Ctg local campaigns guide

1LOCAL CAMPAIGNS: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

2 LOCAL CAMPAIGNS: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

“Tuck your story in something sweet and it will go

down much easier; find a champion who can help

you tell your story; make sure the message has a

place to stay long after you are gone.”

Guide to inspiring policy change in your

community.

With the help of this step-by-step guide, you can

make change on a level that is

manageable for small organizations

with limited communications

staff and or expertise.

INTRODUCTION LETTER:

Over much of my career I’ve been a communications professional on a very tight budget. I refuse to give up on sharing important information with my community because I know that without rich promotions and marketing it is impossible to get anyone to care about our cause. The first innovation I engaged in was the design of a special box of chocolate - that shared information about domestic violence. The local chocolate shop was willing to share our message because they knew they’d be featured in earned media. Ten years later, that box of chocolate is still around. While my sense of the locally based collaborative campaign has evolved, the concept is largely the same. Here are the concepts: Tuck your story in something sweet and it will go down much easier; find a champion who can help you tell your story; make sure the message has a place to stay long after you are gone.

This technique has resulted in massive revenue generation, policy awareness and little “p” policy change. We are hopeful that we’ll harvest the fruit of big “P” policy change from the seeds we’ve planted during the two years of the Community Transformation Grant Project.

— Leah Ferguson, Lead Coordinator CTG Project Region 2 Buncombe County Health and Human Services

THROUGH OUT THIS TOOL KIT YOU CAN FOLLOW THE CASE STUDY:

LOOK FOR THIS BOX TO CHECK OUT THE

SAMPLE EVALUATION QUESTIONS


OUR PHILOSOPHY:

We developed this tool kit because we wanted to share the secrets of developing a local campaign. We had health educators and health coalitions in mind, but the lessons contained within are not specific to any one cause or effort.

The common wisdom is that only communications professionals can change public perception. This is often the case, but many communities can’t afford to contract with marketers and/or don’t even have local marketing firms to work with. There are so many great efforts that choose not to communicate essential information at all because they are worried they won’t do it right. This toolkit teaches you how to do it right.

Please note that, it is true that if you want to change individual health behavior the best thing for you to do is use evidence- based communications materials developed by health professionals, but if you want to inspire policy change this may very well be the method for you. See the decision tree on page 4 to help think through which campaign is right for you.

What is contained in this toolkit is evidence that communities can develop savvy, effective campaigns to promote policy change. We show you that what these campaigns lack in gloss, they make up for in authenticity, and authenticity goes a long way.

We show you that what these campaigns lack in gloss, they make up for in authenticity,

and authenticity goes a long way.

Get Started: Overview

Step One: Start with gathering good information Know what policy you want to change and which audience is most invested in making that change. You need to know that audience’s core values as it relates to the issue, but also what other values they hold dear. Pages 4-6

Step Two: Build the Message Craft a message that builds on your assessment findings and relates to the core values of your audience. Pages 7-12

Step Three: Connect with the audience Activate your champions and ensure that you continue to evaluate your success so that you can intensify what is working and tweak what is not. Pages 13-17


Before you Begin... Deciding the right path

Use a Decision Tree: Which Campaign is Right for Us? This local campaign strategy works best for creating the conditions for policy change at the community level. Even if you have

very little traction this tool kit can help you start on the right path. We recommend that you use the CDC’s resources to help you connect your health priorities to population health changes. The decision tree below can help you zero-in on whether or not the

local campaign is the right campaign for you.

Does the issue leadto a policy decision?

Is the local frameof the issue known?

Have we identified a positive frame?

Do partnerships or collaborations exist for this issue/campaign?

Do we have available resources (staff/volunteers/funding)?

Are we uniquely qualified to take the lead and build appropriate

coalitions or partnerships?

Engage in framing study through interviews or

focus groups.

Can we secure necessary resources (grants, donations, volunteers) in time to engage

the issue/campaign?

Go Forward

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

Review and see if a Nationally Recognized Campaign will work as well or be�er than a local campaign.

