Targeted Marketing

We learned this week that audience segmentation is an important aspect of social marketing. In the Slater (1996) reading, the evolution of segmentation is outlined, pointing out the important psychological theories that helped shape the concept of segmenting audiences in order to appeal to their specific needs, wants, and attitudes. The Maibach et al. (1996) article took this concept a step further by arguing that segmentation must go beyond basic demographic variables and instead focus on lifestyle segmentation. This article effectively argued that superficial divisions of populations based on basic demographics, such as race or gender, is inadequate; lifestyle variables such as peer-group norms and behavioral intentions must be considered in the whole mix. Essentially, these readings provide insight about the need for a deeper understanding of the target population by appreciating intra-group differences and not assuming that every Hispanic individual, for example, thinks, believes, and acts in the same way. I also learned that audience segmentation goes hand-in-hand with formative research, for the best way to meet the needs and preferences of the target population is to first go to them and find out what is important to them.

After reading what Lynn wrote in her post about the confusion she has about the difference between audience segmentation and stereotyping, I am reminded of the website Dr. LaHousse presented to us in class. We observed how the PRIZM lifestyle cluster system organizes consumers according to socio-demographic and consumer behavior variables, such as urban living or childrearing. While the names for each of these clusters appear humorous and, at times, borderline offensive (i.e. "Shot guns and pick-ups"), the fact of the matter is that each of these clusters is based on concrete and measurable behavior. And as we all know, the bottom line of social marketing is based entirely on one thing: action. Our overall objective is to influence consumer behavior, and audience segmentation is the proverbial key to our success.

I don't think that audience segmentation is synonymous with stereotyping because, unlike stereotypes, segmentation is derived from formative research and based on observable and measurable variables that have been shown to be significant. For example, based on the various behavioral and psychosocial scales developed by Maibach et al. (1996), the researchers were able to identify clusters of individuals based on common behaviors and demographics, rather than demographics alone. This study produced important insights about the broad differences among various clusters in regards to health lifestyle behaviors that can be used in future intervention and prevention programs.

Overall, I think that audience segmentation is a useful and necessary tool for social marketers, and the important aspect of this concept is that segmentation starts with the intended audience through formative research. Also, as we learned in the lecture, segmentation helps us to allocate our resources more efficiently by using the information we've gathered about our target population to implement appropriate strategies. Finally, the concept of audience segmentation, as derived from the social and psychological sciences, helps us to better appreciate the unique and important distinctions within groups.

Audience Segmentation

As we progress through this course, I'm really learning how health communication works and all the aspects that goes into it. This week was definitely interesting to learn about audience segmentation. I knew that when ads are made they try their best to reach a specific audience, but I didn't realize the process behind it. Specifically that there are 9 dimensions: demographic, geographic, psychographic, sociodemographic, epidemiological, attitudinal, benefits sought, and readiness stage. There are so many aspects that one can segment a group, some that I've never even thought about.

I also found it quite interesting the use of both the VALS survey and the PRIZM market segmentation. I didn't realize that those existed and are actually used by companies when they are preparing to target a specific population. I personally went ahead and took the VALS survey out of curiosity and I resulted in being a striver/experiencer. Not sure if I believe in all it said, but I guess for the most part its somewhat true.

I really liked that we had more group time to work on our project, but like Chelsea said, I guess our group is right on track on what we have to do, because we didn't even need the whole time allotted. I'm looking forward to see how our target population interviews go to see their personal perceptions and thoughts on energy drinks. See you girls on Tuesday!!

Segmentation

I seem to fully understand how segmentation works, although, I would like to learn more about what the differences and similarities are between segmentation and stratification. If I understand correctly stratification is statistically based on analyzing variables of intrest where as segmentation is the separation of populations based on characteristics. When a population is segmented in a marketing campaign they can be segmented according to the characteristics of the population. I think I would just like clarification between those two.

During this week I wanted to see what the VALS survey would say about me and when I took it, it said I was an achiever/innovator. I agree with the part where it says I am an achiever and according to their definition I do hold to a perception of having a "goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career and family." When it comes up to the part of the the description of an achiever I don't agree with that aspect of it pertaining to me. Although I think the survey is somewhat accurate I think it fails to be culturally competent. I think that is something that a concern that comes up a lot when conducting surveys.

I really liked Lynn's example of segmentation as i found it appropriate for this class. Marketing is based on segmentation and tends to target specific audiences.

Does segmenting lead to stereotyping>>>

After this week’s lecture I am left with one underlying question… how is audience segmentation different than stereotyping your target group?

During this week's lecture we took the VALS survey in class and as a result we were put into a classification by our answers and then this data is available to marketers so they can create marketing approaches that are attractive to groups of people based on their characteristics. I think the survey tells something about the person but I just don't feel it is specific enough to know what types of products a person will like based on if they are an achiever or not. I just don't know if I think the survey is telling enough. We also looked at the PRIZM market segmentation and this analyzed people living in the same neighborhoods and assumed that they tend to have similar lifestyles. This data is then used and individuals are grouped/segmented by Lifestyle traits, Consumer behavior, Media use, and Demographics. I actually found this to be a bit humorous. It basically said that everyone in a specific city or area within that city all drive BMW's and read Forbes (etc)... I'm pretty sure the researchers are missing a large percentage of the population when segmenting so broadly but I'm sure the data is useful to an extent. It just seems like stereotyping which can be rather offensive if done publicly.

Despite me comparing segmentation to just plain stereotyping I do think segmentation is incredibly useful. It appears to be very effective when a campaign has the resources available to create different ads for different groups within the target audience. A good example was the syphilis study and the penis campaign. By tailoring the campaign based on the demographics of each city the campaign appeared to be a hit. Another successful study that uses segmentation to tailor the ads based on the target group was the TAAG study. The girls were placed in groups and then the researchers tailored the ads to attract a specific group within the target audience. My only criticism would be that I would be surprised if some of the girls in the TAAG project weren’t offended when classified as ‘Nerdy’ or 'Outcast'. I would hope that as I begin to do research and use audience segmentation I will be sensitive as to the categories I place a person into. I would hate to offend a participant. However, with that being said, I absolutely see the benefits of audience segmentation.

