Campaign: #DerechosEnPandemia
The campaign #DerechosEnPandemia sought out to inform the undocumented immigrant community in Puerto Rico about their health rights as citizens residing in the island, despite their unregulated migratory status, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. To spread the word, we teamed up with local Dominican leaders and organizations, because this community is the largest in Puerto Rico, and with the nonprofit Ayuda Legal, which provided legal information and resources. With these efforts, we were able to expand the reach of our target audience and kickstart Ayuda Legal's hotline directed to attending immigration topics.
One of a series of publications designed for the campaign. Design by Víctor Santiago Cordero.
The efforts sprout from the college course Public Relations Planning and Production, which has the objective of introducing final year Communications students to a real life experience of planning and executing a public relations campaign. Every facet of a campaign was realized: research, planning of objectives, strategies and tactics, and execution.
Research conducted included interviewing Dominican leaders and polling immigrant citizens at a health fair directed towards this community in Santurce. These results yielded the best channels of communication to reach public, possible spokespeople for social media content and a better overview of what these citizens face as a community.
After months of planning and organizing the strategies, it was time to launch. A Facebook Live press conference with most of the organizations and personalities explained the importance of the initiative and helped to further communicate immigrant's rights.
A two-week social media campaign ensued shortly thereafter, along with press coverage, radio and TV interviews, short videos by Dominican influencers and another Facebook Live with Diáspora Dominicana, affiliated digital newspaper that targets Dominican readers in and out of Puerto Rico. Our publications were posted on every Facebook account of the allied organizations to have a unified and structured message with all efforts.
Two posts with known and beloved Dominican personalities in Puerto Rico. Designs by Víctor Santiago Cordero.
By the end of the campaign, we gained 27 articles in both print and digital press, most notably in El Nuevo Día and El Vocero, along with other publications with a wider Dominican audience, and 129 minutes in radio coverage from interviews in Fidelity, NotiUno, Radio Isla and Radio Universidad.
Along with these achievements, there were 49 posts on social media that collectively received a total engagement of 4,762 and 1,310 hits on Ayuda Legal's website to find more information about immigration rights. Their hotline received 21 calls during the campaign period and our total of 107 public service announcements on radio in NotiUno, voiced by Dominican journalist Héctor Julio Hernández, equaled over $10,000 saved.
