State of Kansas
State of Kansas COVID-19 Vaccination
Culturally and linguistically adapted public-health messaging, distributed where the community would actually see it.
Cognate role: Creative & Cultural Engagement
Challenge
By May 2021, Hispanics in Kansas — roughly 12% of the state's population — were being vaccinated against COVID-19 at a lower rate than every other ethnic group. The stakes were severe: according to the CDC, Hispanic communities were twice as likely to be infected and three times more at risk of being hospitalized. Persistent safety concerns about the vaccines, compounded by a shortage of culturally relevant outreach, were keeping a high-risk population from protection it urgently needed.
Insight
Information alone wasn't moving Hispanic Kansans toward the vaccine — trust was. The community didn't need to be told the vaccine was safe; they needed to feel that the message understood their lives, their families, and their concerns. Cultural relevance, not translation, was the unlock: messaging had to reflect how Hispanic Kansans actually live in order to convert hesitancy into a positive attitude toward getting vaccinated.
Strategy
Cognate built the campaign around an emotional, culturally rooted appeal rather than a clinical PSA. The objective was to address the specific safety concerns of the Hispanic Kansas population in a way that mirrored their lifestyles and values — building a positive disposition toward vaccination and, ultimately, lifting vaccination rates among the community most at risk.
Solution
Cognate connected emotionally with the U.S. Hispanic community in Kansas through culturally relevant messaging built to educate and reassure:
- Reframed the conversation from clinical instruction to a culturally resonant, trust-first appeal grounded in Hispanic Kansans' lifestyles and family values.
- Directly addressed the community's vaccine-safety concerns rather than talking around them.
- Designed creative to shift attitudes — moving the audience from hesitancy to a positive intent to get vaccinated.
- Aimed the work squarely at the highest-risk group, where increased uptake would have the greatest public-health impact.
Execution
A culturally relevant creative and messaging program targeting Hispanic Kansans, designed to connect emotionally with the community, educate them about the COVID-19 vaccines, and address their safety concerns.