Newsroom Archive

Continuing to be recognized as having one of the most comprehensive and effective communications campaigns for the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau was honored with the coveted Bronze Effie at the Effie Awards' annual ceremony June 7 in New York.

The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies as the preeminent award in marketing communication. Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement.

The 2010 Census had one of the most extensive and far-reaching marketing campaigns ever conducted in this country in an effort to motivate every U.S. resident to participate. In the end, 74 percent of the nation's households filled out and mailed back their 2010 Census questionnaires, meaning that only 26 percent of the nation had to be counted by census takers. Twenty-two states, 1,553 counties, and 278 cities and townships met or exceeded their 2000 Census participation rates, saving the taxpayers nearly $2 billion in follow-up costs.

“We had a very specific mandate for the 2010 Census — to count every resident, count them once and in the right place,” said Steve Jost, the Census Bureau's associate director for communications. “It was a tough challenge, but the American public met the challenge and responded overwhelmingly. That was made significantly possible by the efforts of the talented and dedicated staff, Draftfcb and our partner media agencies, and over 250,000 national partners.”

Recently, the Census Bureau was honored by the Advertising Research Foundation with two David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence. Additionally, the 2010 Census communications campaign was named a gold winner as the nation's best multicultural advertising effort in 2010 and was given special recognition as the nation's best in research achievement.

Mediaweek, a leading advertising industry trade publication, honored the 2010 Census communications campaign with the “Best Multicultural Campaign” and "Best Branded Content" awards in the publication's Media Plan of the Year competition.

The 2010 Census communications campaign was the result of a close partnership between the Census Bureau, Draftfcb New York and partner media agencies GlobalHue, GlobalHue Latino, D'Exposito & Partners, Allied, G&G, IW Group, Plum, Weber Shandwick, Jack Morton, Scholastic, Allied, Initiative and Draftfcb Puerto Rico.