Increasingly artful. Applying commercial marketing communication techniques to family planning communication
Williams, J.R.
Integration 1992(33): 70-72
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0916-0582 PMID: 12343901 Document Number: 519757
Family planning (FP) and social marketing messages must utilize the rules concerning artfulness developed in the private sector for effective communication in the mass media around the world. They have to compete for the attention of television program viewers accustomed to receiving hundreds of 30-second messages. There are some rules essential to any effective communication program: 1) Command attention. In the US over 1350 different mass media messages vie for attention every single day. FP messages are sensitive, but dullness and passivity is not a requisite. 2) Clarify the message, and keep it simple and direct. Mixed messages equal less effective communication. 3) Communicate a benefit. Consumers do not only buy products, they buy expectations of benefits. 4) Consistency counts. The central message should remain consistent to allow the evaluation of its effectiveness, but execution should vary from time to time and medium to medium. 5) Cater to the heart and the head. Effective communication offers real emotional values. 6) Create trust. Words, graphics, sounds, and casting in the campaign should support 1 central key promise to a single prime prospect. 7) Call for action. Both commercial and social marketing campaigns can calculate results by quantifiable measurement of sales (of condoms) transactions (the number of IUD insertions), floor traffic (clinic visits), attitude shifts, and behavior change. The PRO-PATER Vasectomy Campaign of 1988 in Sao Paulo, Brazil successfully used the above rules for effective communication. During the 1st 2 months of the campaign, phone calls increased by over 300%, new clients by 97%, and actual vasectomies performed by 79%.