Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health

Building community unity during the pandemic

Fear, frustration, confusion and panic became natural by-products of the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials at public health agencies across the world had to draw on every reserve to establish calm, confidence and empathy in their communities. At the same time, essential mandates – lockdowns, masks, vaccines – required deft and steady communications.

The Letter M worked closely with senior communicators with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health to build a far-reaching awareness campaign on the foundations of community based social marketing which encourages a united, positive approach to messaging with a goal to elicit desired behaviours.

Let’s Do This Together was a multi-faceted campaign that established a playful, sympathetic cast of characters to carry messages to the community. Materials were introduced in advertising and social media campaigns across the region when an injection of optimism and understanding was necessary to encourage togetherness and kindness.

In addition to Public Health’s direct-to-market activity, a share kit was distributed to more than 25 community partners to use the materials in their own communications, resulting in unified and consistent messaging and visuals.

The campaign contributed to the region having one of Canada’s highest rates of mask participation and vaccination.

Testimonial

“The Letter M was a terrific partner. Together we built a multichannel, multi-partner marketing program that ran throughout the region. The campaign was able to thoughtfully thread the needle between inspiring and trite in a way that spoke to the region’s community-wide response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Danny Williamson, Communications Specialist
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health