Called the ???Portrait of America Road Tour,??? and described by the New York Times as ???the most elaborate advertising and marketing effort to date from the Commerce Department,??? the 12 census trucks traveling city to city are one of the Census Bureau???s big new ideas for increasing participation.

But how driving around the country and hanging out with football fans will solve the agency???s perennial problem of getting recipients to return their forms is ??? for the moment, anyway ??? a mystery. And a public relations rep associated with the Census Bureau isn???t in a sharing mood.

???There???s a media blackout right now regarding the road tour,??? the press contact at Jack Morton Worldwide, Daniel Diez, said. Billing itself as a powerhouse of ???experiential??? marketing, Jack Morton Worldwide is the creative agency behind the road tour.

via What will Make Americans more inclined to fill out their Census forms?.