GALLEGOS UNITED TAILORS EDGY, BILINGUAL AND IN-CULTURE CAMPAIGN ON BEHALF OF THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AIMED TO SHIFT CALIFORNIANS’ BEHAVIOR TO SLOW THE SPREAD OF COVID-19

TO SLOW THE SPREAD OF COVID-19

Public Awareness Campaign Aims to Curb Social Gatherings

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF. – October 6, 2020 – GALLEGOS United, an award-winning creative agency that’s driving growth through culturally attuned and creatively driven marketing, brings the coronavirus to life in a new edgy, bilingual public education campaign for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to further educate Latinos and African Americans on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and embrace the safety guidelines.

Rolling-out with English and Spanish TV, digital display, paid social media, radio across California, and print ads later this month, the new creative campaign gives coronavirus a face, a voice, an attitude and a nickname, by introducing sinister characters, “El Covid” and “The Rona,” who sneak into parties and family gatherings where they spread COVID-19. The campaign is part of California’s “Your Actions Save Lives” public education and awareness campaign, engineered to strike a chord among these audiences and get the message across, as many Californians are doing exactly what the virus wants them to do: they are overlooking the importance of preventative measures!

El Covid and The Rona are the evil twins who could surprisingly wreck our lives – but only if we let them have the power. Using reverse psychology as the central mechanism and dark humor as the tone of the campaign, “El Covid” gets a voice in Spanish, while “The Rona” delivers its evil intentions in English. “El Covid”/“The Rona” capture the audience’s imagination and shows how the virus is always present and just waiting for opportunities to be spread, when we don’t maintain physical distance, when we attend a family reunion or a party with friends, when we hug and kiss our grandparents, when we don’t wear a mask. It is here, there and everywhere so we all need to do our part to help slow the coronavirus spread.

“We know California’s diverse communities must have communications that are in-culture, not just in-language,” said John Gallegos, founder and CEO of GALLEGOS United. “Thousands of Californians’ lives have been impacted because of the virus. Yes, we are all in this together, but we are not all the same. We understand the importance of delivering creative that truly strikes a chord with diverse Latino and African American audiences in a meaningful way. Personifying the virus and giving it a voice to hear from ‘El Covid’/ ‘The Rona’ firsthand on how heinous and close the virus truly is, enables us to cleverly educate the public and navigate efforts to slow down the spread of COVID-19 via this creative and culturally-attuned campaign.”

According to the CDPH COVID-19 Race and Ethnicity Data , Latinos and African Americans are disproportionately represented among Californians who contract COVID-19 and die from the disease. They are at a higher risk for severe complications from COVID-19 due to the increased prevalence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other underlying conditions such as smoking. Social determinants of health are likely contributing to the disproportionate incidence of COVID-19, factors related to housing, economic stability, and occupation. These groups are more likely to be employed as essential workers which increases their likelihood of infection while performing their jobs.

The new campaign focuses on areas with higher COVID-19 cases among Latinos and African Americans, including Southern California, the Central Valley, the Sacramento Valley, the San Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast and the Bay Area. It is made possible with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds totaling $5 million.

The concept was designed by GALLEGOS United, a Latino advertising agency in Huntington Beach, which partnered with Burrell Communications for outreach to the African American community.

Links to the three TV ads: the Rona, El Covid English and El Covid Spanish, can be found below:

3.     Houseparty: https://youtu.be/Acz03egC7u8

Links to the Radio ads, can be found as follows:

3.     Infectious Joy: https://youtu.be/SpmVraaPjDc

Learn more about the campaign at DefeatTheRona.org.

Founded in 2001, formerly known as Grupo Gallegos, GALLEGOS United is a creatively driven, agency dedicated to providing clients with strategic marketing solutions that push the boundaries and propel business growth. GALLEGOS United counts Comcast, Cacique, SouthNorte Beer Co., California Milk Processor Board (Got Milk?), Travelpro and Chick-fil-A as clients, to name a few. GALLEGOS United is part of UNITED COLLECTIVE, a communications group comprised of five interconnected independent agencies. For more information, visit gallegosunited.com.