YESYES

YES

YES

NO

YES

YES

YES

NO

YES

NO


Examine your Community Health Assessment to see how the policy change will impact population health. Start by reading your Community Health Assessment or CHA as a base for targeting the policy change. You should also dig into your issue to see if there are health disparities. Health disparities are when a health behavior or health outcome is worse for certain groups of people. One way to do this is to map your health outcomes

For more information see the Using Health Assets to Increase Active Living Toolkit

.

Got CHA? Your Community Health Assessment: Every three years pubic health departments are mandated by the state of North Carolina to complete a Community Health Assessment. The CHA contains all of the information needed to understand the health risk factors and the incidence of chronic disease for each county.

Know your audience and understand their values connected to the issue.Understand the health issues facing your community related to the change you want to see. Doing a situational analysis will help examine the supporting data and understand the context you are working in. It also helps you identify your target audience and understand their values connected to the change you want to create. Simply put, talk to folks in your community and read what you can on the issue. Read how on page 6.

CASE STUDY: Madison at Heart CampaignIn 2012, we began our work in Madison County. One outcome of Community Transformation Grant Project was to establish regulations to prevent smoking in government buildings and on government grounds. Madison County had no written regulations about tobacco use in government buildings or on government grounds. Using the Community Health Assessment, we saw that Madison County’s second leading cause of death was heart disease, 24% of people smoke, and 11% use smokeless tobacco. Madison’s use of tobacco products was much higher than the state rates, national rates, or Healthy People 2020 target values. After using the CHA, it was time to do a situational analysis of Madison County and tobacco. Through research and interviews we learned that Madison County was the second largest producer Burley smoking tobacco in the U.S. The loss of that industry resulted in an economic depression for the county. Talking about tobacco regulation was strictly taboo. Our first stakeholder assessment showed that proceeding in this area was going to be difficult.

Our first step was understanding the issues facing Madison County related to the change we wanted to see. We used the Community Health Assessment and prioritization process as a base for targeting our intervention.

1

?

i

Step One: Start with Gathering Good Information


Step One: Start with Gathering Good Information

CASE STUDY

Madison at Heart CampaignTHE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

“We are good neighbors to each other.”

“Every one here values their independence, but they also think it’s important to take care of people in need.”

“I think that we are a small town and that everyone knows each other.”

“If you need something there is someone there to help you.”

“People here are willing to put each other first.”

After looking at the good information we gathered, we decided to proceed with a community-based education campaign to help inform Madison County residents of the danger secondhand smoke exposure poses to people with heart disease. Our next step was to figure out how to do a campaign the community would embrace on the hot button issue of tobacco. We used our situational analysis to build some sample messages.

Situational Analysis Sample Questions: What do you think are the three most important issues your community faces?

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What are the top two or three values you think everyone in your city, county, or district share?

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Who are “you”* when you are at your best?

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What do you think people most want for the future of their children?

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What do you think is the best thing about your community that you would like to preserve no matter what?

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*The “you” here refers to the interviewee’s community in general.


Build messages based on community assets.This toolkit will help you develop messages that are built on the assets of the community. You will need to identify the community assets before developing your message.

We recommend an assets-based approach when building your message. The assets-based approach is a direct response to the traditional, deficits-based communication framework. In an information deficit framework only experts can provide information to non-experts.

Assets-based thinking highlights the expertise of community members and sees them as the best messengers of important information. By identifying core values and building on them as key assets, the information you want to share has the ability to take root. The 5Cs of message development are essential guides to help you along.

Use the 5Cs of message development.1. Champions

2. Comprehension

3. Connection

4. Credibility

5. Contagiousness

The 5Cs should be applied here and also in all other communications. Message development is an iterative process. You will need key informants from the community, particularly people close to your decision makers, to bounce ideas off of in the message development phase. These key informants should not be public health professionals because you are developing a message for the general public and decision makers, not practitioners. Nothing is perfect. A good message that is timely is better than the perfect message that will never be developed. Go for good.

2

An easy way to remember your

“c”s Champions: Do they get it?

