Pam Jones, president of Culturally Connected Communications in Little Rock, says that reaching out to minority consumers these days “is not just good business, it’s smart business.” C3, as the agency is known, has offices in the Gans Building on Second Street.
Three Little Rock marketing firms led by Cranford Co. have landed $8 million in state Health Department contracts for advertising to persuade Arkansans to get COVID-19 vaccinations.
Along with giving Cranford a $4.5 million assignment, the state used pandemic emergency procurement procedures to hire Design Group and Culturally Connected Communications to promote the vaccine to Black, Hispanic and Marshallese residents.
Cranford Co., led by brothers Chris, Jay and Ross Cranford, will lead the bulk of the advertising campaign with a contract providing basically $4 million for paid media and $500,000 for agency time and creativity.
Design Group CEO Myron Jackson and his team have a $2.36 million contract to produce creative materials and place paid media for the COVID-19 prevention campaign, including spots that target the African American community, according to the one-year agreements. The deal allotted $2 million for paid media and $364,800 for agency time and out-of-pocket production costs.
Pam Jones’ Culturally Connected Communications received $1 million for media and $100,000 for agency time and costs for campaigns directed at Hispanic residents and Marshallese communities in northwest Arkansas, according to the contract.
The contracts, which were obtained from the state Monday by Arkansas Business, call for television, print and radio ads, as well as digital messaging and social media ads.
“We currently have contracts with Cranford Co. for a statewide campaign, The Design Group for an African American-targeted campaign, and C3 Communications for a Hispanic-targeted & Spanish-language campaign,” said Meg Mirivel, director of the Office of Health Communications at the Arkansas Department of Health.
“These were emergency procurements made under the Governor’s emergency orders,” Mirivel said via email. Thus, the contracts avoided the usual state procurement process of competitive bidding, something that had the Arkansas advertising industry abuzz over the weekend.
Jones told Arkansas Business she’s thrilled for her firm to promote the COVID vaccine.
“As a minority and woman-owned agency, we are proud to partner with the Arkansas Department of Health to support their campaign efforts within the Hispanic community,” Jones said.
“We are currently working on a multifaceted creative, digital, social, and paid media campaign focused on educating the Hispanic community in a credible, culturally relevant way. Our goal is to help the Hispanic community get the facts to make an informed decision about COVID-19 vaccines.”
Jackson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The plan for the COVID outreach from the Health Department was not announced until last week, when Gov. Asa Hutchinson previewed what Arkansas Times described as a “series of legitimately charming commercials,” including one featuring Razorbacks basketball legend Sidney Moncrief, who declares, “Let’s vaccinate Arkansas so we can all get back in the game.”
The firms involved in the effort were not disclosed, leading Arkansas Business to seek those contracts from the state.
The existence of the Moncrief spot itself shows that the marketing effort has been in the planning for some time. Cranford Co.’s and Design Group’s contracts are dated April 1. C3’s deal is dated March 19, which seemed puzzlingly early to Jones.
The governor has said he will let the health emergency he declared in March 2020 expire on Wednesday.
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