Social Marketing

  • How the right messaging can improve PrEP equity in the U.S.

    In the Southern United States, there is a disproportionately high rate of HIV diagnoses amongst Black and Latino men who have sex with men. However, these groups are also less likely than their white counterparts to take PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, which can safely decrease a person’s likelihood of getting HIV through sex by about 99% when taken as prescribed.

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  • Advancing racial equity in Jefferson County, Alabama: Lessons learned from the Voices of Truth campaign

    For centuries, art has been used to spark conversations and social change. And murals painted on buildings are a powerful way to both turn art into activism and make art accessible to the community.

    For the past two years, FHI 360’s social marketing and communication department has partnered with the Jefferson County Memorial Project (JCMP) and Kids in Birmingham 1963 on the Voices of Truth communication campaign, which is part of JCMP’s efforts to advance racial equity in Jefferson County, Alabama. The campaign engages county residents in cross-race dialogue as a pathway toward truth and reconciliation, digging deep into issues pertaining to equity, justice, community voices and more through methods such as billboards, conversation starter cards and social media posts.

    Recently, our team traveled to Birmingham — the county seat of Jefferson County nicknamed “the Magic City” — to witness what was just a dream a couple of years ago: a mural that encourages community members to own their voice, start a conversation about the history of racial violence in Jefferson County and be part of social change.

    Here are some of our takeaways from the campaign.

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  • Refocusing on the fight: Communicating about HIV during COVID-19

    While COVID-19 has been at the center of health concerns since early 2020, the fight to end HIV continues. How are HIV communicators in the United States effectively engaging with their priority audiences? Here, four HIV communicators explain why they are passionate about their work and discuss how, in the current environment, they can best reach people in the United States who historically have had to bear the largest burden of HIV.

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  • Five ways to keep COVID-19 messaging relevant this fall

    This fall, we face new challenges as COVID-19 overlaps with the flu season and continues to spread across the United States and the world. We must stay vigilant about protecting ourselves, our friends and families, and others around us. At the same time, people are experiencing pandemic fatigue and need new reasons and reinforcements to keep up protective behaviors.

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  • Digital health applications in a changing world

    Digital communications and media are now part of everyday life for many people around the world. But while people have turned to smartphones for entertainment, socializing and commerce, the health community is still working to make services, outreach and treatment digitally accessible. Examining successful applications allows us to understand what approaches might be possible for digital health services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more crucial than ever that digital health resources provide support for people to access from their homes.

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  • Social marketing for public health systems change

    Can social marketing efforts to promote individual behavior change inhibit progress instead of advancing it? On one topic at least, the answer appears to be yes.

    A couple months ago I had the pleasure of attending the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Childhood Obesity Program Leaders’ Advance, which brings together leaders in the fight against childhood obesity to discuss strategies and approaches for reversing the increases we’ve seen in the past 30 years. The meeting was held in Oakland, California, and included a visit with the Alameda County Public Health Department to learn about their efforts. An official from the department posed a question to the group, “What do we think is the biggest barrier to the success of community efforts to reduce obesity?” What he didn’t say was: funding, poverty, racism, education, or the food and beverage industries. His answer might surprise you — individualism.

    Individual-focused messaging has led Americans to believe obesity is caused by personal choices. Click To Tweet

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  • And the award goes to …

    They’re not as well known as the Academy Awards, but in the public health realm, the Web Health Awards pack a punch.

    That’s why FHI 360’s Social Marketing and Communication (SMC) video team is pleased to announce that three of the “Making the Business Case for Prevention” videos we produced on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Community Health recently won a Web Health Awards Recognition-of-Merit Award. It is the 16th year of this prestigious competition that receives thousands of submissions and selects the best in digital health resources for consumers and health professionals.

    Our winning, documentary-style vignettes feature real-life, business-success stories that demonstrate how good health is good business. The vignettes were created to build support for community health within the business sector and to encourage similar public health initiatives nationwide.

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  • Making a difference on World Asthma Day

    What would you do if someone next to you — on the bus, on the subway, in line at the grocery store or at the gym — suddenly had trouble breathing because of asthma?

    You would help.

    But what if you could help that person with a few clicks of your mouse before he or she lost a single breath?

    This Asthma Awareness Month (May) and World Asthma Day (May 6), you can.

    How? By taking the following actions to spread the message that asthma — a chronic lung disease that can be disabling or deadly and affects 1 in 12 people in the United States, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHBLI) — can be controlled with proper treatment.

    • Thunderclap: Get Asthma Aware
      Join the NHLBI’s Asthma Thunderclap by 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time today (May 6) to increase asthma awareness. Using Thunderclap, you can share your message about asthma through your favorite social media channels in a single stroke.
    • Twitter chat: Coping with Asthma
      U.S. News and the NHLBI will co-host a Twitter chat about coping with asthma on May 14, 2:00–3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Join us and follow the chat by using #AsthmaChat.

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  • Last week, we hosted a live online discussion about essential community building blocks for breaking the links between poverty and poor health outcomes. The need to think creatively is perhaps strongest in local HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives. Cultural pressures, health myths and access issues can hamper engagement and progress and yet, two campaigns are making strides.

    The Many “Reasons” to Get Checked Program

    Putting a positive spin on HIV testing for young men at high risk for the disease may be a daunting task, but culturally poignant messages may go a long way toward selling the value of getting checked.

    Manuel Rodriguez manages the “Reasons” program for the nonprofit human development organization, FHI 360. Reasons is a messaging campaign that aims to get Latino men who have sex with men to undergo testing for the HIV virus. It comprises social media outreach, print, TV and online advertisements, and presence at gay pride events, and currently focuses on cities with many members of the target population, including Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

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  • Inspiration plus imagination at the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media

    The National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media was an invigorating three-day conference featuring the best and brightest in the health communication field. Held August 20–22, 2013 in Atlanta, GA, the conference featured plenaries, posters, breakout sessions, boot camps and networking opportunities all focused on the theme of “Waves of Change: Managing the Possibilities.”

    Participants heard FHI 360’s Design Lab Director, Anne Quito, speak about the importance of design and creativity in health communication campaigns. FHI 360 staff also presented four posters that highlighted FHI 360’s Social Marketing and Communication work. The posters covered Geographic Information Systems tools; social media evaluation; paid media search campaigns; and use of social media to share information about dietary guidelines.

    Below are my top five conference takeaways and quotes.

    • The creative process begins and ends with empathy. — Anne Quito
    • When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. — Ethiopian proverb
    • Carve out creative time for yourself and colleagues each week for brainstorming and developing new ideas. — The Inspiration Shop conference session
    • Real problems in our society are slow boiling pots of water. They warm up gradually until we’re cooked. — Victor Stretcher
    • You can’t program a GPS unless you know where you want to go. — Katie Paine

    To learn more, you can browse the robust Twitter conversations about the conference by using the hashtag #HCMMconf.