IE Counts premieres two Super Bowl commercials, reminding Inland Empire residents about participating in the 2020 Census
The Super Bowl is usually known as much for its television advertisements as for the results on the field, with corporations spending millions of dollars to reach key audiences. This year, the Inland Empire, which has built a strong reputation of innovation and collaboration on Census outreach, launched two ads aimed at increasing awareness and participation in the 2020 Census count.
During the big game, Riverside and San Bernardino County each ran a commercial reminding viewers about the importance of the Census and the necessity of having an accurate and complete count in the Inland Empire. Importantly, each ad was targeted to particular communities, which made the ad buys more affordable as well as focused.
The County of Riverside produced an ad that ran in Fox affiliate in the Coachella Valley, which is predominantly Hispanic and among the hardest to count areas. Izzy Ramirez, a Rancho Mirage High School football player who the community has rallied behind in his road to recovery, starred in the ad, along with Queen Scheherazade and her court, ambassadors of the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival; farmer Michael Bozick; former LA Rams player Greg Ball and Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez
The County of San Bernardino’s ad aired on the Spanish-language Fox Deportes. The Spanish language commercial featured the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands and college students in their classroom at San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino. San Bernardino County will also have an English language version of the commercial.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, director of the Inland Empire Complete Count Committee, praised both counties for their innovative and strategic investments in Census-related ad buys. “The Super Bowl has the largest television audience in America,” he said, “and it’s wonderful to see the ingenuity of our regional Census partners in finding a way to drive awareness and encourage participation among hard-to-count areas and communities.”
“We have to make sure everyone gets counted in the upcoming Census, so our communities don’t get shortchanged on federal and state resources for the next ten years,” said San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford, co-chair of the Inland Empire Complete Count Committee.
“We are proud of our efforts to promote the upcoming Census and saw the Super Bowl as a prime opportunity to encourage everyone to participate in the 2020 U.S. Census,” added Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, co-chair of the Inland Empire Complete Count Committee.
The 30-second commercials are part of an effort by both counties to increase awareness and promote participation in the upcoming U.S. Census and remind viewers about the importance of the Census and the necessity of having an accurate and complete count in the Inland Empire.
Beginning March 12, households will begin receiving official Census Bureau mail with detailed information on how to respond to the 2020 Census online, by phone, or by mail. This is the first year residents can respond online. College students, children, households where Spanish is the dominant language, and the Coachella Valley and High Desert are among the hard-to-count populations in the Census.
Links to Super Bowl Census Commercials :
More Information:
For more information about the Census and how you can get involved in local efforts, please visit the websites below.
IE Counts – http://iecounts.org
Census IE – https://censusie.org/en/
The Inland Empire Complete Count Committee (IE-CCC) is a leadership body that draws on representatives from the nonprofit, government, education, business, and philanthropic sectors to develop a Census awareness campaign to encourage full participation in the decennial Census. The committee is co-chaired by Supervisor V. Manuel Perez from Riverside County and Supervisor Janice Rutherford from San Bernardino County, and directed by Karthick Ramakrishnan from the Center for Social Innovation, UC Riverside.
