The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative's 'It's Up To You' Launching New Efforts to Inspire Vaccine Confidence in Young Adults

NEW YORK, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative today announced dedicated efforts speaking to young adults about the COVID-19 vaccines, now that vaccine eligibility has been expanded nationwide to Americans 12 and older. With significant support from leading technology and media platforms, influencers and organizations, the efforts aim to address vaccine hesitancy specific to young adults ages 18-29 across the country.

Recent research from the Ad Council revealed that while young adults largely believe in the importance of vaccines, they have ongoing hesitancy about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Approximately 55 percent of young adults are unsure or disagree that the benefits of COVID vaccines outweigh the risks, a statistic that has remained unchanged over the last few months. Key concerns among this demographic include the perceived rush of vaccine development and lack of long-term data to help inform their decision, as well as worries around whether the vaccines will have an impact on fertility. Taking these factors into account, nearly one-third of young adults are taking a "wait and see" attitude about the vaccines, despite being eligible for vaccination.

"While young adults in our country understand the importance of the COVID-19 vaccines, nearly half have questions that they need answered before making their decision and that's where our campaign can make an impact," said Lisa Sherman, President and CEO of the Ad Council. "We're grateful for the immense support of our partners, who are leveraging their platforms in creative and innovative ways to help young adults get the facts they need to make an informed decision about the COVID-19 vaccines."

To connect directly with young adults and address their specific concerns around the COVID-19 vaccines, leading brands, media companies and social platforms and services are developing custom content and donating media space to extend the "It's Up To You" message, connecting their audiences with crucial and vetted information about the COVID-19 vaccines. Partners include:

• Collegiate Sports Management Group, which works with 50+ different universities and brands battling in bracket-style esports competitions, will be promoting "It's Up To You" creative assets during their collegiate esports tournaments.
• Enthusiast Gaming is uniting some of world's most popular gamers and athletes to educate the public about COVID vaccines through a "Gaming All-Star Dream Package" contest on social media.
• Facebook and Instagram are supporting the effort by producing a new campaign and activating talent to amplify top vaccine information and providing significant donated media to reach young adults as well as the broader US population. "It's Up To You" content will also be featured in an Instagram Guide, a high visibility in-app feature aimed to provide credible, reliable and accurate health information related to the COVID-19 vaccines.
• FOX Entertainment, 20th Television Animation and "Family Guy" collaborated with the "It's Up To You" effort, reviving one of the most iconic Family Guy scenes to include COVID-19 vaccine education information.  The spot aired during the comedy's Sunday broadcast and was amplified on social media to further reach young adult audiences.
• GIPHY will be collaborating with and featuring the "It's Up To You" campaign, enabling the Ad Council to tap into its pool of GIPHY Artists and commission GIFs and stickers providing COVID-19 vaccine education.
• Heartbeat will be rallying their network of Millennial micro-influencers to share content on Instagram and TikTok, encouraging their followers to visit GetVaccineAnswers.org.
• Holler will produce and amplify vaccine education-related stickers for use in messaging.
• Influential is leveraging its proprietary data to help the campaign select the most relevant influencers for reaching young adults and to track and measure the impact of their posts.
• Lyft created digital out of home creative for cartops and will run "It's Up To You" assets across bike stands in Chicago and New York City.
• Match Group is providing donated media support across their suite of dating apps to increase vaccine confidence among singles. Dating apps BLK, Chispa and Upward are also offering social media support and a free Boost (added profile visibility) for singles who choose to get educated about the vaccines.
• Pandora's Studio Resonate has created custom audio PSA and banner assets targeting young adult audiences.
• Pinterest is providing donated media support and developed custom English and Spanish-language Pins for the "It's Up To You" campaign.
• Reddit will be hosting an AMA® (ask me anything) engagement with a medical expert to answer top questions young adults have, as well as a mega-thread that will serve as an educational tool to reach Gen Z and Millennials, who make up 68% of their US audience.
• Roku is donating targeted video inventory within The Roku Channel in an effort to reach young adults with vaccine education PSAs.
• Sabio is providing donated media and custom creative builds to support focus on mobile efforts, utilizing custom animated units to reach young adults with "It's Up To You" content.
• Snap Inc. is donating Snap Ads, a National Lens which will utilize AR technology, and a National Filter, created by Snap's creative team. Snap Inc. will also be providing a brand lift study and will engage their network of creators to amplify "It's Up To You" messaging.
• Spotify is creating custom "It's Up To You" PSAs and podcast integrations, leveraging the platform's unique streaming intelligence to reach 18-44 year olds in the U.S.  Spotify is also featuring the campaign website, GetVaccineAnswers.org in their COVID-19 Vaccine playlist.
• TikTok is activating through their network of creators to develop custom content that will be pinned on their #VaccinatedFor page. This content will also be promoted through media donated by TikTok.
• Twitch developed a custom PSA to promote COVID-19 vaccine awareness and education. Twitch also planned a livestream Q&A with a Twitch streamer and a medical expert to answer questions young adults have about the vaccines.
• Twitter developed custom English and Spanish-language hash-emojis for the "It's Up To You" campaign, in addition to providing donated media support.
• ViacomCBS will be creating custom content on behalf of the "It's Up To You" campaign.
• WarnerMedia will continue support of the "It's Up To You" campaign, working with network talent and developing new platform-specific content to help get the facts out about the COVID-19 vaccines.
• WWE has created their own PSAs based on the "It's Up To You" campaign with WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, WWE Superstars Bobby Lashley and The Miz and WWE Hall of Famers Nikki Bella and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, pointing viewers to GetVaccineAnswers.org.

Creative agency JOY Collective, who has been working to adapt the "It's Up To You" platform with content specifically developed to reach and resonate with the Black communities, has created two new PSAs directed at Black young adults. Highlighting how young people can get back to the moments and activities they miss most, like seeing friends at college or at concerts, the PSAs address the top questions facing Americans aged 18-29, driving viewers to GetVaccineAnswers.org to learn more.

In addition to sharing vetted, fact-based information about the COVID-19 vaccines across these leading technology and media platforms, the American College Health Association, which represents 6,500+ health professionals across 700 college campuses, will also be supporting the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative's COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative by distributing "It's Up To You" messaging to their college networks.

The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative will also be reaching young adults through event activations, including Global Citizen's VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World, which aired on May 8. For the Black community, the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative has also partnered with organizations including the JOY Collective, Black Coalition Against COVID-19, BlackDoctor.org and the Hustlers Guild to host events specifically for Black sorority and fraternity members and alumni and HBCU students, pairing leaders in those spaces with medical experts to help answer young adults' questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. For the Hispanic community, the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative is partnering with organizations including Latinovations, Voto Latino, and LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) to host national and regional tele-townhalls, leveraging prominent Hispanic medical experts and influencers to also reach young adults. The initiative is also leveraging the national Beauty & Barber Empowerment Center to engage thousands of Black hair stylists and barbers nationwide to share information with their customers.

These partnerships and events are part of the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative's COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative and the "It's Up To You" campaign, which includes creative assets developed by Pereira O'Dell, JOY Collective, iHeartMedia, Group SJR, Values Partnerships and other partners to ensure the American public has the latest and most accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccines.

Leading contributors to date include Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, Cisco, CVS Health, Facebook, General Motors, Google and YouTube, the Humana Foundation, NBCUniversal/Comcast, Reckitt, Salesforce, Verizon, Walgreens and Walmart. Significant contributions have also been provided by Adobe, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, BNY Mellon, Budweiser/Anheuser-Busch Foundation, Business Roundtable, Citi, Ford Motor Company, Honeywell, JPMorgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, the New York Life Foundation, Stanley Black & Decker, Synchrony, Target, Unilever, Wells Fargo and ViacomCBS.

"In times of national crisis, American leaders and institutions always step forward to help," said John Bridgeland, CEO of the COVID Collaborative.  "The campaign is unleashing partners and creative talent  to educate and engage young adults so they can make informed decisions about the vaccine."

For more information and answer to top questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, visit GetVaccineAnswers.org.

The Ad Council
The Ad Council has a long history of creating life-saving public service communications in times of national crisis, starting in the organization's earliest days during World War II to September 11th and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. Its deep relationships with media outlets, the creative community, issue experts and government leaders make the organization uniquely poised to quickly distribute life-saving information to millions of Americans.

The Ad Council is where creativity and causes converge. The non-profit organization brings together the most creative minds in advertising, media, technology and marketing to address many of the nation's most important causes. The Ad Council has created many of the most iconic campaigns in advertising history. Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk. Smokey Bear. Love Has No Labels.

The Ad Council's innovative social good campaigns raise awareness, inspire action and save lives. To learn more, visit AdCouncil.org, follow the Ad Council's communities on Facebook and Twitter and view the creative on YouTube.

COVID Collaborative
COVID Collaborative, a project of UNITE, is a national assembly of experts, leaders and institutions in health, education and the economy and associations representing the diversity of the country to turn the tide on the pandemic by supporting federal, state and local COVID-19 response efforts.

The COVID Collaborative is co-chaired by former Governor and U.S. Senator Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) and former Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) and led by CEO John Bridgeland and President Gary Edson. COVID Collaborative includes expertise from across Republican and Democratic administrations at the federal, state and local levels, including former FDA commissioners, CDC directors, and U.S. surgeon generals; former U.S. secretaries of Education, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services; leading public health experts and institutions that span the country; the Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the NAACP, UnidosUS and the National Congress of American Indians; the Skoll Foundation, The Allstate Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation; and associations representing those on the front lines, from the American Public Health Association and Association of State and Territorial Health Officials to the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of the Great City Schools. Tim Shriver is Chairman of UNITE.

To learn more, visit www.CovidCollaborative.us, and follow the COVID Collaborative on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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SOURCE The Ad Council