What did I learn after my 2020 Census campaign?

Hi, I am glad you made it back for yet another one of my extensive, and probably overly chirpy blog posts. For this post, I will be explaining a little bit about my last marketing project for the 2020 Census for the city of Weston and some of the things I learned along the way that could definitely help me in the future, especially for my portfolio project. 

First, I would like to begin with some research that allowed my group and I to get some inspiration as well as some “red flags” to avoid for our campaign. One of the cities we researched was Boca Raton, Florida. Something that I focused on when looking at their brand as a whole was the prism:

Physique: clean, neat, higher-quality, cohesive. 

Relationship: inviting, friendly, unique

Reflection: desired, achievable

Personality: hard-working, goal-driven, motivated

Culture: Mostly white and of higher middle class or fully higher class. 

Self-image: responsible, successful, friendly, approachable. 

Boca’s campaign not only did a perfect job in delivering a friendly and inviting message, but its website, social media, etc is cohesive! That is such an important factor when wanting to have a good flow to the campaign. The friendly and approachable feel to the Boca campaign is something we really took into consideration when creating ours.

When we researched New York City, we noticed that the prism was very different from that of Boca:

Physique: Bold, familiar, government-style

Personality: trustworthy, patriotic

Relationships: a government service you should trust 

Culture: proactive and aware, socially responsible 

Self-image: modernizing, can be trusted, important for all Americans 

It was much more “in your face” government stuff all over. We took that as a big red flag for our campaign. Our clients clearly stated that they want everyone and anyone to feel safe completing the census, and keeping the campaign at a community standard rather than government seems more approachable. 

Now let’s talk about my group (Gus and Tomas) and I’s campaign. First I will insert parts of our campaign that are better to have there to visualize it better. 
Brochure:

Postcard:
FRONT

BACK:

Videos:

I personally took care of the print component and I am very shocked but pleased by the feedback of my classmates. Most of them said the postcard contained just the right information since the brochure was the one product that was meant to be more detailed. The fact that they were cohesive was also a plus! Some of the most common critiques were that maybe the blue color was a little too intense and some also felt as if the brochure had too much information. Looking back, I do agree about the blue. It was such a tough battle! I cannot even tell you how many shades and hues of blue I tried, I mean I was going a little insane. As for the brochure, my goal was for it to have more information since brochures usually tend to be more informational, but if some people believe some information could’ve been cut down, I am considering that for the future. 

The videos (made by Tomas) were cohesive and informational. Our goal for the videos was to make them and simple and understandable and approachable as possible. Some of our classmates believed including Weston residents would’ve made it even more approachable and I agree 100%. I think we got to caught up on making them cohesive and about the city that we forgot about the people!

As for Teachweek and Census Night/Noche del Censo (Gus’ masterpieces), our classmates agreed that they were both great ideas to have a friendly and wider approach to such an important event in our community.

What I am going to REALLY keep in mind for my portfolio project is this:

-Cohesion is KEY. 

-Understanding the target audience is the most important thing when figuring out different approaches. 

-Take time building the aesthetics of the campaign as well so they match the message, genre, client, TA, etc. 

 Once again, thanks for staying and reading some more of me just blabbing away!

 See you on my next post!

-Tini