BetaHCF Case Studies Library is in beta. We're still adding campaigns and fixing things.
HCF Case Studies Library

← All campaigns · Open in the library

newsmediaalliance.org

#StayHome. Save Lives. / #AloneTogether (COVID-19 Response)

Also: #AloneTogether · Coronavirus Response

“Staying home saves lives”

Ad Council COVID-19 response launched in March-April 2020: the #AloneTogether social-distancing PSAs made with MTV/ViacomCBS, then the #StayHome. Save Lives. movement (April 8, 2020) with the White House, HHS, CDC, advertising trade associations, Google and YouTube, in which brands added a 'roof' icon to their logos. All assets pointed to coronavirus.gov.

Years
2020
Country
United States
Topic
Infectious disease
Asks people to
StartSubstitute
Strategy
Simple instructionSocial norms
Channel
InfluencerOutdoorSocial (organic)Social (paid)TV
Audience
General publicOlder adultsYoung adults

Evidence

NoneUnknown

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Ad Council Ad Council (pro bono), campaign producer
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services / CDC / White House Federal government, partner/sponsor
  • ViacomCBS (MTV) Industry, partner (#AloneTogether assets)
  • Google / YouTube Industry, partner (iconography, media)

Credits (who made it)

  • ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Brands Creative, 2020 source
  • Google Branding, 2020 source

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Ad Council and industry associations join White House, HHS and CDC to launch #StayHome. Save Lives. (Ad Council) sponsor · 2020
  2. Top brands, White House join Ad Council in changing logo to promote isolation (Campaign) news · 2020
  3. #AloneTogether Ad PSAs (News/Media Alliance) archive · 2020

Research notes

Topic: COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical measures tagged infectious-disease. endYear 2020 assumed; the Ad Council's COVID work transitioned to masking messages and then 'It's Up to You' (2021). Strategy 'social-norms' reflects the brand-logo solidarity mechanic. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: ViacomCBS and Google (Ad Council release: 'The iconography was designed by Google and the #AloneTogether PSA assets were developed by the Entertainment & Youth Brands of ViacomCBS'). Corrected 2026-10-22: Google role changed from digital to branding (it designed the 'roof' logo iconography) and its source changed from The Drum (blocked by a bot check) to the Ad Council release. Links (#82) checked 2026-10-23: Ad Council pages from the Wayback Machine (adcouncil.org's old campaign pages), the Our History timeline or its case studies; dead campaign sites point to a Wayback copy from the campaign years.

Record cases/stay-home-save-lives.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign