In the spring of 2025, the United States faced the largest number of measles outbreaks since it was officially eliminated nationwide in 2000. As measles cases were being identified in Southern Illinois, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) immediately took action to control the spread as the risk for outbreak, which was thought to be eliminated, increased. Consequentially, IDPH needed to communicate with Illinoisans in a timely and efficient way with strategic messaging to encourage vaccinations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one dose of measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine is 93% effective against measles. Around one in five children under five years of age end up hospitalized with measles, where unvaccinated children experience severe illness or even death.
Goals: The most critical goal was to increase the measles vaccination rate in designated zip codes through engaging ads and clicks to a landing page where parents could learn more about the needed vaccinations. IDPH also involved local health departments to alert the health care community, issued news releases, and conducted outreach clinics in their communities.
Audience: The primary audience were parents of children under the age of four who were approaching the second dose of the MMR vaccine. Secondary, were parents of children aged over four who had lapsed in vaccines. Geographically this campaign was targeted to the above groups in Illinois zip codes where the measles vaccine rate was <91%.
Creative: Strategy A, a Chicago-based creative agency, partnered with Spurrier Group to develop the “Smile, Laugh, High Five” campaign, which included a unified call to action that reflected real lives. This agency specializes in strategic communication campaigns that drive action. Multiple sets of static ads in English and Spanish were produced. Creative messaging had a clear call to action for parents to talk to their pediatrician to learn more.
Media: Spurrier Group planned and executed a campaign for mid and lower funnel tactics; SEM to capture interest and drive to relevant web content, and social media outreach to promote urgency resulting in a prompt connection with pediatricians.
Social ads were optimized to engagements, which resulted in more than 2.5 million people being reached with the Meta campaign. Though the message exposure was the primary focus, this portion of the campaign drove over 2,000 visits to the landing page. The SEM campaign was optimized to site conversions. It captured an audience who was actively searching for information to helpful online resources and showed interest in where the measles outbreaks were geographically located.
The rapid response from IDPH and local health departments kept the virus spread to a minimum while the overall coordinated communication efforts including the campaign performance resulted in the Department declaring the Southern Illinois measles outbreak over. In a press release issued in July 2025, officials shared there had been no new cases since May 22, 2025. Two full incubation periods (42 days) had elapsed since the last confirmed case and vaccinations successfully increased. In addition, the state is above the 95% threshold for MMR vaccination coverage. IDPH director Dr. Sameer Vohra stated, “Public health is made stronger by the power of partnership.”