Do they care? Do they believe

you? Do they share?

CASE STUDY Madison at Heart CampaignOne aspect of the Community Transformation Grant Project that has been a huge asset to Madison County is the exposure to professional input and design that was previously unavailable and/or inaccessible. Madison@Heart Campaign is a prime example. I cannot agree more with Leah that sweetness can carry a message and influence change. Who can argue with “wear this heart on your sleeve –don’t break a heart – show you care?” Powerful messages are simple and earnest. We often overlook that simplicity and yearn for something complicated because it sounds important. I love the simple, earnest message of Madison@Heart and know you will, too. — Jan Shepard, Health Director, Madison County Health

Nothing is perfect. A good message that is timely is better than the perfect message that

will never be developed. Go for good.

Step Two: Build the Message


EVALUATE CHAMPIONS: Do you recognize your Representatives? How do we engage more Spokespeople? Are we making it easy for people to show that they are our Supporters? How do we appreciate those involved in our campaign?

CHAMPIONS Champions help your community hear and see your campaign. To change policies through local campaigns, a range of people championing your cause are needed. You’ll need key champions who communicate directly with decision makers. You will also need spokespeople who are trained to speak about your campaign with news media and

the general public.

Two Types of Key Champions

RepresentativesThe people on your campaign materials. Representatives are easily recognizable and represent a diversity that is appropriate for your community or issue. How to select the right representative is covered in the Credibility Section on page 11.

SpokespeopleThe people talking about the campaign and issue in your community. These folks attend your Spokesperson Trainings. They are respected members of the community. Spokespeople help you talk to your decision makers.

Supporters The people that participate in your campaign by jumping on the bandwagon. They show their support by wearing your campaign’s symbol and going to your events. They are essential to show decision makers there is public support for your issue.

Supporters are essential too. They help your campaign build traction and heighten the importance of the issue to your decision makers. They champion your cause by taking a single action or attending an event.

Champions are the most

important part of your

campaign.

CASE STUDY Madison at Heart Campaign

From 7 Key Champions to 33 in One Year! Over the past two years the number of champions of the Madison at Heart Campaign grew tremendously in number and diversity. In year

one, we started with three representatives and four spokespeople. Thirty supporters attended our Kick Off Event and 700 heart pins were distributed to supporters. In the second year, we maintained our three representatives, increased our spokespeople to thirty, and had sixty

people attend our Kick Off Event!

Step Two: Build the Message USE THE 5CS OF MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT.


Message COMPREHENSION

Use plain language First, your audience needs to understand your message. Plain language allows you to develop simple messages that more people understand. Messages created with plain language are free of jargon. Jargon loses the audience and makes the message less understandable and approachable. Sometimes it’s hard to know your own jargon. Tip: Have someone outside your field read your talking points. Note and change words or concepts they don’t understand.

Keep it simple and focused. Do not pack too much information into your message. Research shows that many American’s read at a basic level and very few people are health literate. A simple, focused message reaches more people. Include your brand or slogan and one to two facts that move your audience from knowledge gain to action.

Provide a resource for more information. Some people will want to know more about the issue than you are providing in your message. Make sure to give your spokespeople more detailed information than what you offer the general public. Provide a place to go on the web or a number to call for more information in your campaign materials.


Brand: Madison at Heart Slogan: Don’t break a heart. Together we can protect our neighbors from secondhand smoke. Connecting the dots: Fact #1- Just 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger a heart attack in someone with heart disease. Fact #2- Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Madison County. Knowledge gained: Exposure to secondhand smoke can cause a heart attack in many people I know Call to Action: Wear the Pin & Join the cause to increase the number of smoke-free public spaces.

Step Two: Build the MessageUSE THE 5CS OF MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT.

EXAMPLE

BAD TALKING POINTS

• The heart disease death rate was 180 for a population of 100,000 in Madison County in 2012. A person with heart disease can have a myocardial infarction (MI) if they are exposed to 30 minutes of secondhand smoke.

• Don’t smoke in public. You can cause an MI.

SIMPLE TALKING POINTS

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Madison County.

