Teens and Social Networking: JEL Iowa's Battle of the Bands

Background: The initial impact of the Iowa Department of Public Health’s youth tobacco prevention program, Just Eliminate Lies (JEL), was evident as tobacco use among high school students dropped from 39 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in 2004. Awareness of the program was at an all time high in 2004, with 85 percent high school students having heard of JEL. However, budget cuts eliminated several communication initiatives and awareness of JEL has declined to 61 percent in 2008.

Program background: Numerous teen focus groups uncovered two main insights: JEL lacked an online presence among teens, especially in social networking, and JEL’s brand lacked “edginess” and “relevance” among teens. In November 2009 JEL launched the high school-aged Battle of the Bands Presented by JEL campaign. This established JEL’s presence among teens on numerous popular social networking sites. It also played into a popular establishment among Iowa teens; live music.  The five-month contest called upon high school bands from Iowa to submit online “auditions” through the JEL organization website, JELIowa.org, and the various JEL-sponsored social networking web pages, including Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace.  The contest encouraged Iowa teens to participate on these sites by watching and judging video auditions and voting through online polls for their favorite band, ultimately choosing who would perform live at a concert sponsored by JEL.

Evaluation Methods and Results: The campaign gained over 20 high school-aged band entries from across the state, over 2,100 fans to the Battle of the Bands Facebook fan page, approximately 4,000 votes over two voting sessions, approximately 400 teen attendees at the Battle of the Bands Presented by JEL Final Battle concert. The Battle of the Bands registration page on JELIowa.org received over 5,000 visits’ increasing overall site traffic year-over-year. The promotion was also covered in numerous articles and interviews with local media. All of this online traffic led to significant discussion and positive associations with the JEL brand.

Conclusions: Used within the right circumstances, including outlets and marketed niches, social media has a huge impact on the relevance of a brand among teens.

Implications for research and/or practice: The Battle of the Bands Presented by JEL campaign is a case study for connecting various web properties, including traditional website and social networking vehicles, to reach youth. Young people invest a great deal of time in social networking sites, but they can be difficult to reach with marketing messages. The Battle of the Bands example shows how to effectively associate a health message brand with youth by aligning with a passion niche, in this case music. Using social media to align with niches can result in greater discussion of a brand and that brand’s message, and it can also lead to increased credibility among the audience.