JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated innovative approaches to health communication, particularly for non-English speaking communities. Vietnamese Americans, who report lower rates of English proficiency, faced unique challenges accessing reliable health information during the pandemic and subsequent "infodemic" of rapidly spreading information.

Objective:

To evaluate the effectiveness of a community-engaged digital campaign using Google's Display & Video 360 platform in delivering COVID-19 vaccination and clinical trial participation information to Vietnamese Americans in Texas, comparing engagement across multiple formats and languages.

Methods:

We implemented a two-phase digital campaign using static display advertisements (Phase 1: February-March 2022) and audiovisual content (Phase 2: May-June 2022). The campaign, developed in partnership with Vietnamese American community organizations, featured six static displays, two videos, and two audio advertisements in English and Vietnamese, placed online. The advertisements led people to a bilingual website featuring information about COVID-19 vaccines and clinical therapeutic trial participation. Campaign performance was evaluated using impressions, click-through rates (CTR), cost metrics (cost-per-click CPC), cost-per-thousand (CPM), cost-per-view (CPV), and website engagement analytics. The total advertising budget was $9,472.54.

Results:

The campaign generated 5,027,739 impressions across all formats, with mobile platforms dominating delivery (608,428 impressions, 61.2% of total reach). Audio advertisements demonstrated better engagement (CTR 1.911%) compared to static displays (CTR 0.066-0.074%) and video content (CTR 0.040%). Language preferences shifted notably between campaign phases, with English content initially dominating (93.48% of traffic), but Vietnamese engagement increased substantially during the audiovisual phase (21.85%). Website traffic increased 23.84-fold during the display phase and 5.87-fold during the audiovisual phase. Cost efficiency metrics showed favorable performance (average CPC $2.35, CPM $1.45) compared to industry benchmarks for health campaigns.

Conclusions:

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of platform-integrated, bilingual digital campaigns in reaching Vietnamese American audiences. Audio content's greater engagement over static and video content suggests the importance of format diversity in health communication strategies. The observed shift in language preferences between campaign phases highlights the need for dynamic language targeting in multilingual health outreach. These findings provide practical guidance for organizations implementing digital health campaigns geared towards linguistically diverse populations while identifying opportunities for enhancing engagement through mobile-first, culturally tailored content delivery. Clinical Trial: Not applicable