• Just as little as 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger a heart attack in someone with heart disease.

• You can keep your neighbors safe by not smoking in public.

EVALUATE COMPREHENSION: What does our message tell you? Was it easy to figure the message out? What would you change to make the message easier to understand?


CONNECTION

Helping your audience “get it” and making it stick. Whether or not you are creating your own message, assess how your audience will connect with your message. Resonating with or connecting to the audience will help make your message sticky.

Connect to community values. It is important to talk about “why”. Public Works has great tools to help you re-frame your issue to focus on values. You can find their tools on their website: publicworks.org. Formal or informal interviews with community members determine their deep seeded values and aspirations. These conversations identify the community’s assets. This will help you to use the community’s words and phrasing to develop a message grounded in their values. Highlight the community’s assets. See how on Page 6.

Be Positive. Craft your message around positive emotions like pride, excitement, responsibility, and nostalgia. They are much more effective than negative emotions like blame, shame, or disappointment, when motivating people to change. When a message has a positive frame it elicits a positive emotional response from your audience. They want to be part of it, share it, and join in the good feeling.

EVALUATE CONNECTION: Before developing: What do you value most about your community?

How do you picture your community in the future?

Message testing: How does the message make you feel about your home?

Does this message feel natural to your community?

What would you change to make it fit better?


By highlighting the community’s heritage of caring, we were able to create a new conversation around secondhand smoke exposure.

Through interviews we found that Madison County residents valued taking care of their own, independence, and heritage, which includes tobacco farming. Using this information we changed the messaging frame from a traditional, deficits based framing that tobacco is bad to an assets based approach. We developed the Madison at Heart Campaign to focus on taking care of your neighbor by protecting them from

secondhand smoke.

Step Two: Build the Message USE THE 5CS OF MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT.


CREDIBILITY

Who delivers the message matters. Whether you use a national campaign or develop a local campaign, you need a messenger that is credible in the eyes of your audience. When the goal is local policy change, credibility is the main reason to choose a local campaign over a statewide or national campaign. People automatically analyze the credibility of the messenger and message. It is ingrained in us. Without credibility, your campaign will fall flat because you lose connection to the audience.

Keep it neutral.You don’t want your spokespeople to unintentionally get in the way of your message. Who your representatives and spokespeople are matter. Ask your community who they trust, and then invite those people to be your champions. Don’t pick politically divisive people. This is especially important your first year.

Look like your community. Identify other campaigns that have been successful in your community i.e. arts councils or churches. Then work with a designer to develop a distinct look for your campaign. Your finished product should fit right in from how it’s designed to medium you use to get your message out.

EVALUATE CREDIBILITY: Before developing: Who do you trust in your community?

Who is available and willing to help?

After: Do you recognize these folks?

Do these materials look like your community?


We knew our campaign would need to reflect Madison’s distinctive culture and its people. Madison County residents value self-reliance. By building on this value, we were able to develop a credible campaign. The design of our materials reflects the heritage of quilting in the region. Our Representatives are local champions each connected to the community and

tobacco. Our Representatives are an Elementary School Principal that was born and raised in Madison County, the Health Director who cares about a healthier Madison, and a Cooperative Extension Agent who was connected to local tobacco farmers through work and had lost

her husband to a heart attack. Our champions and campaign’s look have allowed the campaign to take root and flourish.

Step Two: Build the MessageUSE THE 5CS OF MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT.


CONTAGIOUSNESS

Spread it around. Contagious messages are memorable, distinct, visible, and energetic. If people “get it”, like it, and believe it; they’ll want to talk about. Your assets-based message will engender good feelings and your Champions will be proud to share it. Everyone wants to be a part of the winning team. A winning team message will create a winning team.

Get visible. Create an easy way for supporters to show they are on the bandwagon. Your champions will lead the way by adopting your visibility symbol. Your symbol can be as cost effective as a “wear a color” day or as customized as a bumper sticker. The worn symbol has the added benefit of prompting others to ask your supporters, “Hey, what’s that about?”.