And I thought this commercial was funny and directly related to audience segmentation and focus groups... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcj7QT0Abk8&feature=related

Multiple Audience Segmentations

I really liked the idea of segmenting your audience on more than just demographics. Rather than solely looking at age, culture and SES, this week's course showed us that your message can be more efficient in reaching people in terms of psychographics, levels of readiness and places along the stages of change model. This is an idea that we've been implicitly weaving into some of discussions regarding ED consumption but it was a great reinforcement to have those ideas mirrored in the classroom. And, it's a perfectly clear example of how theory is integrated into health communication. I do think, though, that one crucial demographic that should still be integrated into health communications is the population's SES. In one of the student presentations, the authors argued that creating messages for audiences segmented along lines of readiness or lifestyle habit proved more effective than those cut across the traditional demographic segmentation lines. While this may work for certain health messages, there are other wherein SES, income and location directly tie into access in order to change health behaviors. As such, even if woman A (who is in a high SES) and woman B (who is in a low SES) are both at the same level for change, or have similar psychographics in terms of healthy eating, messages to woman A can be relatively straight forward, whereas messages for woman B, who has a small income and lives in an area that has little if any access to healthy fruits and vegetables, will need to be strategically different to try and address or mediate her particular barriers.

I liked the TAAG example that Sheila presented in class but I am somewhat uncomfortable with labels. As she discussed, labeling is mostly used in-house for easier referencing and, because some of them are offensive, they aren't used to address the general population. And of course segmenting is a necessity so messages can be tailored to a certain audience to try and get as much of that audience to listen. I definitely see the appeal of this in choosing appropriate cultural symbols, language, and situations. But, at the same time, I feel like I'm stereotyping and the liberal arts education inside of me fights it. Even when we discuss who drinks ED there are some large assumptions we have to make in the beginning. In class it was pointed out that the labels for TAAG were chosen by the participants, not the researchers, but I still don't think that makes it okay, or right, or absolves the researchers of any part in continuing the perpetuation of stereotypes in any setting. While constructing an ad for a Latino population, I don't think there would be too much of a problem to write it in Spanish and English. But, if I always use the example of eating rice and beans and tacos in my ads, then that can be offensive because I'm continuing a stereotype. I guess there is a fine line between the two that is hard to navigate and find an ethical middle ground that segments a group enough to reach them, but doesn't continue stereotyping or assumptions. This, of course, is why we do pilot-testing and focus groups but I still contend that even if a majority thinks it's okay and appropriate, it isn't necessarily always is. What do you ladies think?

The time during class to work in groups was much appreciated though, apparently, we're pretty ahead of the game. Go us! I'll be MIA until Sunday night, so have a great weekend, everyone!!!

Module 1

The presentations for this week on formative research helped clarify some of the questions I had. I was unaware of the many forms that can be used to collect formative research and how they can be combined to gain knowledge on perceptions of communities. I have participated in the data collection process of formative research by conducting focus groups. The most difficult barrier I have noticed moderators face (which were also addressed in class) is attempting to stay neutral when leading the group. Focus group conversations can easily be deviated by the moderator and/ or the respondents, leading responses to become become bias or not touch upon the topic of intrest being researched. In public health research and marketing formative research is an effective method in the data collection process of understanding the wants, needs, and reactions of certain specific populations.

My favorite presentation this week was the one about the STD campaign. I was unaware that there would be so many differences in tailoring marketing techniques across the United States for the same health intervention.

Module 1

I think the only section I would suggest spending more time on is the section on formative research as I felt it was short. However, since we are in the data collection process of conducting one-on-one interviews I think this will help us understand how to maintain a neutral stance during the data collection process in order to prevent bias. While conducting research for my group project I came across this focus group on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbwIeI2Jde0

I think working with models is beneficial when coming up with a campaign so that it can help in narrowing a specific behavior to target.

My insights for module 1

After completing this module, there truly has been some ahas!! and much interest in what the framework for health communication looks like. From this module my three key insights consist of the five dimensions of communication, the use of communication channels .

The first insight, the five dimensions of communication, really has caused me to think about the importance of the implementation of health communication. Without the five dimensions, source, message, channel, receiver, and destination, it makes it hard to fully roll out what you want to change. Knowing these key points in health communication will allow us to fully be able to engage our population. For example with our topic of energy drinks, using these five dimensions will allow us to know who to target, how, with what, and emphasize the why. I truly believe that this is the foundation for any mode of communication.

My second insight, was the realization that I am REALLY rusty on my theories. I think this is also due to the fact that the last time I have really touched all this information was about a year and a half ago. So as we went through the theories it really helped me remember. I really never realized how integral theory is in shaping health campaigns. Although going through the theory really helped me to remember everything and understand its importance, I think that in the future they can really be reviewed in one class session. Theory, to be honest, is not a very exciting topic, and learning something we all know already may be better to just do a crash course/review of the theories in a day just to refresh our memory.

My last insight, is the use of communication channels. I thought I knew all the modes of communication and the importance of it, but after learning about the different channels, I can saw I had an aha! moment. There are really different ways to get your message across, from informing them of the problem, making it personal, using the fear tactic or just encouraging problem solving. All these messages can be used in different media channels to engage the population. Even having examples to see really helped to get a better perspective of the type of ads out there. Also involved with the communication channels was the question of LOW vs HIGH involvement. I think in the future, I'd like to see an introduction to this idea and with a definition of each. Maybe it was just me, but I felt as though it was just presented with no introduction of what they are, which made it a bit confusing for me to follow along and understand what each campaign was, whether it was high or low. So I think a bit of an introduction to this will be helpful, since I believe that this aspect is very important.

