How The American Red Cross Launched a Multilingual, High Impact PSA Campaign

In 2020, it was apparent that our “be good to the town” motto needed to come to life in new ways. Because of this, we reached out to community leaders to see what they needed and if Innovatemap could support their efforts. The Indiana Chapter of the American Red Cross took us up on the offer.

Many of us know of the American Red Cross through their blood drives, but the organization has been providing disaster relief for hundreds of years. The Indiana chapter, founded in 1916, has supported the Midwest through natural and man-made disasters.

The role of the American Red Cross didn’t change with the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization knew what it needed to do — develop a public awareness campaign to communicate potentially life-saving information.

“If you don’t have access to the Internet or television, or if you don’t speak or read English, it’s possible you don’t have any idea that there is a threat,” says Duchess Adjei, Regional Communication Director at the Indiana Region of the American Red Cross. “There are huge populations of people across Indiana who do not speak or read English, and it’s important that those individuals and families feel part of our extended communication strategy. Our goal is to help build an army — one that includes us all, encouraging all of us to commit to actions that may seem small, but that are truly powerful.”

The Red Cross’ #DoingMyPart public awareness campaign supplements the State of Indiana’s #INThisTogether campaign by identifying tasks individuals can do in their daily lives to help combat COVID-19. The campaign was officially launched on April 13.

To eliminate language barriers for Hoosiers navigating this public health crisis, the Red Cross was generously supported by LUNA Language Services for translations of the campaign messages into at least six translated seven languages: including Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, French, Hakha Chin, and Spanish.

“The whole organization has worked around the clock for weeks with all of our programs and services, so when I received a call from Innovatemap offering support, I was thrilled,” says Duchess. Our designers rolled up their sleeves to create digital imagery that would not only convey the PSA campaign messaging, but stand out in the crowd.

The Red Cross created a communication campaign with commercials, media interviews, social media and community partners. Messages were disseminated to diverse audiences through partnerships with key organizations, like the Immigrant Welcome Center, which communicates with nearly every immigrant-facing organization in the region.