Earn it. Earned media costs nothing and adds to your credibility. Work with community members who have media relationships. If you’re lucky you might even recruit a member of the media as a spokesperson.

EVALUATE CONTAGIOUSNESS: Does your message build on assets?

How many media outlets are you talking with?

What is your plan to get your spokespeople connected to the media?

CASE STUDY

Madison at Heart Campaign

Madison at Heart’s visibility symbol is a red heart lapel pin. One of the calls to action for the campaign is to “wear your heart on your sleeve for the month of February to show that you care about

someone with heart disease. “ We purchased small lapel pins for less than $1 per pin and attached them to our campaign postcards . Postcards were distributed throughout the county in libraries, clinics, businesses, and community facilities. Supporters were asked to pick up the cards

and wear their heart-pins on their sleeve. The pins helped to show decision-makers that the cause mattered to their constituents and they symbolized how “exposed “ a person with heart disease is to secondhand smoke. The “heart on their sleeve” also is a euphemism for caring.

Step Two: Build the message:

PICTURED ABOVE: THE

VISIBILITY SYMBOL FOR

MADISON AT HEART IS A

HEART LAPEL PIN WORN

ON THE SLEEVE OF THE

CAMPAIGN PARTICIPANT.

Use the 5Cs of message development.


Host a spokesperson training (see page 16).

Kick Off your campaign with a newsworthy party! The Kick Off event gets your champions excited about the campaign ahead. Invite your decision-makers, partners and your community. Invite a large range of people to your Kick Off event, three times as many as you want to show is a good basic rule. Have many people reach out to decision makers you are trying to influence so that they see it as the “place to be”.

Your program should be short and authentic. Have your Spokespeople share their story and why they care at the microphone, but create space for more personal conversations. If you have a short video or special interest story, highlight it. Bring your campaign materials so that everyone can have one and leaves with extras to circulate. Take pictures and let people know how to stay connected. Tip: Increase your “newsworthiness”. Allow local children to display art projects that coincide with your campaign to include another, often missed, sector of your community.

Stay connected throughout the campaign and say thank you.Contact and invigorate your champions each week of the month to keep the momentum moving. Send cards and emails thanking Champions for their dedication. Reach out to your representatives and spokespeople via email to let them know you appreciate the work they are doing to spread the message. Suggest simple ways they can continue spreading the word to their friends, family, and neighbors.

Create a social media campaign. With a Facebook page and/or Hash-tag, you can share about outreach events and highlight champions. Ask your supporters to post pictures and stories about how they are spreading the message too.

Step Three: Connect with the Audience3


Action Plan: Time-line and Check-list

Formative Research 6 months prior Start your campaign

Identify the issue you would like to address. Identify the best way your organization can address that issue.

Use the Decision Tree on page 4 to determine if you should use a national campaign or a local campaign.

Develop your message using the 5Cs and by talking with

members of your target audience about the idea. Package your message with your talking points.

Hire a graphic designer and determine the look and feel of the campaign. Also determine what form of media you want to work in i.e. print, posters, video, oral, etc. A graphic designer may need as much as 6 weeks to develop your campaign’s look.

Preparing the Annual Campaign8 weeks prior

Determine when you want your month long campaign to occur.

Think about what other events are happening in that time frame. Should you piggy back or go for a different time? Develop your action plan and to do list to make sure your campaign will be ready to launch on your date.

Make sure your kick off location is available the day you want to host the kick off.

Order your visibility symbol.

7 weeks prior Prepare your Representatives and

Spokespeople Identify your Representatives and Spokespeople.

Facilitate photo shoot of your Representatives for your materials development.

Secure location and materials for your Spokesperson Training.

Invite Representatives and Spokespeople to training.

4 weeks prior Prepare for your kick off event,

contact local media and develop an online presence through social media.

Double check the venue booking. Order food. Secure PA equipment. Invite guests. Develop the event agenda Secure entertainment. Make sure your visibility symbols will be available in time. Post event details on your Facebook wall, etc. Reach out to the media. Let them know what you are up to

and how/why they should cover your story.

