In Houston, time is measured in storms, from Allison to Tax Day, Harvey to Imelda. After decades of devastating floods, Harris County Flood Control District needed to build public understanding and support for a pivotal vote that would fund long-term flood mitigation and infrastructure maintenance.
Although major infrastructure investments were being made across Harris County, the vital maintenance budget for the Harris County Flood Control District had remained flat, threatening the systems meant to protect over 5 million residents in Harris County from the next big storm. The campaign also needed to break through record-high political ad spend and a polarizing political landscape, and connect emotionally with a diverse, multicultural population to drive awareness and encourage Harris County voters to vote in favor of Flood Control Proposition A during the 2024 election cycle.
To meet this challenge, we developed “Maintenance Matters” – an omnichannel and multilingual education awareness campaign designed to help Harris County voters understand the importance of maintaining flood infrastructure and support Flood Control Proposition A on the 2024 ballot.
By taking an omnichannel, multicultural, and multilingual approach, “Maintenance Matters” connected with voters where they live and in the languages they speak. We activated the campaign in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Hindi across traditional and digital platforms designed for both reach and relevance.
And, the results exceeded expectations at every level, including the ballot box.
The campaign reached millions of Harris County residents across paid, owned, and earned channels, generating strong engagement and widespread awareness ahead of the vote. Despite record-high political ad spend, traditional and ethnic media schedules overdelivered between 10% and 80%, generating $26,000 in added-value inventory and 73,000 impressions from earned on-air interviews on ABC13 and Univision.
Across the three-week flight, the campaign delivered 46.8 million total impressions, exceeding plan by 10% with 6.1 million added-value impressions. CTV surpassed completion benchmarks by 8%, streaming audio by 20%, and TikTok became a breakout performer, driving 9 million[EF2.1] views and engaging a younger, civically active audience.
Every major digital channel delivered measurable, above-benchmark engagement, from YouTube and display, which drove 45% of total impressions, to paid search, which achieved a click-through rate of 7.32%.
But the real win came at the ballot box.
Flood Control Proposition A passed with 51.44% of the vote, securing more than 730,000 “yes” votes across Harris County. Notably, 75% of those votes were cast during early voting, validating our strategy to prioritize early voter education and community engagement.
Through "Maintenance Matters," we transformed a complex funding measure into a message of shared responsibility. And, in Harris County, we helped secure the flooding infrastructure that protects Houston from the next big storm.