NEW YORK: Social cause communications agency Dini von Mueffling Communications is helping Pfizer and BioNTech launch a PSA campaign to boost public confidence about COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.
The push, entitled Because of This, launched on Tuesday on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. It will begin running on national TV in the following days. The video spots will be accompanied by a $1.4 million billboard and signage effort, donated by Quan Media Group, that will run in 24 markets nationally.
Neither von Mueffling nor Pfizer would disclose the cost of the campaign.
The push is backed by the American Nurses Association, the National Black Nurses Association, the American Pharmacists Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American College of Preventive Medicine.
Although the Food and Drug Administration has vetted the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, the campaign relies on personal anecdotes rather than clinical studies.
“This is footage of these people in very personal moments, and they agreed to allow us to use it as part of this campaign,” von Mueffling said.
At the core of the push are four PSA that include footage of people whose lives have been changed by vaccinations. Von Mueffling and creative shops Mischief @ No Fixed Address created the ads.
“Obviously, a lot of this kind of work that pharma does is scientific and information specific,” von Mueffling added. “But to us, the one thing that is clear is most people make decisions emotionally and then find the rational facts to back up their decision. We wanted to really capture people’s emotions and connect with them on that level so they would then seek out the information and science that supports getting vaccinated.”
Pfizer and BioNTech approached von Mueffling in August, she said, before the companies knew if their vaccine would be approved.
“They were interested in working with us and knew we had done a lot of other PSAs that were powerful and had rolled them out in an engaging and impactful way,” she said. “It was very clear they wanted to do a vaccine confidence campaign regardless of whose vaccine was approved.”
Pfizer had worked with DvMC on another campaign about counterfeit medications, a Pfizer spokesperson said via email, and was “very pleased with their strategic thinking, creative development and recommendations for a flawless execution of that campaign. So, when it was time to work on the vaccine confidence campaign, they were at the top of our list.”
The Pfizer spokesperson said the company “expects the campaign to run in social media platforms and local TV stations through June, at which point we will evaluate the need to continue educating the public.”
Pfizer also conducts regular vaccine educational campaigns, with this newer campaign intended to compliment that work, the spokesperson added.
This story was updated on January 12 to clarify that the PSA content was not donated by the people in the ads.
