Identity Building

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend Tuesday's lecture. I am planning on doing some extra reading though as it sounds like from other comments that I missed an interesting lecture on the application of formative research and real world examples. In reading Engelberg's articles on brand identity and identity building, I was amazed at how much thought and research goes into proactively planning an identity for an organization. I liked the strategy of writing down the mission statement and then replacing the name of your organization with a different one and comparing the similarities and differences. Sounds like the key is to be as unique as possible to distinguish a valuable market niche to fill. So much strategy is involved with developing an identity since a lot of it deals with the audience and stakeholders' perceptions. Once again, I am seeing the great value in formative research as one needs to conduct identity research to best fit the brand and identity with the mission statement.

Reflexes

Wrong Reason Health Promotion

The idea of "wrong reason" health promotion strategies resonated the most with me from Tuesday's class. A "wrong reason" can be a superficial or minor consequence about a health issue, compared to providing the gruesome health consequences like cancer and death. I think this approach is especially beneficial when targeting teenagers as they tend to have an invincible attitude. Most often a teenager will not be effected by the possibility of getting cancer down the road, but they would listen to an immediate problem, such as bad breath from smoking. I looked online for examples of humor in health campaigns and found one that targeted kids and teenagers and highlighted poor reflexes as a problem from eating junk food. The beginning of the ad shows a guy getting kicked in karate as he has a delayed response to block the kick once he is on the ground. I think this strategy of revealing immediate consequences from a poor diet, compared to an attempt to scare them with diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments, would have a greater effect in changing their behaviors.

Health Literacy

After visiting the doctor today and watching the video on health literacy yesterday, I realized how people can easily endanger their lives by not understanding the doctors or their prescription labels.  I found myself asking questions and paraphrasing what the doctor had said to make sure I knew how to take the medication.  Because I was at health services on campus, I'm sure the doctors there assume the students they see are capable of reading the fine print on the prescription labels and can understand the medical jargon used by the health care providers.  I was made aware of how intimidating a doctors visit could be for someone with a low level of literacy, as they would not have the skills to ask important questions if they aren't able to comprehend what the doctor communicates to them.  After I left student health I read over the directions, warnings, and precautions of taking the medication, all of which was in fine print embedded in paragraphs of big words.  I learned some important things about what not to take with the medicine, which was not described to me and would be hard to find for someone with a low level of literacy.  Looking at my experience with a health communications perspective, I am now seeing where change needs to happen and who is responsible.  The health care providers need to make sure patients comprehend the information given to them and printed materials should offer the information in easy to find bullet points.  This brings up the point of 'transcreation' that rewrites the key concepts in easier language.

Reaching Audiences

In my opinion, to label an individual or a group as, "hard to reach," is conceding to failure.  I think it is the researchers responsibility to look at so called "hard to reach" groups as an opportunity for a challenge to come up with innovative campaign strategies.  The alternative conceptualizations to approaching the issue was stated in the article as, "different not deficient" when looking at these "hard to reach" groups.  It is the researchers job to empathize with the perspectives of the target audience to understand their fears and needs. In order to reach these groups, one needs to study how people process information and find the best communication channel to go through.  The video we watch in class provided an example of having a customer centered focus in their marketing strategies.  They looked at trendsetting teenagers to learn about what kind of styles and 'cool' things they are interested in.  The companies like Sprite, would then market their findings and reach their target audience successfully.  The challenge with the teenage population is what's considered cool today will be gone tomorrow, so researchers need to adapt to the ever-changing trends.  These "culture spies" demonstrate that communication is a reciprocal process between the sender and the receiver, as successful communication persists through an ongoing dialogue between the two.  

Audience Segmentation

The exercise in class was really helpful in learning the different ways an audience can be segmented and all the issues to consider.  This class has demonstrated how important it is to do formative research before starting a health campaign, as there are so many aspects of the target audience to address and attempt to understand.  We are lucky to be taking this class during an exciting time in politics, with such a big election coming up.  I have found myself being more attuned to the different strategies that Obama and Clinton are using to tailor their messages to reach specific audiences.  Obama has a lot of support from younger voters and is said to have a "rock star" appeal.  Last week I posted a YouTube video that captures that rock star appeal.  The video highlights an inspiring speech by Obama and is accompanied by various celebrities as they sing his powerful words, "yes we can."  

Presentation Skills

Our last health communications class covered presentation skills and included the importance of nonverbal communication and the power of a good story.  We watched a video that discussed the three different types of faces (closed, neutral, and open) that people use.  The 'open face' is bright-eyed, has raised eyebrows, smiles, and conveys likability.  Interestingly, a person's voice sounds more upbeat and optimistic when their facial expression is open and positive.  Another characteristic of a good speaker is their ability to tell a good story and capture the attention of the audience.  I thought the following video pertained well to our topics covered in health communications. The video demonstrates great presentation skills by Obama's ability to captivate the audience through his eloquence and use of an open face.  The video also creates an effective message by using catchy music, celebrities, and by appealing to a large audience.  I was inspired... enjoy!