In 2020, SSC and its sister company, SpeakEasy Political, worked in partnership with the County of Santa Clara to create “Count Me In,” a comprehensive campaign designed to motivate traditionally hard-to-count residents to participate in the census.

Prior to the launch of the census, we filmed interviews with community members and key census ambassadors to highlight their perspectives on the importance of the census. Using recognizable faces was a core strategy in driving home the significance of the census for Santa Clara County and local communities. We then used video interviews to create ads in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

A key learning from the campaign, which included digital media, social media, direct mail, paid phones, and text, was the importance of including a strong call to action in all communications. It wasn’t enough to explain why the census was important. Each piece of collateral called for immediate action — either completing the census or, for those who had already taken the census, encouraging friends and neighbors to join them. When the 2020 Census ended, Santa Clara County had the highest internet response rate in the state and the second-highest overall self-response rate in the state.