How Right Now Campaign 

CDC Foundation + Burness Communications + NORC


Supporting mental health  

In spring of 2020, after governments had declared states of emergency and issued stay-at-home orders, and the world was reeling from the realities of a global pandemic, the CDC Foundation partnered with NORC and Burness Communications to develop a communications and outreach campaign to react in real time to the mental health impacts that social isolation and fear were having on vulnerable populations in the United States. A cross-disciplinary team of researchers, social scientists, communicators and creatives developed and implented How Right Now, a campaign aimed at reaching key audiences directly through social and digital media with immediate and effective tools to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being. 

The campaign landing page asked audiences a simple question: how are you feeling today? Based on extensive research and message testing, we created toolkits of resources based on various emotional states shown to be the most prevalent amoung our four key audiences: adults over 65 and their caregivers; people with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions; people experiencing violence; and people who are experiencing economic distress. The toolkits included items like tipsheets, guides, hotlines, agencies and organizations that provide aid or direct assistance and more to help our audiences adapt and manage the day-to-day realities of living through the pandemic. 






The visual identity and all materials were trans-created alongside bilingual communications experts in both english and spanish to ensure we reached as many members of our key audiences and spoke to them in ways that were clear, empathetic and easy to understand.  











Project Credits
Creative Direction: Kara Basabe
Art Direction: Kara Basabe, Todd Hilgert
Design: Kara Basabe, Todd Hilgert
Digital + Campaign Strategy: Nick Dean, Alexis Glears
Website Development: James Blair/Lionsmouth Digital  
Agency: Burness
Client: CDC Foundation, NORC


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About 
Kara is a creative director and designer living in Richmond, Virginia. You might find her attempting to rollerblade, painting with watercolor, forgetting to water the plants or watching movies.