When the arrival of COVID-19 changed the world as we knew it, each and every person had to be called upon to do their part. To keep themselves and one another safe. Response-driven creativity is never more important than when it’s inspired action is preserving the physical and mental well being of its audience. We strengthened our relationship with viewers by relating to their current stress and offering solutions on how to cope. We offered information and support that encouraged people to feel less alone and act in ways that could ultimately help save lives.

When the world found itself faced with a global pandemic, ViacomCBS’ Entertainment & Youth brands (led by MTV) saw an urgent need to educate audiences on keeping safe and coping with their new normal. Social distancing, washing hands and staying home proved to be life saving measures that needed amplifying. Within 36 hours, we became the first to launch a rapid response campaign directly calling people to take the necessary precautions. The work was quickly adopted by the broader ViacomCBS team and The Ad Council. We’re incredibly proud of our teams’ ability to act as quickly and efficiently as they did, during a time that they themselves were acclimating to working from home. Our goal was to remind people that through it all, they weren’t alone and that we were all in it together. We knew we needed to leverage the power of both our social reach and talent base.

We knew an ever-evolving crisis required ever-evolving creativity. The #AloneTogether Campaign needed to grow and change with the needs of our audience, which is why we knew we needed to create a flexible platform that could be easily adaptable across our brands. First, we wanted to inform our audience and reinforce safety guidelines in an easily digestible way-- through simple on-air and social content that offered more resources where they could seek help on their own. Then, we wanted to provide at-home entertainment and chances for people to connect. We wanted staying at home to feel less like a punishment and more like a movement-- a club we were all a part of with opportunities and experiences we may not otherwise have. We needed to grab attention quickly, so we focused creative effort on talent-driven PSAs and social creative that could speak directly to our distinct audiences.

To accomplish our response-driven goals, we created a platform that was easy to access and implement. ViacomCBS reaches every demographic, with networks representing 1/5th of all television viewing and 825M+ social followers. Each brand has a distinct voice, so it was critical that the toolkit allowed brands (both our own and external) to blast concerted messaging with custom creative that met each audience’s needs. We spoke to fans daily through social. We created digestible content, and we created a website where people could find more resources on how to cope, navigate the pandemic and help others. We enlisted the help of channel, music and celebrity talent to create self-shot PSAs and custom creative. Throughout, we highlighted and supported our first responders. We called on people to take proper measures needed to protect themselves and others and encouraged them to connect during a time where it was easy to feel alone.

In partnership with the Ad Council, we connected with the broader industry and had a direct connection to the CDC, creating a powerful distribution pipeline for our message - wear a mask, stay six feet apart, wash your hands, and stay home. At ViacomCBS, we created content endemic to our social platforms. We reignited MTV’s ‘Unplugged’ from home and launched live performances on Instagram and Twitch. MTV News highlighted frontline workers with the ‘Essentials’ series. Comedy Central’s The Daily Social Distancing Show was the first late night show to launch from home. CMT served cooking classes with Kimberly from Little Big Town, and Smithsonian livestreamed yoga.

The Ad Council amplify messages and developed custom creative with partners. ClearChannel and iHeart ran PSAs, Snapchat and Instagram launched custom filters, Twitter created a custom emoji for #AloneTogether, TikTok and Pereira O’Dell developed influencer creative, and countless companies shared assets and donated media.

In the end, we aired 174K spots globally, with more than 20k social posts. With over 33 million engagements, close to one billion video views and over 2 billion impressions-- we knew our campaign was having an impact. However, #AloneTogether was about more than metrics-- it was about helping people through an incredibly difficult time. A study from the MTV Insights team showed that over half the people who viewed this campaign felt less alone and 64% of those familiar with the #AloneTogether Campaign said they took action as a result of our messaging. We set out to make people feel less alone, and believe we did that by instead being #AloneTogether.