Following the onset of Covid-19 in the United States, against the public health expert recommendation, prominent politicians popularized racially charged terms for the virus, including “Chinese virus”, “Wuhan virus”, and “Kung Flu”. These terms -- these few words -- sparked misplaced fear, the spread of misinformation, and the scapegoating of an entire community of people.

Studies show this rhetoric largely fueled the vicious rise in violence against people of Asian descent around the world. Including verbal harassment, physical assault, and murder.

A report revealed that while overall hate crimes fell 7%, those targeting Asian Americans increased 150% nationwide in the last year. That percentage continues to climb.

While there are a few messages that intellectualize why these words are dangerous, our film is among the first to humanize it -- from the intimate perspective of an Asian American woman living with the reality of it.

To launch the film, it was important to ensure the message reached beyond Asian American communities to the audiences who could not only help spread the word, but whose silence was also contributing to the problem.

We called this audience “the silent allies;” young, socially engaged communities who had turned out en mass over the Summer of 2020 for racial justice, but had remained silent or perhaps unaware of the acts of violence that had continued to be perpetrated against the Asian American community.

To reach them, we identified over 30 target publishers who could engage them where they spend their free time, with a focus on active communities where conversations happen. Through targeted outreach and multiple ways for publishers to engage, we offered each the opportunity to stand with the Asian American community at a time when many brands and publishers were still looking for what they could say.

March 27th, 2021 marked one year since the FBI had first warned of a rise in hate crimes and provided a doorway for partners and influencers to share the films. That weekend, we launched the film across dedicated social handles and engaged influencers to post them simultaneously, creating a groundswell of views on the first day.

Using this launch moment as a springboard, we began our outreach to publishers, collecting donations and coordinating a series of moments that allowed us to build energy and gather donations. One week after launch, the film debuted on Television during Inside the NBA, an integration that kicked off a four-minute conversation on the topic and generated over 2.5 million views online within 24 hours. Over the next two weeks, we coordinated additional moments that included sponsored editorial, pre-roll and a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times.

In three weeks, we had taken a conversation that had existed almost exclusively in Asian American communities and brought it to the forefront of the Silent Allies' consciousness. The message of the film brought together media properties, creators and influencers to start a conversation; resulting in a fully integrated campaign that made an impact beyond what we could have ever imagined.

$1,775,000+ in donated video, radio and print media across 17 publications.

42,500,000+ donated video and print impressions.

1,516,380 views of the films on our dedicated social handles.

71,200 visits to our dedicated landing page, callitcovid.com.

The launch and our approach to generating donations was the first step in addressing an issue that had remained in the shadows and we aren’t done yet.