AUG. 2, 2019 — The U.S. Census Bureau completed the release of its 2020 Census platform (tagline and logo) for 12 languages in addition to English. The “Shape your future. START HERE.” platform is incorporated across Census Bureau outreach and partnership awareness materials and will become more visible as the 2020 Census advertising campaign launches in January 2020. The creative platform will help guide outreach efforts planned by states, local communities and nonprofit organizations.

The new logos and taglines were developed in the following languages: Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Polish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Japanese. These 12 languages match the non-English languages supported for the 2020 Census internet and phone response options. English and these 12 languages, cover over 99% of all households in the country. In addition, a new logo was released today to support outreach to the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander population. 

“We undertook an unprecedented amount of research to help us learn more about what potential barriers, attitudes and motivators different multicultural communities have about participating in the upcoming census,” said Census Bureau Director Dr. Steven Dillingham. “The ‘Shape your future. START HERE.’ platform arose from that research and is now being adapted to help us reach limited-English-speaking households about the importance of the 2020 Census. This is a critical component of our effort to achieve a complete and accurate count in every community across the country.”

As promotional and outreach activities ramp up across the nation ahead of the 2020 Census — from establishing state and local complete count committees, to diverse partners coming together to reduce the undercount of children and other historically hard-to-count populations — the Census Bureau is making this platform available to everyone, working to create messages that resonate with non-English-speaking audiences.

The Census Bureau and communications contractor Young & Rubicam (Team Y&R) adapted the “Shape your future. START HERE.” concept in the 12 non-English languages (as well as for the American Indian and Alaska Native communities). While working with Team Y&R’s multicultural advertising agencies, the tagline adaptations were tested in diverse focus groups across the country. The tagline is not a straight translation, but a culturally appropriate, relevant and meaningful adaptation of the concept in non-English languages.

This is the third decennial census to include a dedicated advertising and communications operation. In the 2000 and 2010 Censuses, the Census Bureau also utilized advertising, partnership and communications campaigns to increase awareness and participation in the count. Higher self-response rates increase the accuracy of the census and save taxpayer money by lowering census follow-up costs for nonresponding households.

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census of the population be conducted once every 10 years for the purpose of reapportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Census data are also used to determine how more than $675 billion in federal funds are distributed annually to states and local communities for services and infrastructure, including health care, jobs, schools, roads and businesses.

The following statements were made in April by leadership of the agencies that are advising the Census Bureau on outreach efforts to multicultural communities:

• Tim Wang, founder of Asian American audience partner TDW+Co., said, “We believe that through the 2020 Census, Asian American communities have an opportunity to play an active role in shaping the future by being counted, and this platform will remind them of that opportunity.”
• Duly Fernandez, a founder of the campaign’s Hispanic audience partner Culture ONE World, said, "The ‘Shape your future.’ platform provides an opportunity to create and deliver important messages to the Hispanic audience. We're looking forward to bringing the concept to life with paid advertising creative, in social media platforms, and through public partnerships and events.”
• Michael Gray, president and CEO of the campaign’s American Indian and Native Alaskan audience partner G+G, said, “We respect the fact that the 2020 Census platform encompasses the next generation. Native Americans are a people who continue to look ahead and overcome the past. This campaign platform represents more than just the now moment. It is about our future.”
• Carol H. Williams, CEO, president, and chief creative officer of the campaign’s African American audience partner Carol H. Williams Advertising, said, “We all love our communities, especially the ones we grew up in. They helped to mold us and gave us inspiration to succeed. That’s why we appreciate ‘Shape your future.’ It’s an authentic, strong message. Through this integrated campaign we strive to get a full count from the black/African American communities in the 2020 Census to drive positive change.”
• John K.S. Aeto, founder of the campaign’s Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) audience partner The Kālaimoku Group, said, “This is a monumental census for the NHPI community and we feel confident the ‘Shape your future.’ platform will be a compelling message. We look forward with great optimism and confidence to an accurate and complete count of all Americans, especially the NHPI community." 
• Carlos Carbonell, strategic planning director of VML Y&R Puerto Rico, said, “We believe this message will help the Puerto Rican community understand why the census is important, how easy it is to respond, and how urgent it is that we fill out the questionnaire on time.”

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