Health Network worked to build the infrastructure for creating, customizing, launching, and monitoring ads to promote campaign messaging.
• Worked directly with the public health partners, and content was created to promote relevant and up-to-date information available from trusted sources. 
• Campaign materials were primarily delivered through social media and allowed local public health entities to counter misinformation and target hard-to-reach communities with positive, evidence-based messaging in English and Spanish.
• On a local and regional level, we continually tracked and shared metrics, including engagement, reach, and website traffic, to ensure campaigns were successful and resonated with target audiences.  
• JB Media developed a My Reason WNC Partner Toolkit (in both English and Spanish) to make the resources and messages available to hospitals, higher education institutions, community-based organizations, and all who wanted to participate in the regional campaign.
• We worked with three community-based organizations—True Ridge, Vecinos, and Asheville Buncombe Institute of Parity Achievement (ABIPA)—to meaningfully engage Hispanic/Latinx and Black WNC residents, and utilized Choozle and YouTube to target these audiences.
• We created print materials for MANNA FoodBank distribution and school flyers.

PARTICIPATING COUNTIES

Result 1

Campaign materials reach all residents of WNC

Result 2

Campaign materials are engaging

Campaign average engagement rate

In a May 2022 Spanish-language survey, 74% of respondents who saw the #MiRazonWNC campaign ads said they affected their behavior.

Result 3

WNC residents have increased awareness, attitudes, and practices around COVID prevention measures and vaccine acceptance

English-speaking survey:

…said they visited the link to learn more about vaccines

Spanish-language survey:

…said they visited the link to learn more about vaccines

The My Reason WNC campaign worked with and engaged rural/underserved, Hispanic/Latinx, and African American communities and our primary tribal community in the region, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in several ways, including:

• Monthly WNC Health Communicators Collaborative meetings, including local health department public information officers, hospital communications/marketing leads, community health workers, and diverse individuals with a role in communicating about health from community-based organizations, federally qualified health centers, free clinics, etc.
• Working with “regional storytellers” embedded within diverse communities in WNC to collect trusted local messengers’ motivations for receiving the COVID vaccine

• Supported in regional listening sessions to inform strategy and test messaging

• Talking with community-based organizations and community health workers to inform strategy and messaging, as campaign participants, and in capacity-building workshops translating all materials into Spanish including copy, graphics, and subtitles      

Spanish-language ads selected by True Ridge and Vecinos—our lead community-based participants that work with Hispanic/Latinx communities—had the following impact: 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals, health departments, and other healthcare providers in the area were siloed from one another. The campaign allowed local health communicators to leverage their expertise, creative visions, and relationships while removing the barriers of design, implementation, funding, and evaluation during this overwhelming time. 

The tools and relationships that developed as a direct result of our sustained collaborative efforts will last beyond the current crisis and advance the health of everyone in the region. The My Reason WNC campaign will inform future health communications in the area. From vaccine confidence to regional health priorities like substance misuse and other issues, our newly strengthened health communications network is positioned to further connect authentically with residents and adeptly share information on timely public health matters.