3 weeks prior Host a local champions and spokespeople training. (see page 16)

Have your attendees like your Facebook page. Give Spokespeople your campaign materials to distribute.

1 week prior Do grassroots promotion Deliver your visibility symbols to local community spaces

where your target audience frequents like the library, community centers, stores, etc.

Talk with the staff at these places about why they should

participate. Invite the staff to your kickoff event. Leave a talking points handout with your visibility symbols.


EVALUATE YOUR CAMPAIGN MATERIALS AND REPRESENTATIVES.

To evaluate your campaign’s success, develop a logic model to understand how you think your activities will lead to policy change. Use your logic model to systematically check if you accomplished your goal.

Our logic model shows that our campaign would increase knowledge about secondhand smoke, increase public support for smoke-free public places, decrease decision makers’ fear to pass a policy about secondhand smoke, and result in a smoke-free policy for government buildings and grounds.

Process evaluation measures: # of people attending the Spokesperson Training

# of pins distributed

# of people attending the Kick Off Event

# of decision makers attending events

Outcome evaluation measures: Presence of a smoke-free policy

# of meetings when decision makers have discussed the policy

# of community members attending public hearings on your policy issue

Local Campaign Month Day 1 Host campaign kick off event. Distribute your visibility symbols at the event. Make sure to take photos and video where you can to use

throughout the campaign when reaching out to media and posting on your social media.

Week 1 Send an email or hand written note to thank those that

came to your event and provide them with a list of ways to continue participating in your campaign.

Week 1 - Week 4 Throughout the campaign month encourage community

members to like your page and post about how they are fulfilling your message.

Reach out to your spokespeople to help them stay engaged with the campaign.

Provide and celebrate opportunities when your champions, spokespeople, and supporters are actively engaging in spreading your message. If possible, have a culminating activity or celebration.

After the Campaign1 week after campaign month Evaluate the success of your campaign including

evaluating the readiness of your community to follow through with a policy change.

Let people know about your success. Revise talking points and materials based on feedback. Document lessons learned and barriers Strategize how to increase the reach of the campaign in the future.

Annually Re-implement until your policy is passed!

In the second year, we kept the same campaign.

• Message Development: $0 (You can do this!)

• Graphic Designer: $500 (Creative $100, Postcard $100, and Poster $300)

• Photographer: $200 (4hr at $50/hour)

• Printing Materials: $300 1000 - Postcards, 3”x5”Color, Two-sided and 20 - 17”x20” Poster

• Heart Pins, Visual Symbol: $1020 (1000 lapel pins at $1 per pin)

• Containers for Pin Distribution: $50 (13 containers at $3.75 each)

• Kick Off Event Location: $0

• Party Supplies: $250 (decorations, paper products, audio/visual equipment rental)

• Party Food: $300 • Facebook page: $0 • Earned Media: $0

You don’t have to spend a lot of money for this campaign to be a major success.

Grand Total: $2620


Spokesperson Training How ToIn local policy change work, you want decision makers hearing a consistent message

throughout the community. Therefore, training your Representatives and Spokespeople on the issue and your talking points is essential. To do this, host a Representatives and Spokesperson

training two weeks before your kick off event.

For the Madison at Heart Campaign, we started our spokesperson training asking participants to introduce themselves and tell us their first memory of secondhand smoke or tobacco use. This introduction broke the ice to talk about a sensitive subject for their community. It also helped participants remember why they choose to be involved with the campaign. We reviewed the community context for the issue, the ultimate goals of the campaign, and the talking points handout. We gave our spokespeople a few extra talking points and information so they could speak more in depth about the issue than someone who had just read the poster. Then we broke into pairs to role-play talking about the campaign. We did two role-plays. One role-play was approaching someone you cared about to discuss the Madison at Heart Campaign. The second role-play involved talking with a stranger who asked the spokesperson about their Madison at Heart pin. After each role-play session, we shared how participants felt during the role-play and offered some best practice advice. Finally, as people left we asked them to take some of the campaign materials and miniature talking points cards to display where they live, learn, work, pray, and play.

