How Ad Council, Collectively, And Digital Brand Architects Are Evaluating Social Good Campaigns During COVID-19

As advertisers shift their strategies during this crisis, creators are playing an integral role in spreading awareness for social good and public health initiatives while ensuring authentic content.

Influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ recently hosted a webinar with Natalie Silverstein, VP of brand and culture at Collectively; Reesa Lake, partner and EVP at Digital Brand Architects (DBA); and Lina Renzina, talent relations and partnerships manager at Ad Council, to discuss how brands should be thinking about social good campaigns in conjunction with their creator/influencer partners.

The Ad Council works year-round with partners, whether it’s media companies or advertising agencies, on various projects. “During a crisis moment like this, we’ve seen the best of everybody come forward to lend a helping hand to work on different efforts,” Renzina shared.

In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the White House, and ViacomCBS, the Ad Council launched #AloneTogether as a COVID-19-focused campaign with influencers that addresses the crisis head-on, encouraging social distancing. The #AloneTogether campaign has already garnered more than 19 million engagements solely on Instagram, but it also stretches across a variety of platforms, including TV and Twitter, featuring content and videos from celebrities like Trevor Noah.

DBA feels this is an opportunity to harness the power of the 180 macro and celebrity influencers they manage. “We launched ‘Small Business, Big Influence’ to rally our community of influencers to help support small businesses to grow,” Lake explained.

DBA is not alone in mobilizing behind small businesses. Collectively is also working with companies to activate influencers with local communities in mind. “We’ve definitely been spending our time helping our clients figure out how to translate the social good efforts that they’re building at the corporate level to the community,” Silverstein said. 

Silverstein, Lake, and Renzina all agree on a few key questions that brands should be asking themselves right now:

• How do we connect with content creators who have a community and audience that we can’t necessarily speak with directly right now?
• How do we  leverage the relationships we do have with content creators?
• How can we call on past relationships to help make a positive impact?

Silverstein continues, “We’re seeing a lot of brands really leaning into the long-term partnerships they’ve had with influencers to quickly activate people to spin up a campaign where we get the word out about the good that brands are actually doing.”

For example, actor and singer James Maslow partnered with Feeding America and Iconic Lids for an #AloneTogether post that’s racked up over 95.5K likes.

These sorts of social good campaigns are an opportunity for brands to show a more charitable side and build relationships with consumers, connecting on a deeper level during these unprecedented times.