Articles
Changing The Behavior Of Behavior Change Specialists or: Goodbye 4x9 Tri-Fold Brochure
Posted: 09.21.07 by to HP/HP
In the world of public health (which in my humble opinion includes all topics spanning education, environment, emergencies, safety, global health and more) the 4×9 tri-fold brochure has been the concrete solution for professionals to communicate the most essential information to their audiences. We post brochure racks at the front desk, we hand them out at health fairs, events and conferences, we give them to our local partners, and we even put them in the mail from time to time. And most of all, we expect them to change behavior.
Now, I am exaggerating a bit, and I need to give kudos and credit to those in the field that support and practice social marketing as a means to change behavior. But recently, a colleague in the creative department challenged me. He challenged me to bring “an even more progressive way of thinking about communications” into the arena of public health. It was a challenge to prevent the growing gap between how Mountain Dew communicates with our communities and how we communicate with them. (Remember, our message is more meaningful.) It was a challenge to change the behaviors of the Behavior Change Specialists.
It is time to take some risks in our profession. Don’t fall back onto old standbys when writing your grants or assigning budgets. Learn more about new media options that might better fit your audiences and use your resources more wisely. Better yet, work towards changing the culture of the public health approach. Take some risks and trust your communications partner to help you cut through the 4×9 clutter.