Spokesperson Training Agenda9 - 10:30am Participants will know more about the Madison at Heart Campaign and commit to the campaign Participants will understand how to tell others about the campaign Participants will understand the connection between heart disease, heart attacks

9:00 - 9:30 am - Welcome, introductions, and breakfast

9:30 - 9:50am - How to talk about the Madison at Heart Campaign

9:50 - 10:05am - Practice talking about the campaign GROUP 1 : Someone approaches you because they see the pin on your sleeve, or Madison at Heart cards on your desk, or poster on your wall. GROUP 2: You want to approach someone you know about the Madison at Heart Campaign

10:05 - 10:15 - Learning from each other about what worked

10:15 - 10:30 - Closing and distribution of materials

Talking Points Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Madison County. A majority of heart disease is preventable through healthy eating, physical activity, and eliminating exposure to tobacco.

Just as little as 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger a heart attack in someone with heart disease. The smoke-free bars and restaurant ban has reduced the number of people in the ER due to heart attacks by 21%, according to a 2011 report by the NC Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch.

The mission of the Madison at Heart Campaign is to make sure the citizens of Madison County know the risk of secondhand smoke exposure for individuals with heart disease. Few public spaces in Madison County are designated smoke-free. Many more can be designated as heart safe. Every person has the right to breathe clean, safe air.

CASE STUDY

Madison at Heart Campaign


We recommend a month long campaign. Communicating for Policy Change is most effective with a campaign that is a concentrated dose.

This concentrated campaign, that can be repeated annually, will garner more media exposure and will be around long enough to engage, but not so long that it fades into the background. Pledge to engage in the campaign each year until your policy is implemented.

Earned Media: The action plan will help you think through the kinds of activities that will earn media attention. Some campaigns take out an ad in the local paper or use billboards to get their message out. Those decisions will be made according to your budget and through assessing how your audience gets its information.

Working with your designers, photographers, and others: You will need to find a great support crew to make sure this campaign looks good. Get recommendations on graphic designers. Before you go to them, collect this information: When the campaign will be happening. When you need your materials. How much money you have to spend. What kinds of materials you want them to create i.e. posters, post cards, fliers, t- shirts. Your message. Tip: Trust your designer. They are experts and their success depends on giving you a great product. Sometimes it might not be what you envisioned, but give it some time to sink in. You are only one person and may not be a member of your intended audience.

Tips from a designer by Jenny Fares, Sound Mind Creative

Find some inspiration. Have some visual references of campaigns you like and be able to explain what you like or don’t like about them. Looking at large brand advertising campaigns are also sources for ideas. Collect images and email them prior to the initial meeting.

Learn from your competition. Is there someone in the region doing something similar? What about someone else in the US? Bring those marketing materials to the creative meeting to make sure you create something different. For example when we worked on Buncombe County’s Greenways Please Campaign we looked at Greenville, NC’s Swamp Rabbit Greenway.

Avoid that visual. There are industry and community-specific things that are important to tell your designer that could impact the audience in unintended ways. For example we were careful to not put the normal anti-smoking circle with a line through it because of the tobacco industry heritage in Madison County. We did not want it to feel like an anti-smoking campaign, even though it is.

Focus on your audience. Keep in mind that we always think of our audience over our personal likes and dislikes. Work together with the designer to communicate who the audience is and that will help keep things on track. For the Madison at Heart Campaign we chose a cut paper look because Madison County is full of crafts people and farmers, so having some hand-made elements the design helped pieces feel “down home” but still clean and modern.

Tips from a filmmaker by Rod Murphy, Industrious Productions

I’m a filmmaker who frequently works with social marketing campaigns. Digital film is a powerful way to tell a story, but it can be daunting. Here are 4 tips to make the process go smoothly.

Define your audience and your goals. Determine why you want to make a video, who the target audience is, and what your goals for the video are. Think about how you want that audience to feel. Do you want to leave them feeling indignant, or warm and fuzzy? Your narrow your focus will ensure you get what you want .

