The Medi-Cal Protects campaign, developed for The California Endowment, is a creative initiative aimed at raising awareness about the vital role Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program providing free or low-cost medical coverage to low-income individuals and families, plays throughout California. Our campaign safeguarded Medi-Cal federal and state funding threats through a series of videos, humanizing Medi-Cal’s impact by highlighting real-life stories and statistics. Through approachable yet assertive messaging, the campaign leveraged local data to make its message personal and urgent, using bold visuals and inclusive language to reach our audience of Hispanic, elderly, and LGBTQ+ California communities—populations most reliant on Medi-Cal.
We positioned Medi-Cal as the difference between healthcare and health crisis, advocating for the importance of coverage, ensuring community well-being and stability. By focusing on the everyday realities of Californians, the campaign sought to foster understanding, reduce stigma, and encourage policy support for Medi-Cal’s continued protection of vulnerable populations.
To bring the Medi-Cal Protects campaign to life across California, the team employed a powerful blend of animation and design to create an immersive and emotionally resonant experience that connects deeply with communities statewide. We shared content across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and OTT/OOH . Out of Home placements were across the entire state, specifically in regions with more than 50% Medi-Cal enrollees. Through animation, the campaign portrayed the everyday lives of a diverse set of characters, a father, a grandmother, a neighbor, and even a pet owner, making their stories both relatable and memorable. These visual narratives helped viewers see themselves and their loved ones in the campaign, fostering empathy and understanding.
In the second phase of the campaign, the focus shifted to data-driven storytelling. Strong, impactful visuals were used to present key statistics and outcomes that would result if Medi-Cal were to be defunded. These visuals highlighted how entire communities across California would be affected, emphasizing the widespread consequences of losing such a vital program. By integrating these data points into the animation and design, the campaign made its message not only personal but also urgent. The statistics were not presented in isolation; instead, they were woven into the narrative fabric of the campaign, reinforcing the scale and importance of Medi-Cal’s reach.
The Medi-Cal Protects campaign far exceeded our initial objectives through high reach and engagement that directly translated into advocacy sentiment.
With over 118M impressions and 8.1M Californians reached in just three months, the campaign successfully drove awareness of protecting Medi-Cal, with paid media efforts expanding our organic reach by 23x. We achieved a 26.27% engagement rate and 85.91% view rate overall surpassing 2x industry benchmarks, confirming we reached the right audiences and that our storytelling approach resonated powerfully.
On Meta, we achieved 3x benchmark for ER and 2x for view rate, TikTok drove 3x industry view rate, YouTube delivered over 3x industry ER benchmark, and OTT surpassed 80% industry benchmark for view completion.
Most significantly, the campaign moved beyond awareness to drive tangible advocacy, evidenced by user comments urging others to "call your Senators early and often" and "Save Medi-Cal." This organic call-to-action response proves the campaign successfully fostered understanding and encouraged policy support as intended. The strategic focus on Hispanic, elderly, and LGBTQ+ communities—populations most reliant on Medi-Cal—ensured messaging reached those with the highest stakes in the program's protection.
By combining emotional storytelling with data-driven visuals, the campaign positioned Medi-Cal as the critical difference between healthcare and health crisis.