As far as questions or thoughts, I do have to agree with Chelsea, that I think that maybe in the future, when working on our project, we should talk to people from our target population first to get their view point prior to deciding on what our topic is going to be. We decided energy drinks, but the question is, will our health campaign be successful or are we targeting something that we really can't change people's minds about. If we would have spoken with our target population first that would have helped us out.

Overall, establishing frameworks for health communication, really taught me a lot, but now I'm really looking forward to the next module, Knowing your target audience, as I feel this will really help us out a lot in working on our own health campaign.

Reflection on my interview, week 4, and module 1

After completing my interview with my Gatekeeper I started analyzing her answers to my questions. I then used her answers along with my analysis to fill out the segmentation table. While completing the table I had one major reoccurring thought... what if our target population doesn't feel the need to change, want to change, care about changing, etc. This leaves us in the pre-contemplation stage of change and that means two things... first and most importantly there is little behavior change that can be accomplished when your target population doesn't want to change and has no motivation to change. Secondly we will be forced to tailor our campaign to providing knowledge and awareness. After realizing this I read Chelsea's blog and a-ha, she feels the same way.

Week 4-
During week four I presented my article by Maddock. I feel that I had a much stronger understanding of formative research due to it being my week to present. What I mean by this is I read my article and then I dissected my article and then I did research on my article. By the time I presented I had a complete understanding of audience segmentation, identifying target behaviors, preproduction research, and production testing. I do feel it is extremely beneficial to know your audience and pre-test before implementing any type of campaign or intervention. I think interviews and focus groups are two of the best ways to do this. I have experience as being the moderator in a focus group and I learned through that experience that excellent and useful data can be gathered in the matter of 2 hours of less. It's a great and inexpensive way to get first hand data. I also liked how the articles incorporated a few of the health behavior theories into their research. The article on syphilis was an excellent and fun example of health media campaigns that alter their message based on the intended audience to be effective.

Module 1-

What I got from the first month of Health Communication:
During week two it all started coming back to me... theories is what I'm referring to. I took last semester off (not as a choice but SDSU did not offer the one course I still needed to graduate... that being PH 633). So, I remembered that I had learned A LOT of theories a couple semesters ago but my brain was a bit cloudy as to the steps to most of the theories.

Jumping back to week one... first day of class and an assignment was due the next week *wow, no time was wasted... time to get reacquainted with the local coffee shop* Our assignment was to define communication, define health communication and then observe. I think it was an interesting assignment but I think the table we had to complete could have been designed differently to get more out of the assignment. Week one was mostly intros and a brief discussion on communication.

During week 2 we all talked about our assignment and then jumped into theories. We spent time discussing The Health Belief Model and the Stages of Change Theory... two of my favorite health theories. I have to admit that I'm still very confused on low and high involvement and what is what. I think maybe there could be better examples or a different way of explaining it that would help me comprehend the concept. If anyone can help, I'm all ears but the concept is still not making sense to me.

Week 3, surprise… more theories. We discussed social networks, The Social Cognitive Theory, Process of Adopting Innovations, Stages of Diffusion, the 4 P's and many many more topics. My point is that we discussed several topics and I think it's hard to really think and comprehend when just briefly touching on too many topics. After taking semester and semester of classes, the courses that drive the most participation are those that have one or two major topics and then you have time to really dive into the topic. I think we discuss so much in such a short period that it is hard to stir up communication and feedback by skimming over so much. And when the class does start participating it puts us behind schedule and then we're rushing through the rest of the material we need to get through by the end of the class period. I noticed this during week 3 and 4.

On a different note and more related to the material covered in class during week 3… I am reading Made to Stick for my extra credit reading and it really made me think a little bit harder and deeper about the Process of Adopting an Innovation. Like the book The Tipping Point it talks about the stickiness factor. I think innovations excel when they have a sticky factor, like the example of the ipod. I also think that our target behavior has the stickiness factor (energy drinks) and I think it will be interesting to do a health campaign on a product that did well when applying it to the Process of Adopting an Innovation. Energy drinks also fit the 4 P's model... darn it, why did we pick such a successful product that had genius marketing campaigns to try to market against. This will be a challenge.

Module One Reflections

Hi everyone!

I hope your gatekeeper interviews are coming along! Here are my a-has and insights from our first module. Enjoy! :)

Top Insights
1) Five Dimensions of Communication/McGuire's IPM (source, message, channel, receiver, destination); communication processes contribute to health change
2) How theory can inform our communication messages
3) Central route vs. Peripheral route
4) Diffusion of Innovations
5) Psychographics Characteristics
6) Grids: segmentation and situational analysis

Reflection on Top Three Insights
In this module there were quite a few insights I had. I don't think that there was any particularly "new" material presented but what was presented was presented in a "new" way that really highlighted what I think other courses have tried to capture.

I think that most of us in Health Promotion understand the use of psychographics and how target populations and audience segmentation can be, and is, used to inform some promotion campaigns. The general understanding is that for an audience to be responsive and receptive to a message, the message must be framed in a way that "speaks to them". But, equally important as the measurements and integration of psychographics is the Five Dimensions of Communication, or McGuire's IPM. We acknowledge that how we say something is important, but what we sometimes forget is the channels through which or the methods through which we communicate is just as important. If we have a greatly tailored message in a print ad but our population doesn't read, then the message is lost. This, of course, is a very obvious example, but even in its more subtle forms, it can miss the target population just as much. This is definitely something that I will always keep in the back of my head when creating and disseminating health communication messages.

Another insight I had in this module is how theory can also inform your message and communication campaign. In 661 we talked a lot about how theory informs research and running labs to see if a campaign in successful, but we rarely, if ever, spoke to how we can use theory to tailor our message. The most succinct example is the Stages of Change and Transtheoretical Models. It seems like common sense, but sometimes we take common sense for granted. Obviously someone who is preparing to change (stage three) will respond differently to an ad providing behavior modifications (Walk at least 30 minutes a week!) versus an ad that is targeting precontemplation or contemplation audience members (Exercising can increase your energy!), but this isn't always taken into account. Even in the beginning of our own project, we strayed away from this a bit and it was only after an a-ha moment that we realized we would need different messages for people at different stages. I think it would be interesting to see examples of communication messages directed at different stages or informed by different theories. This way we can get a concrete understanding of how message a is different from message b even if they both have the same goal and are informed by the same theory.

