Getting Close. . .

Just a few more weeks. Two, to be exact. As it often is in a running race, the closer you get to the line, the more laborious forward progress becomes. Even in a long distance event (like, say, a semester), it always seems as though the bulk of the effort is concentrated on the back half. Luckily, it is easy to be spurred on, knowing that the end is in sight!



I have an Ironman race next Saturday, which is perhaps responsible for the overly dramatic athletic metaphor.

Last week, we presented our Project # 2 data. I think all the groups did great, and it was inspiring to watch and learn--I felt there were good things to take from all of the presentations. Yes, even ours--overly mature 12 year olds, or no ; )

I thought that was a valid criticism, as the importance of tailoring a message is one of the primary tenets of public health communication. However, in doing a little more contemplation of why I selected those particular photos, I realized that perhaps my selection was more intentionally skewed than I was really willing to admit on the spot. In putting the video together, I did think quite a bit about what kids that age want to see, and remember thinking that during the "tween" years, perhaps more than at any other age, kids seem to aspire to look, act, dress, and behave in a way that makes them appear older. Things may have changed considerably from when I was 12, but my recollection of that age was of looking up to the "older kids"--the 16, 17 year olds. I couldn't wait to add one or two candles to the cake--now I'd love to subtract at least that many! ; )

Advertisers across the board seem to wrestle with this--do we want to see someone just like us or just like the person we think we'd like to become? Anyway, not to beat a dead horse, but I thought I'd point out that there was some at least semi-conscious logic behind my decisions. One thing that IS for sure, this underscores the necessity of testing and retesting messages with a focus group.

This ties into one of the key insights I had for module 4, which was also an overarching theme of the course--much thought and testing needs to go into the marketing side of a Public Health campaign. It's difficult, I think, to overestimate the importance of how much preparation is involved. "We" (as public health professionals) are not always selling things that are automatically desirable--in fact, some messages are asking the public to at times ignore biological motivations--sugary or fat laden foods, nicotine or caffeine containing products, for example. If we expect to be successful, our message better be darn good.

Dovetailing with this insight, are the ideas in the Grier & Bryant article, which outlined ways to more effectively tie in public relations/advertising concepts with PH campaigns. The aha here is that co-marketing with a carefully selected brand is an effective tool.

Watching the other groups presentations, I found myself gravitating towards the ones which used the twitter/facebook forms of social media. I think this is the "now" of marketing, though, undoubtably it won't be for long! It will be important to keep up with the trends here, one emergent tie in, for example, seems to be the gps tracking sites--4 square, for example, which allows you to not only keep track of who is doing what at all times (in 140 characters or less, in the case of twitter), but also where they are doing it. Possible applications to exercise abound.
thats all for now, and according to the email Shiela sent out, this is the last post, correct?

Adios!


Katya