Decide what role you want to play. Film making is a collaboration, and it’s more successful when people understand and respect each others roles. Get clear on your role: creative visionary or producer. Maybe you simply want to chart the course and let the production company take it from there. These are all valid approaches, but it’s best if they are clear from the outset.

Find the right production company. Finding the right production company is like choosing a contractor to renovate your house. You want someone with their own vision, who will also listen to your ideas. Look at portfolios, get on the same page in terms of budgets and time lines. Trust your instincts.

Remember that film is an emotional medium, and communicates on many levels. Film is more like music than it is like the written word. By far, the most important thing is for the person on screen to believe in what they are saying and to speak from the heart. That’s usually easier without a script.

WORKING WITH DESIGNERS AND FILMMAKERS


FINAL THOUGHTS As the Health Director, I feel very fortunate to have experienced the creation of Madison@Heart. It is indisputable that we were able to deliver a sublime message of the dangers of tobacco use through a campaign aimed at the physical and emotional heart. To me, this is the epitome of effective messaging. Not because it somehow fooled people, but because it is true, relevant and it connects the dots in a way that is not adversarial, but in a way that makes people go “hmmmmm?.” This toolkit demonstrates all the important work that went into

developing and implementing this campaign and I believe if followed you will be able to replicate it in your community. It was and is amazing to watch the transformation as people get behind this message and move it throughout the community.

Words of Thanks from Madison County

To our wonderful staff of Region 2 CTGP who worked tirelessly on this campaign– Leah and Jill. To the many community partners who came together with us around this issue. The Community Transformation Grant Project for funding this initiative. To the staff of Madison

County Health Department who made this project a priority, put much effort into the logistics and garnered support from others. To everyone in our community who helped spread this message.

- Jan Shepard, Madison County Health Director

From the AuthorsWe want to thank the Leadership of the Buncombe County Health and Human Services

Department for their support of this project. We also want to acknowledge the CTG Project Coordinators Mary Smith and Alphie Rodriguez who are important members of our team.


Leah Ferguson has used assets based communication frameworks to create social change for over fifteen years. She is an enthusiastic qualitative researcher who has brought new perspectives to the field of education, planning,

business, and public health. Leah has worked as an independent organizational development consultant, Executive Director, and Regional Lead for the Community Transformation Grant Project in Region 2. Her vision provided the framework for the Madison@Heart Campaign. She was educated at the University of Texas at Austin and has participated in Executive Leadership development with the Kennedy School of Government & the Center for Creative Leadership.

Jill Simmerman feels strongly that sustainable change happens from within a community. While working for the Community Transformation Grant Project, she had the opportunity to address North Carolina’s biggest

health concerns by empowering rural counties to push for change from within by using their existing assets in new ways. She is passionate about the role of communications in policy and behavior change in local communities and translating research to practice. Jill received her Master of Public Health degree from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina and has presented at the annual meetings of the American Public Health Association and the North Carolina Society for Public Health Education.

Jan Shepard has over 25 years of health care leadership experience, five of which has been in population health locally in Madison County. Over the course of time, Jan has been responsible for implementation of many

programs. Madison@Heart is a unique initiative, which was developed locally to speak directly to a specific population, although it is one that can be replicated easily.

Deana Stephens has had the privilege of working in public health and community health improvement for the past 16 years. During this time she has learned about the importance of environmental and policy change in health promotion and disease

prevention within the community. She has come to realize the value of communication and being able to relay a message in a way that is positive and that resonates with the audience in a personal way. Deana has also experienced firsthand the challenges that come with this type of work in a rural community, such as limited funding, limited communication outlets, and the manpower needed to make the vision a reality. She feels the Madison@Heart campaign is a great example of a locally developed initiative that successfully addresses all these areas. It is her hope that this toolkit will assist others in developing relevant and creative campaigns that will result in health improvement and policy change in their communities.

Contributers: Who We Are

Made possible with funding from

the North Carolina Community

Transformation Grant Project and the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ctg local campaigns guide

Documents

Transcript of Ctg local campaigns guide