Visual communication in the CDC Zombie campaign

Learning outcomes:

LO3: Evaluate the strategic functions of specific visual communication mediums.

LO4: Design a visual communication component that advances strategic communication goals.

presentation methods. In this journal, you will have the opportunity to apply your knowledge of effective visual communication to the CDC Zombie campaign, which you initially learned about in Module 1.

This valuable activity will provide you with an opportunity to practice planning and designing visual communication elements for presenting to a specific audience. You will be repeating this exercise on a larger scale in the ongoing project component in Unit 3. The main difference is that, in this journal, you are designing visual communication elements for an audience that has been assigned to you, while in the ongoing project you will select your audience.

Refer to the following description of the CDC Zombie campaign and answer the question that follows.

The CDC’s goal, strategy and tactics:

The goal of the CDC’s Zombie campaign was to convince its audience to construct and store disaster preparation kits that could be used in the event of a natural disaster.

Its primary strategy was to involve the theme of zombies in the campaign itself, and thereby leverage the popularity and persuasiveness of zombies among its audience in pursuit of its own goals.

The CDC used numerous tactics, including launching a blog, using social media platforms like Twitter and partnering with zombie-themed media, such as The Walking Dead, to create content.

Your role at the CDC:

Imagine that you are a communicator at the CDC during the design stage of the Zombie campaign. Before the Zombie campaign can fully enter the design stage, you need to convince a group of stakeholders to allow you to proceed with your campaign. There is some pushback from these stakeholders regarding the idea of including zombies. The stakeholders are more senior, well-established team members at the CDC. These stakeholders do not understand the pop culture appeal of zombies, and they also do not think that zombies are appropriate subject matter for the CDC to use. You have the opportunity to make a presentation for these stakeholders where you pitch your ideas to them and persuade them of the potential value of the campaign.

Question 1

• Describe at least two visual communication elements to include in your presentation to the stakeholders. You should include as much detail as you can to explain how the visual communication element would look.
• You designed both of your two visual communication elements to appear in a certain medium. Justify the strategic value that this medium holds for your design, particularly in advancing your goal with your audience. Examples of visual communication mediums include data visualizations, data-rich illustrations, images that assist storytelling and text used in a visually persuasive way. Consider these when you detail your presentation.

(Max. 400 words)