The document discusses creative strategies for promotion in social marketing. It covers developing a creative brief, message strategies, message design, messengers, and pre-testing creative materials. The main points are: 1) A creative brief is a short document that provides guidance for creative teams, outlining the target audience, objectives, key messages, tone, channels and other considerations. 2) Message strategies include whether to use rational or emotional appeals, gain vs loss framing, and one-sided vs two-sided messages. Fear appeals require both high threat and high efficacy messages. 3) Pre-testing materials with the target audience can assess understanding, attention, memorability and identify any issues before a wide release.

1. Promotion:Creative
strategy
SOCIALMARKETINGMIX:STRATEGIES+SOLUTIONS
Prof. L. Suzanne Suggs, PhD
Marco Bardus, PhD
Università della Svizzera italiana
Fall 2012, Week 8

2. Overviewofpresentation
Todaywefocuson:
Step#7:Promotion
–CreativeBrief
–CreativeStrategy
–Messages
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6. TheFourth“P”:Promotion
Promotionsarepersuasivecommunicationsdesignedand
deliveredtoinspireyourtargetaudiencetoaction.
Whatarethefourmajorcomponents?
Messages
Messengers
Creative strategy
Communication channels
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7. Messagestrategies
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8. Messagestrategy
Whatdoyouwantyourtargetaudiencetodo?
Whatdoyouwantthemtoknow?
Whatdoyouwantthemtobelieve?
Describethedifferencebetween“know”and“believe”
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9. BreakingThrough(Parrott,1995)
Benovel
Useunexpectedcontentorplace
Instructtheaudiencetopaymoreattention(e.g.,“now
hearthis”)
Uselanguagethatconveysimmediacyandpersonal
relevance(use“your”,activepresent-tenseverbs;avoid
qualifiers)
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10. HealthCommunicationMessageReviewTool(www.thcu.ca)–(1)
Themessagewillgetandmaintaintheattention.
Thestrongestpointsaregivenatthebeginningofthemessage.
Themessageisclear.
Theactionyouareaskingisreasonablyeasy.
Themessageusesincentiveseffectively.
Goodevidenceforthreatsandbenefits.
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11. HealthCommunicationMessageReviewTool(www.thcu.ca)(2)
Themessengerisseenasacrediblesource.
Messagesarebelievable.
Themessagesuseanappropriatetone.
Themessageusesanappealthatisappropriate
(i.e.,rationaloremotional).
Themessagewillnotharmorbeoffensivetopeoplewhoseeit
(includingavoiding‘victimblaming’).
Identityisdisplayedthroughout.
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12. Messagedesign
Messageappeal
Rational(factual)vs.Emotional(elicitpositiveornegativefeelingabout
behavior)
One-sided(praise)vs.two-sided(praise&condemn)?
Messageframing
Gainvs.Loss?
Moral:it’stheright/wrongthingtodo
Nonverbal:visualcues
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13. MessageTheories
One-Sidedvs.Two-SidedMessage
– Whenisaone-sidedbetter?
– Atwo-sided?
Researchshowsthat
1) One-sidedworkbestwithalreadyfavorableaudiences
2) One-sidedarebestwithnewinitiatives
3) Two-sidedaremoreeffectivewithbetter-educatedaudiences

14. Digression:fear appeals
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15. FearMessages
Witte(2001)suggeststhatappropriatefearmessages
include:
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A high threat
message
personal and
vivid
A high-efficacy message that
explains how to implement the
recommended response,
addresses barriers to the
recommended response, gives
evidence of the recommended
response’s effectiveness, and that
may role play (i.e., simulate) the
recommended response.
+

16. Messengerstrategies
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17. Who’sthespokesperson?
PartnersandSponsors
Spokespersons(e.g.ObamainWorldAIDSday)
Midstreamaudiences
Mascots
Howdoyouchoose?
Credibility
Expertise
Trustworthyness
Likability
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18. Creativestrategies
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19. Creativestrategytips
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20. Creativestrategytips(1)
K.I.S.S.= KeepItSuperSimple(andClear)
Focusonaudiencebenefits
Whenusingfear,followupwithsolutions and
usecredible sources
Tryformessagesthatarevivid, personal and
concrete
Makemessageseasy to rememberLugano, 8/11/2012 22Social Marketing, Fall 2012

