Every ten years, the US government takes stock of our ever-evolving populace - better known as the US census. The big question is how do you activate over 300 million people - many with different cultures, politics, languages and degrees of suspicion? We led a partnership group of 14 agencies working in 28 languages to create hundreds of TV spots, videos, blogs, news releases, multiple Facebook, Youtube, Flickr and Twitter pages, road shows, print ads, billboards, banner ads and radio spots. In the end we generated more than 17 billion impressions - 217 million alone for the 18-week road show tour, exceeded all goals for participation and were honoured by the Webby Awards, FWA and chosen by MediaWeek as 2010's best branded content campaign.
The Census site presented three iconic American intersections frozen in time (captured by a 360° camera array dubbed "Big Juan"). Visitors found documentary stories of a cross-section of citizens and debunked the misconceptions about what the Census does and doesn't do.
To help folks wrap their heads around the enormity of the Census effort, we created a fictional "visionary" film director, Peyton Schlewitt. His quixotic mission was to capture all of America in a single shot. Brought to life by Christopher Guest, Peyton used all social media channels to reach out for help in accomplishing this herculean task (even though the Census already has it covered, thank you very much).