For many communities across California, the COVID-19 pandemic was an overwhelming experience that left widespread feelings of hopelessness and isolation in its wake. Recognizing the healing effects of social connection, the State of California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, California Volunteers (OPR/CV) created the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Education and Outreach Initiative to address this public health crisis.
Drawing on the belief that small gestures can have extraordinary ripple effects, the initiative aims to strengthen networks in under-resourced areas with high disaster and climate risk, fostering a sense of connection between neighbors and building communities that can come together to address local needs, climate action, and disaster response.
California Volunteers engaged Wondros to expand on the initiative’s successful pilot, and tasked us with developing a compelling brand identity for the program and orchestrating a comprehensive statewide awareness campaign culminating in May 2024. Our campaign’s main objectives were to:
To highlight the initiative’s combined bottom-up, top-down approach, we needed to showcase how everyone from government organizations to your own neighbors are helping our state thrive. We also knew that a program designed to activate individuals at the community level would need messaging that understood its target neighborhoods at a deep, personal level. To that end, all of our work on the campaign was driven by a profound interest in and concern for real people. We worked with communities across the state and met with real Californians, engaging with them and learning more about their neighborhoods, the problems they face, and the hopes that drive them. From there, our strategy included:
Research. To refine the initiative’s mission, we held a series of shaping and framing sessions with key program and marketing stakeholders. Next, we conducted formative research (qualitative and quantitative) aimed at identifying target audiences. This included a thorough literature review and analysis, as well as semi-structured interviews with community members and subject matter experts from the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, and more.
Audience identification. To better understand our core audiences, our research subcontractor, NORC, developed an interactive Geographic Information System (GIS) map that identified areas at the ZIP-code-level most susceptible to climate change and natural disasters. Surveying these vulnerable areas gave us powerful insights into neighborhood dynamics, existing community connections, and potential change agents. We then used segmentation analysis to generate audience insights, personas, and journey maps based on the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of our target audiences.
Branding. Leveraging these insights, Wondros then crafted a distinctive brand identity for the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Initiative that integrates seamlessly with the existing California Volunteers brand and underscores the value of a connected and flourishing community.
Campaign strategy. With our media subcontractor UP/iHeartMedia, Wondros developed a comprehensive media strategy featuring market-specific campaigns tailored to key California audiences. This included developing an organic social approach delivering engaging weekly content for all CV-owned social channels (on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor, TikTok and Snapchat); leveraging local personalities for broadcast and social media engagement; and executing hyperlocal campaigns to promote community events and volunteer recruitment. The campaign deployed customized targeting parameters and tailored messaging for each identified audience to maximize effectiveness.
Creative asset production. As a core element of the campaign, we created an inspiring community narrative film that features individuals from all over the state talking about the issues facing their communities, as well as people already working to forge strong community-level bonds. From Oakland to Sacramento, Los Angeles to San Jose, we traveled up and down the state, showcasing a range of Californians in rural, urban, and suburban communities who are stepping up and helping their neighbors. By capturing the stories of self-starters — like community members in Grizzly Flats who came together to rebuild after a devastating wildfire — we sought to underscore the basic principle of kindness and compassion that serves as the foundation of the initiative, and inspire others to do the same.
Our campaign, which ran from January 15 to May 19, 2024, played a pivotal role in helping the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Initiative unite communities, combat isolation, and foster resilience in targeted California areas. We successfully amplified the Neighbor-to-Neighbor brand, driving real engagement and embedding its core values, goals, and benefits deeply within communities:
Our campaign has resulted in a remarkable expansion of the Neighbor-to-Neighbor network of committed volunteers, reflecting our successful efforts to mobilize a broad spectrum of individuals.
