“YES! to Census 2020” Campaign for City of Houston and Harris County Continues to Earn Accolades

The American Advertising Federation District 10 presented Lopez Negrete Communications, the nation’s largest independently owned and operated Hispanic marketing agency, and Team Hounanimous, a collective of several local Houston-based organizations, companies and agencies with the Mosaic Award for Diversity and Inclusion in an Integrated Campaign.

“Our collaborative Census 2020 campaign continues to earn awards across all industry aspects – research, strategy, tactics — which validates all facets by our industry’s peers,” said Lopez Negrete Communications Co-Founder, CEO and President, Alex López Negrete. “Voting and the Census are two fundamental ways by which a community’s voice can be heard. Our goal to deliver the Census message to hard-to-reach communities was an honor and one which we took extremely seriously. It is especially rewarding to be called out by the AAF District 10 for the diverse and inclusive efforts which guided this entire initiative as best-in-class, despite the challenges put before us by a pandemic, among other headwinds.”

The “YES! to Census 2020” campaign, which relied heavily on in-depth data science and research from January Advisors as well as extensive proprietary, qualitative research, was designed to inform and encourage participation in Census 2020 from traditionally hard-to-reach communities by garnering trusted third-party endorsements through a multimedia mix of communications vehicles: news, social media, hyperlocal influencers, trusted voices, elected officials, and a community-inspired effort that produced branded murals across the city in traditionally undercounted neighborhoods. This campaign did not have or use paid media funds, and was entirely a grassroots, community-centric communications and outreach effort.

This campaign was also recently recognized by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) on the national stage, which awarded it with the Silver David Ogilvy Award in the category of Multicultural Marketing. The ARF Ogilvy Awards honor research and insights-driven marketing efforts which lead to insightful creative and measurable performance. The Public Relations Society of America also awarded the campaign Silver and Bronze Anvils.

The bespoke consortium created to execute this campaign was named Team Hounanimous and included Touchpoint Strategies, The Black Sheep Agency, January Advisors, Possible Missions, Solutions Marketing Group, Elite Change, the Asian Community Support Services Center, and UP Art Studios.