The Challenge
APICHA Community Health Center, whose mission statement is to "serve Asians and Pacific Islanders, Latinos, African Americans and all individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or those who are living with HIV/AIDS" had obtained a grant from New York State to help raise COVID vaccination rates in Asian communities in New York City.

By comparing datasets from the New York City Department of Health and the U.S. Census Bureau, Parkside identified lower vaccination rates in specific zip codes home to large South Asian populations in Southeast Queens. Parkside was then tasked with developing a full-fledged research and advertising campaign to improve attitudes towards the COVID vaccine in these communities.

The Solution
First, Parkside developed a dual-track focus group and street survey program to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data about attitudes towards COVID, vaccines, and media consumption habits in the targeted communities. The results of this research informed Parkside about which messages, messengers, and platforms were likely to be most trusted in our advertising efforts.

Second, Parkside developed print advertising in key Hindi and Bengali news publications, a postering program in over 70 bus shelter locations, and six flights of direct mail to create layered and coinciding messaging in these communities. Over the course of the advertising effort, over 90,000 people got vaccinated against COVID in these communities, and the vaccination rate of increase was substantially higher than in New York City overall.