• by Larissa Faw , August 20, 2020

With Black and Latino Americans three times more likely to be infected by COVID-19 as their white peers, the Ad Council is teaming with federal health agencies on a new campaign, “You Will See Me,” to encourage people of color to wear face masks to help stop the spread of the virus. 

Participating agencies include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Created by ad shop 3AM, a division of Los Angeles based entertainment agency Wild Card Creative Group, this integrated platform features prominent Black celebrities sharing their stories to encourage everyone to see the real person behind their face mask.

The PSAs feature personalities Viola Davis, Victor Cruz, Questlove and Simone Biles encouraging people to wear masks and directing viewers to visit YouWillSeeMe.org.

Partners donating their support include VidMob, who is developing the digital banners for this effort. Aspire TV will is providing digital display and broadcast TV inventory. IPG’s Matterkind will be executing targeted media through a donated private marketplace with The Trade Desk across a suite of partners including Engine Media Exchange (EMX), Groundtruth, Triplelift, InMobi, Kargo, Ogury, OpenX, Bustle Digital Group, Maven INC., and Connatix. 

Adtech firm Extreme Reach donated software and other support.  

In addition, Martin Luther King III, along with his wife Arndrea Waters King and their daughter Yolanda Renee King, will serve as community campaign ambassadors and spokespeople.

This campaign is the latest in the Ad Council’s ongoing effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first campaign launched in mid-March, the varying messages have generated 23.6 billion impressions across $347 million in donated, earned and shared media. This has translated to 50 million consumer engagements with 26 million navigating to Coronavirus.gov.