The third insight I had in this module is the idea of the central route vs. the peripheral route of health communication for creating and tailoring messages. Again, it is something that is so important but could easily be missed. How will our audience best respond to our message? Like the examples given in class, DUI offenders are more affected by a central route message (you could kill someone) and frat boys might be more affected by a peripheral route (a DUI is expensive). When you start to look at your population, and their psychographics, you end up seeing more and more where there investment is in this issue, if they even have any.

Each of these aspects are integral to a successful health communication campaign. Taken together they give a strong overview of your target audience and how you are best to reach them (what sort of message [do they care about x or y], is the message to aid in behavior change or to get them thinking about it [where are they in the SOC model?], what should the message say, portray or show, and through what channel will it a) reach the largest portion of your audience and b) will it be most respected and well received?). All three of these components are definitely steps of health communication planning that I aim to integrate into such projects.

Lastly, while all three of these are invaluable, it can get confusing and overwhelming to remember and track. And that's why the a-ha tool for me this module is the grid! The grid is so helpful and lays out all the different components in a clear and easy to read way. It gives a visual representation of with what you are working. Both the situational analysis and audience segmentation grids are so helpful and will definitely be tools to which I return again and again!

Lingering Questions
At this time, my only lingering questions are ones that I've stated before. We didn't do a Needs Assessment on our population, we haven't done any audience segmentation in the sense that we don't even know if the issue we chose (energy drink consumption) is of any importance to our target population (SDSU undergraduate students). I don't have the fancy words to describe it but essentially we could have the most concrete information, the best messages ever and hit every mark in ways of tailoring, but if we don't have community buy-in and no one really thinks it's that big of a problem, what good will our campaign do? If we are looking at merely raising awareness, then I think we can still head in this direction, but I think that motivating and inspiring behavioral change in decreasing consumption of energy drinks isn't very realistic at this point and time. I wonder, then, how this all goes together...

Drink This Not That

The End of Module 1: Establishing a Framework for Health Communication

My top three insights from the first module include the distinction between health communication and social marketing, the five dimensions of communication, and the difference between mass communications and audience segmentation.

For this first point I have learned that the two terms, health communication and social marketing, are not interchangeable. Rather, health communication is one facet in the matrix of social marketing. While health communication focuses primarily on what one thinks, feels, and does, social marketing is much more exclusively focused on behavior. For example, simply changing one's attitude toward a behavior, such as energy drink consumption, regardless of whether or not that person stops consuming energy drinks, would be considered a success in the realm of health communication. The message was received, the attitude of the individual was altered, and perhaps down the road behavior will also be modified. In social marketing, however, this would not be the case. The behavior, or action, is the bottom line: Did the person stop consuming energy drinks or not? This is an important distinction that I think all health promotion practitioners must realize before implementing campaigns and deciding on their target outcome.

My second insight is related to the five dimensions of communication. As I have mentioned in my previous post, this step-by-step approach to developing a health communication message helped to simplify and solidify my understanding of the various components that ultimately influence the quality of a health campaign. Not only is it enough to have a great health message targeted toward an important behavior, but one must also consider the source of a message, how the message will reach the intended audience, and what ends the message will accomplish. These are aspects of communication that commercial marketers frequently employ, but that are sometimes forgotten in health promotion.

Lastly, I found the distinction between mass communication and audience segmentation to be very interesting. I think that this may have been one of the biggest mistakes of early health campaign efforts: they forgot to consider the unique traits and characteristics of their target population. Mass communication means simply disseminating a message to a large portion of the population and is mostly ineffective. While it seems like common sense to research, understand, and target a specific segment of the population, the failure to consider this aspect has been the pitfall of many previous campaigns. Sometimes the most intuitive aspects of practice are the most important to continue to refresh and remember when implementing a health message.

I hope in my own career to put these concepts to use when formulating a health message, campaign, or intervention. I think it's important to start with the target audience to assess what they need and want for themselves and their community. Certainly, the take-away point of the social marketing perspective is that instead of being organization-centered, we must be client-centered. This is the philosophy behind any successful organization. The focus must be on the needs and desires of the client, who feels supported and encouraged by the organization, which in turn fosters a sense of trust, mutual respect, and continued collaboration between the two. Whether it be a large hospital, a chain retail store, or a small community clinic, when the client is put first, everybody comes out on top.

In regards to the question posted by Chelsea about our group topic, I think she is absolutely right about starting with the target population to see what is important to them before devising a health intervention. However, I also think that it is true that sometimes the population is not aware of a particular issue, or does not perceive it as a real threat at all. In this case, we as the health promotion "specialists" must find a way of creating awareness among the population in a way that is relevant to their unique traits and characteristics. Certainly, I think this may be the case with college students and energy drink consumption; they probably have a low involvement in this issue. Therefore, I think it would be completely appropriate for us to focus our campaign on educating and creating awareness of the possible harmful effects of consumption, as well as some healthier alternatives to boosting energy and stamina.

Formative Evaluation Research

This week we discussed how to conduct, utilize, and apply qualitative techniques to answer questions about our target audience to eventually produce highly tailored, culturally appropriate and effective health marketing campaigns. The first question on the quiz surprised me, "doesn't everyone realize the importance of formative research?", but, they don't! Some might think, well we know that 'x' population has 'y' prevalence of 'z' disease, that's enough, let's tell them to stop their 'bad' behaviors! This is where health promotion comes in!!!

