New Public Service Announcement Delivers A Big Shot of Optimism

Sports, concerts, and all live events are shared celebrations of American culture and We, the People, have been missing them dearly during this time at home. Thankfully, there is light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. Vaccines are fast becoming widely available and highly effective remedies for those who are sick with COVID are also now available.

To encourage people to seek out a vaccine, The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative worked with Pereira & O’Dell to make this new public service announcement.

A new recording of Willie Nelson singing “I’ll Be Seeing You” is the soundtrack for this comeback anthem.

“In the song, I sing, ‘I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places,’ and that’s exactly what I hope these PSAs will help do: help get Americans informed about the vaccines and one step closer to the people and moments we miss,” Nelson says.

PJ Pereira of Pereira & O’Dell shared the following on his LinkedIn page:

The film reminds us how much we love communal experiences like sports. Any sport. That’s why the film is co-signed by 12 different leagues, joining forces to tell the same story: ‘the vaccines are here, soon, we’ll be seeing you.’ And trust me: no matter how much I prepare you for the power of seeing athletes and crowds together, watching this WILL strike you harder than you think.

The song is the same song we used on the previous PSA for the same cause. Except the story of all the grandmas we want to hug was carried by Billie Holiday’s wonderful version. There will be more. Because this collective craving for human interaction is different for each of us, so we wanted our anthem to be performed differently too.

Misinformation isn’t something you fight with more information. In this divided world where we cherry pick information that matches what we want to confirm, you fight it by making people WANT to see the science first. By making them want to voice their questions. And then find the facts.

Despite the unprecedented rollout of three COVID-19 vaccines, 25% of Americans in a new poll from Monmouth University said they are still unwilling to be vaccinated.

Many public health experts believe that without 70% to 80% of the public gaining COVID-19 immunity through infection or vaccination, herd immunity will be difficult for the nation to obtain, especially because 24% of the population is children, who are as yet ineligible for vaccination.