21. Creativestrategytips(2)
Sometimeshavealittle fun
Tryfora“big idea”
Considera questioninsteadofanag
Highlightrelevantsocial norms
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22. Creativebriefs
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23. WhatisaCreativeBrief?
Abridgebetweenresearchandcreative
Thefoundationforstrategy
A“creativecontract”agreeduponbyallpartnersat
theoutsetofthecreativeprocess
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24. CreativeBriefs
Provideafocusedbrief(1to2pages)towritersandgraphic
designers,including:
• Abriefdescriptionoftheprojectandaudience(keyfactorsandinsights
fromtheaudienceanalysis)
• Specificobjectivesintermsofwhatyouwanttheaudiencetoknow,think
anddoaftertheyreceivethemessage
• Mainmessage(s)anddesiredoutcome(s)(whatpeoplewilltakeaway)
• Benefitsandothercontentelementstosupportyourmainmessage
• Typeofappeal(s):Rational(one-sided,two-sided),emotional(suchas
fear,humour,feelinggood),functional,moral,normative,relational
• Musthaveanddon’twant
• Channelstobeusedandspecifications
• Budget
• Deadlines
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25. TheCreativeBrief
1.TargetAudience(s)
Whomdoyouwanttoreachwithyour
communication?
2.Objective(s)
Whatdoyouwantyourtargetaudiencesto
do,think,orfeel?
3.Obstacles
Whatbeliefs,culturalpractices,pressure,
misinformation,etc.standbetweenyour
audienceandthedesiredobjective?
4.KeyPromise
What’sinitfortheaudience?
5.SupportStatements
ReasonstheKeyPromiseistrue
6.Tone
Whatfeelingorpersonalityshouldyour
communicationhave?
7.Media
Whatchannel(s)orformwillthe
communicationstake?
8.Openings
Whenorwherearetheteachablemoments?
9.CreativeConsiderations
Anythingelsethecreativepeopleshould
know?
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26. CreativeBriefExamples
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28. Aproperlydesignedpre-testcanassess
whethermaterialsareunderstandable,
attention-getting,memorable,andrelevantto
targetaudiencemembers. Itcanalsoidentify
anysourceofconfusionoroffence.
(Siegel&DonerLotenberg,2007)
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29. Potentialpre-testingtechniques
FocusGroups
PersonalInterviews
ExpertReview
Donotoverreacttopre-testresults–useyourjudgment.
Soundplanninginpreviousstepsshouldnotcreatetoo
manysurprises.
Donotforgetthatthefindingshavetobefinallyand
thoroughlyrevised!
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30. Pre-testing(cont’d)
Thefollowingitemsshouldbeincludedwhenpre-testingmessagesand
materials(Siegel&DonerLotenberg,2007):
Whatisthemainideaofthe(ad,booklet,etc.)?
What,ifanything,wasparticularlyliked?
What,ifanything,wasparticularlydisliked?
Wasanythingoffensive?(What?Whowoulditoffend?)
Wasanythinghardtounderstand?(What?)
Wasanythinghardtobelieve?(What?Why?)
Whoisthisfor?Whowouldgetthemostoutofit?
What,ifanything,shouldbechanged,added,ordeleted?
Whyoptionwouldbemostlikelytoinducethedesiredaction?
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31. Wordsofcautionaboutpre-testing
Notaboutwhethertheylikethead
Consider testingconceptstatements
Testconceptualspotsinlineupbeforefinishedspots
Thoroughly briefclientsandcolleagues
notfamiliar withtheprocess
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32. Finally,besureto:
Detailtheproduct
Benefits
Features
Associatedtangiblegood&services
DetailthePrice
Whatwillitcost(monetaryandnon-monetary)
DetailthePlace
Wheredotheyhavetogo?
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33. Remember,themessage:
Shouldbewhattheconsumertakesoutofit
notwhatyouputinit
Shouldbe:
Meaningful
Believable
Distinctive
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34. Classactivity
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