Re-Branding Health for the Digital Age

Background:  Health communication has a long history of using behavior change theories that focus on the individual; yet theories such as social semiotics suggest that individuals create and recreate their understanding of health from their social environment. When more than half of millennials would rather lose their sense of smell than their technology and more people have a mobile phone than a toothbrush, approaches that focus solely on the individual may not be enough. Being successful in this highly connected world involves reconceptualizing how health prevention initiatives are branded, and realizing that branding can be a fluid thing when working within a dynamic social environment such as digital media. 

Program background:  This presentation will present three innovative case studies, which have leveraged social networks in different ways to advance public health objectives. The first is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) viral #VaxWithMe campaign which was run to promote annual flu vaccination. The second is a mobile gaming campaign to promote CDC’s flu vaccination campaign. Finally, the third is the use of a user-generated traffic and navigation mobile application to promote HIV testing. All have tapped into digital networks to create – and in some cases recreate - their brand. 

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Evaluation methods and results differed for each initiative – but across each of them, we will discuss (1) how the method was selected to match the communication preferences of distinct target audiences; (2) the branding implications, e.g. successes and challenges, of each approach; and (3) digital media performance metrics. Campaign efforts such as CDC’s flu vaccination campaign achieved extensive reach because of the engagement of partners to share in the promotion of the effort. This effort engaged 575 participants, created 860 pieces of content, and resulted in more than 19 million impressions. The first-to-market mobile gaming campaign integrated public health messaging in between levels of mobile games and resulted in a benchmark-setting 90% view-to-completion rate. Results from the HIV testing campaign are still being collected. 

Conclusions:  Digital media offer opportunities and challenges for branding health communication initiatives. A value of digital is the social connectedness and how users participate and contribute communally. Tapping into these can help disseminate messages further as well as drive behavior change through influencer communication. Yet, this aspect of digital means that a brand can be a fluid idea – as partners and influencers incorporate the brand into their own initiatives. Health communicators must be willing to work with these influencers to get their messages out in both accurate and timely ways but this is indeed a delicate negotiation. 

Implications for research and/or practice:  For public health professionals who struggle with how to use digital media in their programs – especially in light of the openness of social media - this presentations will offer actionable innovative and cost-effective solutions that leverage the power of social networks. These can help public health programs advance their missions in effective ways.