This class has effectively emphasized the importance of knowing the norms, beliefs and cultural context of our targeted communities and how by knowing these facts, and integrating them into health promotion campaigns, we are likely to have a community more receptive to our message and, as such, more likely to alter their behaviors we wish them to alter in order to have the disease outcome we wish to see. This week's class and presentations made this obvious. A great example of this comes from an anthropological study that came out of Haiti. In Haiti there were high birth rates and various organizations (USAID, IMF, WHO) were working to try and lower birth rates by encouraging the use of birth control pills amongst the Haitian poor. There was a billboard in the center of Port-au-Prince (the capitol of Haiti and were millions of the Haitian poor live) that showed a woman and had some slogan along the lines of using birth control. The slogan was in French (the nation's national language). Most of the Haitian poor speak Creole and know not a word of French. Talk about NO market research or audience segmentation!

I am confused about one area. I know I will not be eloquent in describing this but please bear with me. We are choosing what we want to address in our target population (energy drink consumption) but in many of my classes (666 in particular) we discussed how we must go directly to the target audience and, by using epi data and qualitative research, decide what issue should be addressed. I keep thinking, what if undergrads could care less about the risks of energy drinks and totally ignore our campaign no matter how tailored it is? I guess that we would then just focus on stages of change and emphasize knowledge and awareness to get the buy-in... Do any of you ladies have any ideas or information from other classes in regards to this conundrum?

Also in terms of our project, I think we might end up focusing on psychographics characteristics and clarifying myths in regards to energy drinks. Maybe our goal shouldn't be a behavioral change but should be a change in awareness/knowledge/etc. What do you think?

I will be the first to admit that I was totally confused about what the heck is needed for our project tomorrow. I think, collectively, we figured it out. I'll email the details to everyone tonight. Thanks for working together so well to split up the project!

That's me confused (if I were a blond hair boy).

The lecture and readings from this week focused on health communication and social marketing, which initially seem like abstract concepts, but the book I'm currently reading for the extra credit assignment, Marketing Social Change, is actually helping to put all of these concepts into perspective. I also agreed with the Maibach et al. (2007) article which emphasized the important role of culture within the people and places framework. Certainly, as a culturally competent practitioner one must realize the complexity of cultural differences and its effects on attitudes, norms, and behaviors.

In terms of the situational analysis for our group topic of energy drink consumption among college students, the following is what I have brainstormed:

Sociocultural enabling factors may include social networks and norms that support consumption, including modeling and the perception that it is an acceptable behavior. Inhibiting factors include messages from peer leaders or significant others who oppose consumption of energy drinks.

Economic enabling factors involve the ability to spend money on energy drink purchases, having a job or source of financial support from parents/family, and access to stores/places that sell these beverages. Inhibiting factors include a lack of spending money or financial support, and/or a prioritization of spending that excludes purchasing discretionary items such as energy drinks.

Political enabling factors include university policies that permit the sale of such beverages on campus. Inhibiting factors are few and may include competition from other "unhealthy" drinks also sold on campus such as sodas and sports drinks.

Technological enabling factors include increased access to energy drinks through vending machines, exposure to advertisements promoting consumption, and exposure to Facebook and other media. Inhibiting factors involve lack of access to T.V., radio, computer or internet, which is rare among college students.

Educational enabling factors include messages against coffee/soda consumption which may lead to a greater consumption of energy drinks under the misconception that such beverages are just as "bad" as any of the other alternatives. Inhibiting factors include greater awareness of the harmful effects of over-consumption, as well as a perception that one is a risk of the negative effects.

I look forward to continuing this brainstorming with you all in class on Tuesday. And in the meantime, Feliz Dia del Amor y la Amistad :-)

Media and Energy Drinks

As Izzybeth said, youtube videos in class really helps to not only talk about it but to open your eyes to the types of advertising that is really out there. I really liked the LIVESTRONG ad, it really hits you emotionally and of course the condom ad hits the comical angle. In creating ads, there are really different angles that you can target when trying to reach your population which I believe makes it fun to work with. The only thing, to be honest, is that I'm still a little confused on how to tell the difference if something is considered high involvement or low involvement. When we were going over it in class I thought I understood but now as I try to figure out on my own, I'm having a hard time determining the difference. Maybe if there was a clear cut definition or pointers to know what is the difference it would help me out.

Another thing discussed in class, which I have heard before, is the four "Ps". I believe that following this social marketing mix is very important in "selling" our product. I know that as a group we have to make sure we follow the four "Ps", Product, Price, Places, and Promotion, to make sure that we cover all points in making sure we make our target population understand about why drinking energy drinks is bad for you.

I did find some sites that talk about energy drinks, both stating that they are good and bad.

Such as: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/energy-drinks/AN01630

But what I think we are going to have to focus on is the scare tactic. That of those who consume multiple energy drinks a day can cause heart attacks or seizures.

This article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/health/27iht-27well.13247828.html

talks about how energy drinks are linked to risky behaviors.

There are also a lot of other articles out there so we can really do our research to figure out what angle we want to focus on, but I think we can really target with the fear tactic with how energy drinks can cause dehydration, heart attacks, seizures, and a really big one nausea, something I'm sure most people would not like to experience.

I think this topic is going to be a lot of fun and we're really going to learn a lot for sure!!

Situational Analysis:

I want wings...

Hi Ladies.... Happy V-day! So, I have to admit I am a regular consumer of energy drinks. I classify myself in the "too much to do, too little time" group. Like most of you I work full-time, I'm a graduate student, I try to work out almost every day and I enjoy having a social life. Sometimes (okay most of the time) I just feel like I need a little jumpstart and I know my sugar free redbull will give me wings aka: jumpstart :). I think that selecting the consumption of energy drinks as our target behavior will open my eyes to the risks and hopefully provide knowledge to others that will create a positive behavior change.

With all the technology we have today Social Marketing plays such a key role in behavior modification. Our behaviors are heavily influenced by our social networks. An ad that uses a person or group of people we can relate to or someone we look up to will be more effective. We also talked about media campaigns that use the fear tactic. We discussed the pros and cons and a fellow classmate stated they have actually used some of the examples we viewed in class. I feel the scare tactic is effective when trying to prevent negative behaviors. However, if the person is not fearful of the consequences then the message will be ineffective.

