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Volume 1: No. 3, July 2004
STEP-BY-STEP: MAKING YOUR
COMMUNITIES HEALTHIER
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| Take a tour of selected print materials from Georgia’s Cancer Awareness and Education Campaign | |
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Grounded in Georgia-specific cancer data, opinions, and lifestyles, we advanced to the third step of the public health model — intervention evaluation. How can we ensure that the communications intervention strategies we develop will work? We worked with our communications agencies to develop a plan that would reach the full potential of public health theory and science.
Based on our research findings, including initial focus-group feedback on potential tag lines, we developed messages in English and in Spanish designed to motivate Georgians to “take action now to get checked for cancers.” Our strategy was to make certain that the core information, guidance, and messaging was consistent across all modes of communication, including television, radio, print, Internet, public presentations, reports and brochures, and our documentary film, An Important Conversation — Georgia Speaks. We sought qualitative feedback on our messages from key public health and cancer-care professionals. Feedback revealed that the message most influential in motivating individuals to get checked for cancer or to obtain more information about the disease was “Save a life. Get checked.” Feedback also indicated that the message works because it is not an order or command to do something. Instead, it is perceived as personal, suggestive, simple, and memorable. For campaign planners, the message is flexible and easily applicable to all forms of communication — from advertising to speeches to brochures.
With confirmation that our target audiences would embrace our key message and that we could apply it across all communication methods, we moved forward with the fourth step in the public health approach — implementation. What kinds of tactics did we use to implement the CAEC? We executed the campaign through five communications tactics: 1) media releases; 2) public service announcements (PSAs); 3) a statewide media buy; 4) a short documentary film; and 5) grassroots community-outreach efforts fulfilled by statewide partnerships. (The CAEC Resource Site is available at cancer.fmeclients.com*.)
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When the CAEC was launched, our goal was to place a television and radio ad by the following October during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Because we were only in the planning stages of producing our own advertising during September and October, we conducted a national search to find the best pre-produced PSA. With the support of our public relations agency, we acquired a 30-second television PSA from the California Department of Health Services. The PSA features internationally renowned writer and actor Maya Angelou, and it also has a radio version. We received permission to retag the PSA with the toll-free number of our campaign partner, the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service (1-800-4CANCER). We also included the logos of the Georgia Cancer Coalition and DHR, Division of Public Health. The toll-free service had been developed in partnership with the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service. We branded all CAEC communications efforts with these logos and the toll-free number.
The PSA campaign and media blitz began in October 2002. The media blitz consisted of publicizing National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the launch of the CAEC, and the availability of our toll-free number. Within 10 weeks of launch, 820 women from Georgia called the toll-free number seeking guidance on referrals for mammograms and Papanicolaou (i.e., Pap) tests. In the year preceding the campaign, only 15 people called the toll-free number. This marked the campaign’s first measure of success.
Leveraging the “Maya” PSAs, the CAEC deployed a statewide paid media campaign in English and Spanish from November 2002 through June 2003. The paid media buy was implemented through more than two dozen television stations, selected cable systems, and 29 rural newspapers that served areas not saturated with television, including the northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast corners of Georgia. In February 2003, we rolled out our “Oh, Harold” PSA, which encourages women to obtain mammograms and is based on the findings of our focus groups and telephone surveys and other feedback. (The “Bee” PSA campaign, which focuses on colorectal cancer, was launched in March 2004.) The “Maya” PSA aired more than 550,000 times from October 2002 through the end of February 2003. “Oh, Harold” ran approximately 182,000 times from February until the end of May 2003. We estimate that the total media value of these PSAs is more than $1.1 million.
How did Georgia’s media respond to the CAEC goal? Their response was outstanding and remains at the heart of CAEC’s measurable effectiveness. Two major media partners are the Cable Advertising of Metro Atlanta (CAMA) and the Georgia Press Association. Callers to the toll-free number were motivated by the television PSA aired statewide, mostly over CAMA stations from October 2003 to April 2003. The Georgia Press Association posted CAEC news media releases and print PSAs on its Web site and encouraged its statewide membership of 150 newspapers to download CAEC resources for their readers. We will continue to use this strategy as we expand CAEC activities over the next three years of the campaign. Using feedback from the original baseline study, along with feedback from the mid-point and first-year surveys, we developed original print and broadcast PSAs and paid ads that continue to be published and aired via print and broadcast media. The campaign achieved near saturation with ads and news reports placed in the state’s 150 leading newspapers, TV cable networks, the Georgia News Network of radio stations, and Georgia Public Broadcasting, Georgia’s statewide network of radio and television stations.
