A long list of celebrities led by President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama participated in the NBC special "Roll Up Your Sleeves," a program that urged people to get a COVID-19 vaccination and aired a day before the shots became available to all Americans over age 16. The White House is following up on the special with a campaign that includes social media and PSAs.

Cossette created a short film for SickKids Foundation that's directed by Mark Zibert and marks Mother's Day with the stories of 10 moms who have critically ill children and collaborated on the making of the spot. "After seeing the videos that SickKids moms were posting on social media, we realized just how effective this format of storytelling could be and we wanted to leverage that," says Cossette's Jaimes Zentil.

HealthyMKE, a coalition of Milwaukee County governments, citizens and community organizers, is working with Hanson Dodge to run a multimedia COVID-19 vaccination ad campaign through the summer to encourage people to "show up" for each other. The campaign will include outdoor digital billboards, TV, radio, social media and neighborhood canvassers in 15 vulnerable neighborhoods.

Broadcasting is the most reliable, effective way to reach vaccine-hesitant groups -- especially those in small, rural communities -- with messaging aimed at promoting COVID-19 vaccinations, National Association of Broadcasters CEO Gordon Smith told lawmakers at a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing this week. Broadcasters enjoy significantly greater levels of trust than social media, and can offer localized messaging to better reach different regions, Smith explained.

YouTube product manager Rachel Alves sheds light on how the social platform's recommendation systems use analytics beyond standard watch times to encourage repeat visits. Content creators can maximize home feed views by posting consistently with material that has general appeal, improve "suggested" section viewership with video series or topically related videos and increase overall engagement by employing call to action buttons and "watch more" labels.

TikTok business account holders seeking creative inspiration for platform activations can now access a Business Creative Hub via the app that features trending content divided among three categories, such as other business content within your country, ranked by likes. The hub also has a Content Guide that features tips and best practices.

Agencies must understand the "Simplicity Principle" to design experiences that cut through the increasing complexity of the world and technological advances to deliver emotional connections with consumers, write Huge's Fura Johannesdottir and Jason Musante. "In an increasingly divisive world, the ultimate opportunity for the agencies of the future is to enable connections with people in the most simple of ways -- through a smile, a laugh, a tear," the pair write.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are withdrawing premarket notification exemptions for 83 class II medical devices and one unclassified device which were proposed Jan. 15 in the last days of the Trump administration. HHS stated the basis for the proposed exemptions was "flawed" and the action was taken without conferring with the FDA. "We did not find any evidence that HHS consulted with, otherwise involved, or even notified FDA" before issuing the proposed changes, according to a notice in the April 16 Federal Register. Read more.

Gregory Aston, global chief research officer at Kantar Media Division, commenting in a FiercePharma report on the top pharmaceutical advertisers for 2020.