Enabling and Inhibiting Factors: Energy Drinks

Sociocultural
Enabling Factors: school stress, work stress, extracurricular activities, lack of sleep, peer group, going to bars (etc!) despite being tired (Red Bull/Vodka, etc)
Inhibiting Factors: accessible healthy alternatives, increased physical activity, time-management skills, social support for stress, social support at home (i.e., someone else will go grocery shopping, etc freeing up your time for studies)

Economic
Enabling Factors: "affordable" at Aztec Markets, grocery stores, bars
Inhibiting Factors: taxing energy drinks, increasing prices

Political
Enabling Factors: no regulations regarding sale or consumption of energy drinks
Inhibiting Factors: taxing, banning sale of energy drinks on campus, remove from vending machines, dispensers, etc

Technological
Enabling Factors: commercials, print advertisements and media, on-campus handing out free beverages, company incentives when purchase, apparel promoting drinks
Inhibiting Factors: reduce on-campus presence of vendors handing out drinks, advertisements

Educational
Enabling Factors: students do not know the true risks of energy drinks or what else they could do if they need more energy (acute not chronic)
Inhibiting Factors: education in regards to the risks of energy drinks, increased knowledge on alternatives to getting more energy (fruit, veggies, exercise, adequate sleep, meditation, etc)

Youtube videos

Youtube video in the classroom setting are awesome!!! I really enjoy when they are used as it helps capture themes that are taught in class. As mentioned in class you can definitely note a difference between who has a higher advertisement budget when compared to those who do not.

There are various avenues to reaching out individuals. Even though Health Fairs may not be considered a media source they definitely are a form of communication. I can recall as a child attending health fairs where public health professionals were passing out information on SIDS. I have noticed that when it comes to public health the communications channels being used such as tweeter, facebook and myspace are avenues in reaching audiences which are technologically advanced. A question that I do have is when you have a limiting budget what is the best form of impacting individuals.

The reading I preferred this week was the one written by Maiback and colleges. In public health, a collection of frameworks must be used to target behavioral modification in populations. Marketing is more then just a cognitive process it also entails the community, social networks and the locations where modification of behaviors will take place. With this in mind for our group project we should consider which avenues we will use to influence modification of behaviors.

Inhibiting factors to energy drink consumption

College students rely heavily on staying awake for long periods of time in order to keep up with study habits, friends and partying. Although the popularity of these drinks are increasing like everything else there are long term heath effects. Socio-Cultural Enabling Factors for the consumption of energy drinks can be stress, study habits and peer influence. Economic enabling factors to purchasing energy drinks may be because they are more cost-efficient when compared to purchasing a complete meal of food. In addition energy drinks are much more filling and suppress hunger. Since there are no policies limiting the sales of energy drinks college students have access to them at school. Innovative commercials that advertise how consumption can give a person wings also influences drinking energy drinks.

When I asked a friend who consumes these types of drinks if they know of any of the negative effects they looked at me with a smirk and responded:

"uh elevated heart rate (thinking sigh) and high sugar"

I then proceeded to ask

"Does that prevent you from consuming them"

they responded

"heck no" They asked to remain anonymous.

Obviously it is apparent that individuals have limited knowledge on negative effects. I think for this intervention we will need a much stronger influential approach.

-i-

P.S Check this video out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x9iYweART4

Meeting Notes

Here's what we determined today in class:

Target: SDSU college students' over-consumption of energy drink beverages
Target audience: college students (age, ethnicity, gender, class standing, ethnicity, class standing, course load, major)
Target behavior: "over"-consumption of energy drinks (to be defined through our literature review/search)
Mediating variables: stress levels (over-extended schedules, work for labor, volunteering, internships), peer group, knowledge, access/convenience, sleeping habits
Competition: competing priorities (school, work, etc), media, social norms
Messages: Do-messages; Don't-messages; Testimonials; Fear-based
Channels: print (one on one and one to many); Internet (YouTube page, Facebook, Twitter); policy: no sale of energy drinks on campus or high taxes

Remember, our post this week will also include filling out the Situational Analysis: Environmental Forces Influencing Topic.

How Theory Shapes Health Campaigns: Social, Cultural, & Environmental Factors

Sheila has some of the greatest examples (Paris Hilton, jean jackets and the iPad!), I definitely appreciate the humor that can be found in our class.



I found that the videos we watched in class to be great examples of using forms of mass media campaigns to inform the community on health related issues. There were examples that really showed us the spectrum of ad options; some were serious and humorous, completely informational or anecdotal. It highlighted for us that there are many routes through which we can get our message across and much of it is dependent upon the context of your message/issue. The Live Strong commercial (the first one) was so powerful, poignant and moving. I was happy to hear that the first time Sheila watched it she got emotional, too, because I just felt silly in class getting all choked up!



I thought that the issue that Shannon brought up in class was interesting and I'm still trying to wrap my head around how I feel about fear-based messages. As Sheila said, in some populations they work. I.e., for our group maybe we want to go the route of "don't drink too much caffeine or you'll get fat!" but what do they learn? It is a much more peripheral message that might produce a strong adherence in our population and if that is our only goal then we have succeeded. But in long term goals, is that our goal? Is it limiting caffeine intake, or being healthier? All questions for us to discuss SOON! Another question to keep in mind is when there are competing messages and priorities, will our message of "caffeine = fatness" really stick or seem all that relevant or immediate when you have finals, work, you're the president of your college club, you're fighting with your significant other, and your parents expect you to come home for Spring Break?



Class was helpful and I appreciate the overview of theories and how they are applicable to media communication. I haven't had 661 since Fall 2008! so the review is much appreciated. Per usual, it was thorough and gave us the highlights that are necessary and most applicable for the goals of the class and the projects. The synthesized information is excellent!