We also produced a 10-minute documentary film, An Important Conversation — Georgia Speaks, which emphasizes the need for early detection and advises viewers to be proactive and to take control of their lives by getting regular medical examinations and screenings. (Users with Windows Media Player can view a Microsoft Media version of this documentary. We also offer the documentary in RealPlayer format.)
The documentary features Georgians of different ethnicities, geographic areas, and professions who talk about their experiences with cancer, their roles in Georgia’s fight against cancer, and their recommendations on how to prevent and treat the disease. The film also offers information on support services such as cancer screenings and treatment.
Evidence shows that survivors are the most influential spokespersons for delivering cancer prevention messages, so we asked survivors to “star” in the film. Again, they represent Georgia’s geographic and cultural diversity and illustrate that the disease is pervasive and non-discriminatory. They address three important points learned from our telephone survey research:
We created a special event for the premier of the film. Cancer survivors featured in the film, along with 500 other guests, were invited to the studios of Georgia Public Television (GPTV), Georgia's statewide public television network, to view the documentary as part of an evening celebration. Segments of the event were also aired on GPTV. It received extra attention and publicity through the development of a statewide-promoted community event, Breast Cancer Prevention and Awareness Day in Georgia. In October 2003, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue proclaimed Breast Cancer Prevention and Awareness Day in Georgia to be recognized during the third Wednesday of October every year.
The CAEC directed the overall statewide public awareness and education campaign on multiple grassroots levels. These included the following:
Research and measurement is ongoing. Quantitative surveys at the campaign’s first-year midpoint in March 2003 and at the conclusion of its first year in June 2003 measured shifts in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Both surveys were conducted by the same independent research group. The March survey had a sample size of 500 and the June survey had a sample size of 1000. Both samples were demographically and geographically representative of the population aged 45–74 in Georgia.
The March survey served to benchmark advertising awareness and recorded some attitudinal shifts among participants, revealing that for each type of cancer, particularly breast and cervical cancers, more individuals stated as reasons for their screening behavior that:
The baseline survey in September and October 2002 showed that many women did not get screened because they were afraid of a positive diagnosis, and many did not believe in the effectiveness of mammograms. The March 2003 survey showed that negative attitudes decreased among women who went unscreened, their confidence in cancer screening and treatment increased, and fewer viewed a diagnosis of cancer as a death sentence.
A small overall change took place in the knowledge and behaviors of Georgians aged 45–74 regarding cancer screenings between the October 2002 and March 2003 survey:
The Cancer Awareness and Education Campaign achieved successful and measurable results in its inaugural year (September 2002 through June 2003). The toll-free number attached to all messages allowed us to quantify the campaign’s impact. Before the statewide initiative began in fall 2002, an average of 1.25 calls was received per month by the call center managed by the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service. After the launch of the campaign, calls represented almost every zip code in Georgia. They continued to average 300 per month and spiked to almost 600 in January 2003.
Our partnership with the Georgia Press Association targeted a potential 3 million readers. The television and radio PSAs aired more than 745,000 times during the campaign's first year — at no charge — with an total estimated media value of more than $1.1 million.
The CAEC used the power, influence, and good will of mass media to serve the greater community interest in social justice, especially the public’s health (1). In addition, the CAEC realizes the vision of the DHR, Division of Public Health to create “a Georgia with healthy people, families, and communities, where all sectors unite by pooling their assets and strengths to promote health for all” (5).
We thank our communications team, all of whom are located in Atlanta, Ga: Fletcher Martin Ewing, a public relations and advertising agency; Cornerstone Communications, a public affairs and media relations agency; Schapiro Research Group, Inc., a marketing research company; Global Marketing and Public Relations, Inc., a grassroots, community relations and database-management company; and Perez-Montalbetti Advertising, a Spanish-culture marketing and advertising agency.
Corresponding author: Demetrius M. Parker, Manager, Public Affairs & Media Relations, Cancer Control Initiatives, Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health, 2 Peachtree St NW, Suite 16-262, Atlanta, GA 30303-3142. Telephone: 404-657-6313. E-mail: dmparker1@dhr.state.ga.us.
*URLs for nonfederal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. URLs do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of Web pages found at these URLs.
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The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors’ affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
Privacy Policy | Accessibility This page last reviewed March 30, 2012
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