Y&R Gets US Census Comms Contract

The US Census Bureau has awarded its 2020 integrated communications contract to WPP subsidiary Young & Rubicam (Y&R), charging it with successful execution of the first-ever digital census.

The Census is designed to efficiently reach every household in the US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The group has put together 'Team Y&R', which taps the expertise of seventeen agencies including Hispanic communications agency Bravo, PR firm Burson-Marsteller, predictive modeling and data firm Civis Analytics, researchers Penn Schoen Berland and consulting giant PwC.

Data from the Census is used to determine policy, funding, and aspects of local government such as where to build schools, hospitals, and emergency services; and affects the structure of government itself in terms of seats allotted in the house and other matters. The 2020 effort aims to 'count everyone once, only once, and in the right place, and to conduct the count at a lower cost per household than the 2010 Census, while maintaining high quality results'.

Y&R's Alex Hughes takes on the new role of Program Director for Team Y&R, and says of the challenge ahead: 'In this increasingly noisy communications environment, where survey response is declining across the board, we are committed to engaging every household while offering internet response options that meet modern standards and save taxpayer dollars. It's time for digital access to join mail, telephone and in-person outreach for fast, accurate and safe enumeration'.

Census Program Manager Kendall Johnson said Y&R's proposal 'presented a technically superior approach to meeting the requirements of the 2020 Census Integrated Communications Contract (ICC) at the lowest cost to the Government'.

Team Y&R says it will introduce new targeting technologies and digital innovation that will 'tailor messages to a degree never before contemplated'.

Web sites: www.census.gov and www.yr.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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