Of particular importance in regards to communicating health messages is the formative research and understanding our targeted population. For those of us who took 666, we know all too well what that involves but I think that for those in the class who have yet to have 666, it might be beneficial to go through how foundational it is and how the heck to go about it. That was something into which we ran today when we were even trying to think about our definitions and what is more of a concern to our targeted population (is caffeine consumption a priority to them?). I think that maybe even before we have Assignment One due, a different assignment could be given out in regards to researching our targeted population, intended behavior change, etc rather than just us guessing now and doing the research later. Just a suggestion...



We did a great job today, though! Everyone was so gregarious and offered up great ideas and topics for discussion. It's great to be a part of a group that is full of ideas and also flexible enough to be up for changing or modifying our project. Go, us!!!

Fat in your cup!

NYC's Health Department has a new campaign out there to combat the surge of soda consumption. Their catch phrase is "Are you pouring on the pounds?". Maybe we should check it out to see if they have any "best practices" that we could modify for our targeted population (assuming we stick with soda consumption in college students).

The image is pretty disgusting (be warned!), it made me feel nauseous just looking at it!

You can read up about it here or at the NYC Health Department page.

There's even a more disgusting video of the man drinking fat on YouTube. Maybe refrain from watching it if you plan to eat soon....

AnEcologicalFramework

I think I am going to enjoy learning public health communication because it is a different avenue in which individuals can be reached. What I liked about the first day of class is learning about how the media influences individuals through it’s many avenues for example through soap operas and movies. I was actually watching a movie the other day and noticed that the actor was consuming a specific brand of soda. As public health professionals we DO have a strong battle against companies who have million of dollars to spend on funding when compared to our limited budgets. Although my next though is unrealistic I actually think it would be a good idea if the CDC had a movie that Incorporates with love, diseases, health disease and professionals. Maybee then the public would have a broader knowledge on what public health is and what it can and can’t do for them.

While sitting in class listening to the theories presented I think of compelling factors that influence dietary and physical activity behaviors in populations via the media. Besides the 4 Ps (Price, Product, Promotion and Place) I was unaware that there were other Marketing Strategies that could be applied when increasing public health knowledge using different levels of communication. I would like to learn more on how to apply an ecological perspective to health communication as I feel it is a strong avenue for reaching individuals at various levels. A city that comes to mind that exemplifies an ecological framework to health communication is New York. In an attempt to decrease Cardiovascular risk factors, New York made it a policy for it’s restaurants to remove trans fats. The capacity of it moving from policy and into the communities took an immense collaborative effort amongst the health department, policy makers and restaurant owners. Only time will tell if limiting trans-fats will reduce Cardiovascular risk factors.

College students and SODA

When transitioning from high school to college, college students nutrition is highly influenced by peers, accessible inexpensive food, money, culture and education. As students in public health when we think of a nutrition intervention we tend to focus our thoughts on healthy eating habits and limiting fast food. Even though children are highly influential when it comes to dietary behaviors moving away from that target population and focusing on the college population as mentioned by Frances is an excellent idea. Targeting college students will allow us to brainstorm in creativity to create an intervention that will encourage modifiable dietary behaviors. I like the idea of focusing on decreasing soda and or caffeine consumption due to a high prevalence of it in college students. Hence a college population is much more accessible to conduct a focus group with. There are so many things we can do when integrating a nutrition topic with college students.

.

Communicating about Nutrition

Week 2: How Theory Shapes Health Campaigns

Certainly theory is an important aspect of Health Promotion. It helps guide our understanding of human behavior and gives us insight about the methods and interventions that may or may not be effective for promoting healthy choices and changing behavior. I found the summary of the the 5 dimensions of communication in the lecture to be helpful: Source, Message, Channel, Receiver, and Destination. I tend to favor step by step approaches to implementing a project or campaign, as the question that always pops into my head at the beginning is, "So, what do I do first?" While it may be easy to get bogged down with all of the different theories at our disposal, I think for novice health promoters as ourselves, it is best to just pick one of the most relevant and tried-and-true theories to start with, and just stick to it. I think that only through experience with the implementation of different theories are we really going to get a grasp on what works for us in different populations.

While the lecture was concise and easy to understand, the Scholton (1996) reading was frankly too dense with complicated and ever-changing terminology (once one term is introduced, the reader is then bombarded with another new term to describe the previous one) that distracted me from the overall message of the article. Talking about communication... I got hardly an ounce of understanding out of the entire article, to say the least. Perhaps someone in the field of advertising would more easily be able to decipher the article; however, for students of public health I would suggest a more relatable read.

As for the homework assignment, Code Your Own Communication, I found it mildly helpful to sit down and determine my own definitions of 'communication' and 'health communication'. Perhaps it was just my own step-by-step mentality that prohibited me from truly grasping the assignment, but I found myself agonizing over the meaning of 'communication messages' and, like one of our classmates, I think I mistakenly took it to include interpersonal communication, which further complicated my coding scheme. Nevertheless, I think the true value of the assignment emerged in our class discussion when we were all able to share ideas about our thoughts and experiences related to the meaning of 'health communication.'

On a final note, the purpose of the distracting image of a soda machine at the top of my post is to comment on Chelsea's idea of changing our target population to college students and soda consumption. While my personal interest is in children, I agree for her reasons to change our target population and I think we should continue down that route. Also exploring fast-food consumption among college students may be interesting, especially given the large array of fast-food options here on campus. When I went to undergrad at the University of Georgia, which has a comparable student population to SDSU, the only dining options on campus included four larger-than-life dining halls which provided food prepared solely by the university's food services (which, by the way, prided itself on the numerous 'outstanding food services' awards it won). There were no commercial or fast-food options available on campus. Is that just a southern thing? Oh, and we had actual dormitories on campus. You know, the kind where two people share one small room and share a bathroom with an entire hallway of people. But that's just a side note.

THEORY!!

