Early in 2022, SEIU 2015 launched the “Put Care First” campaign to gain the attention of lawmakers, reduce skyrocketing turnover in the long term care industry, and empower communities to provide the best care possible to residents.

SEIU 2015 faced no small challenges: a tight timeline, counter campaigning by the nursing home industry, and legislative apathy due to indifferent polling on the issue. SEIU 2015 needed to get its varied audiences’ attention, move them to care about the issue, and do it fast. That’s where DBT came in.

DBT’s approach to storytelling is, above all, human-centric, trust-based, collaborative, and based on an intimate understanding of client mission. Building off our prior video storytelling and digital strategy collaborations with SEIU 2015, we rapidly put together ad creative that cut to the heart of caregivers’ struggles in 2022.

In just a single week, the DBT team worked with SEIU 2015 to develop a video concept that would resonate deeply with viewers. We scripted and planned a 30-second video based on the idea of workers disappearing from nursing homes, causing chaos and confusion amongst residents and other workers. We then cast actual SEIU 2015 members, along with actors, to play the roles of workers and residents. Through the magic of art direction and special effects, we turned an SEIU 2015 office into a nursing home and produced and directed a 2-day shoot that also included sit down interviews with SEIU 2015 workers that were turned into four additional videos.

Armed with the five videos, and having developed a shrewd distribution plan across broadcast, CTV, radio, podcasts, and digital (including homepage takeovers and surgical geotargeting), DBT created a surround-sound approach that reached audiences all across California, earning over 3.4 million video views and 15.9 million total digital impressions in just two weeks.