AHHH Theory!! My first initial thoughts when I realized that was what this past week was about. This week has brought me back to memories of 661. Its been more than a year since I've taken that class and remembering all the theories was definitely a challenge for me as some of the theories tended to mush together in my head. But going over a review of the theories helped to refresh my memory and now it doesn't seem as much of a mush in my head. I can say that I also was a bit worried when I realized that my article was on the Integrative model because it was theory all over again, but to my surprise it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Aside from theory, doing the Code your communication activity was really interesting to me as it was to many others in the class. I really thought my definition was all inclusive of what health communication entails but it made me realized that what health communication may mean to one individual, especially a public health professional, may not be what another person completely out of the health field would think. Something that I think is very important to consider when creating a health campaign because you'd want to make sure that your message will reach everyone. So you'd have to make sure that you really tailor your message as we also learned this past week, with the Five Dimensions of Communications. Key points that we must remember as we work on our projects this semester. In our nutrition group, whether we decide to work on fruits and vegetables intake with children or lower soda consumption in college students, or even something very different, we need to make sure that we cover all dimensions in our target population so that we can properly reach them. I look forward to see how our project develops this semester. Let's go Nutrition Revolution!!

Healthy Eating/Nutrition

Hi ladies... I'm excited to work with you all!

Here is my post for blackboard... As the 'Nutrition Group' met for the first time I quickly observed that each group member felt compassionate about nutrition and more specifically healthy eating. After setting up our blogger site we discussed our first group project. This led to reflection on the day's topic of health promotion theories. The group was somewhat torn as to what our target audience should be and if group majority wins it appears it will be children (parents of children). As we began to dive into the thought of forming focus groups we realized that we would most likely have parents as our target audience but the aim would still be on healthy eating for children because of the influence a parent has over their child's diet.

Applying theories to a target group (parents) to get them to change behaviors of another person (children) is a bit more complex. Not only does the parent have to change their behavior to meet the intended outcome but they have to change their child's behavior to be successful. Wow, we all know how hard it is to have a successful intervention... this is really going to take some work!

As I was applying the Health Belief Model to the challenge of changing a parent's way of thinking about healthy eating and the importance of providing their children with a healthy diet it occurred to me that it might be easier for a parent to change their behavior if they know they are liable for (severity comes to mind) for their child's health. A health care professional may use an approach that a parent can relate to by telling them the dangers their children are in if they continue an unhealthy diet (severity) the health care profession can persuade a parent to choose healthier options for their child by providing them with information on what is healthy and provide recipes for meals they can prepare (cues to action). Other theories such as Stages of Change and Precaution Adoption Process Model are a little more difficult to apply to this example.

After this reflection maybe I'll try and persuade the 'healthy eating' group to select a different target audience (just kidding : )

On a side note, I'm also interested in looking at exploring the idea of a different target audience, children is a bit done so it might be difficult to get creative. Soda (or in the midwest 'pop' and college students might be a great idea, I'll try and brainstorm myself. I won't have internet access this weekend. I'm in Tahoe so I'll see you all Tuesday!

Code Your Own Communication, and IPM, and ELM - oh my!

I personally found the homework assignment, Code Your Own Communication, very insightful inasmuch as we all have a vague idea of what we, as public health students, consider health communication but when putting it into words, and seeing the difficulties therein, it made it very apparent how complicated and obtuse it can be. It was also a great way to get us thinking about the goals of this course and what we would like to take away from the class. I thought the food advertisements in the grocery store was a great example. In addition, another student voiced my own concerns that arose during the project: if something is anti-health is that health communication and is something like an ad for McDonald's fries an anti-health message (the purpose of the ad is to get you to eat fries, which aren't healthy, but the ad isn't purporting that they are...so, where does that leave us?).

Going over the five dimensions of health communication theory in McGuire's IPM (source, message, channel, receiver and destination) helped clarify some of the issues into which I ran with my definition and will be extremely useful for us as we continue forward with our group assignments and focus groups. I gathered the basic information about IPM versus ELM from the reading but it was so dense and technical that the significant points were lost at times. Shelia's presentation really broke it down to the most integral parts of the models and how they are actually applicable to health related communication.

One area that I would like about which I would like to know is how certain theoretical models help inform the creation and dissemination of certain health messages. In class we went over a few examples of where along PAPM or SOC communication messages might vary, but I think that there is significantly more in this area that could prove helpful to us.

And we're off!

Welcome to our Spring 2010 GSPH663 blog! The purpose of our blog will be to share with one another our progress on our group projects, our ideas, thoughts and insights about class, and anything fun that we'd like to share with one another (i.e., recipes, tips, links, and videos). Hopefully we'll be able to use this site to communicate more effectively with one another.

I am looking forward to working with everyone in the group (I must say we have quite an excellent group of women!) and here's to a great Spring semester!!!

Ideas for our project

Hello Nutrition Revolution Members!! ;)

I was thinking about ideas as to what we should focus for our project. I know we mentioned fruit and vegetable intake and making our target audience from pre-K-12, BUT...I have a new idea. Feel free to run with it or dump it. But I thought I'd give it a try.

Every time we think of nutrition we think fruit and vegetable intake and there has been MANY different campaigns out there that focus on children and increasing their fruit and vegetable intake. The Five a Day Campaign, Fruits and Veggies Matter (CDC), Go for 2&5 (Australia), 5 to 10 a day (Canada), 5 a Day-Live Well (UK), and the list can keep going. Therefore, if we decide to go this route we'll have to really investigate all the campaigns that are out there and make sure we are not copying what has already been done.

I thought we should take a different angle to nutrition. How about we worked on Soda Consumption in College campuses? If you realize at SDSU there are soda machines everywhere, the markets on campus more than half of their beverages is soda, and in the food court the options is any soda from the soda machine, for the most part. If we target college students, our campaign can be held on college campuses. We can also easily get a focus group as the population is right at our hands. If we want to take this broader we can even consider fast food consumption.

This is just a thought I had and just wanted to start up some conversation. Again, if you ladies hate it, I won't take it personal. Hope to hear some ideas!!