Source: NYTimes.com

I recently read Peggy’s Orenstein’s thought-provoking New York Times article, “Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer,” and I’m hoping every social marketer will read it too. It has sparked widespread dialogue within the social marketing community, and left me feeling unsettled and with many questions about the meaning behind my work.

The article suggests that the spectacularly successful pink-ribbon campaign has ultimately made women less conscious of the facts surrounding breast cancer, “obscuring the limits of screening, conflating risk with disease, compromising our decisions about health care, celebrating ‘cancer survivors’ who may have never required treating”. Orenstein — a breast cancer survivor who benefited from early detection — suggests that the very notion of early detection contributing to a cure is actually a mis-truth or oversimplification.

Orenstein did a thorough job of sharing facts and statistics that were very surprising (to me at least). For example, I didn’t realize that since mammograms/screenings have been introduced there haven’t been corresponding decreases in incidence of metastic cancer. And, that while there has been a 25% drop in breast-cancer death rates since 1990’s, many researchers attribute those declines to treatments, not screenings. Apparently mammograms are not as good at detecting the most lethal forms of breast cancer at a treatable phase. There was much more in the article, and I learned a lot about the history of breast cancer science, treatment, and prevention.

Still, the article was not just about the science behind breast cancer – it analyzed the marketing of the awareness of this disease and definitely took the stance that awareness initiatives like Komen’s pink-ribbon contribute toward overselling “both the fear of cancer and effectiveness of our prevention and treatment”. It posits that being over-aware of our risks for breast cancer can lead to unnecessary screening and preventive treatments. Orenstein goes on to suggest that while fear of cancer itself is legitimate, how we manage that fear, responses to it and emotions around it, can be ‘manipulated, packaged, marketed and sold’. The suggestion is also made that many social marketing/public health initiatives (prostate cancer’s Movember, testicular cancer’s yellow bracelet, heart disease’s red dress) all share a similar superficiality in terms of the response they require from the public.

Paul Holmes recently made a similar argument in an article for The Holmes Report, in which he references the New York Times article and indicates that social marketing interventions may have “ taken a huge step backwards in recent years.”

I bristle at this perspective. I’ve worked on social marketing initiatives for more than a decade, and know the rigor of behavioral theory and planning that is at the heart of much of this work. By applying behavioral science, we drive actual changes in behaviors, beyond simply creating awareness of an issue. Maybe the issues I work on are different by their very nature, where there is no one screening to detect, etc. Still, Orenstein makes a very strong argument for how, in the case of the pink ribbon and breast cancer, the level of awareness does seem to contribute to heightened levels of screenings and diagnoses that may not in fact require treatment.

So, I am left with questions. Are the initiatives we intend to be preventive actually doing harm? How do we protect against that and ensure they are not having a backlash that is unintended or expected? Is raising awareness as a first step toward behavior change justified, as long as the ultimate goal is an actual behavior change? What implications does this analysis hold for our work?

According to their stats, Kickstarter projects have enjoyed a 43.95% success rate, raising over $520 million for projects (most individual asks are $10,000 or less). They have been responsible for funding more than 41,000 creative projects.

This year, Kickstarter has received more press–not about helping aspiring artists achieve their goals, but for their controversial support of helping the “rich get richer.”

On March 13, 2013, Rob Thomas (creator of Veronica Mars) launched his Kickstarter campaign to bring his TV show to the big screen. Within 12 hours, he raised $2 million, becoming the fastest Kickstarter campaign to reach its goal. By the end of his campaign, Thomas had raised more than $5.7 million.

In what some have called a bothersome and abusive trend, other celebrities have successfully used Kickstarter as way to launch their own projects—actor Zach Braff received more than $2 million to produce a sequel to his film, Garden State; Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi raised $137,000 to produce a cartoon; and Whoopi Goldberg raised $74,000 to film a movie on comedian Moms Mabley. There are even rumors of a Friday Night Lights movie Kickstarter.

But not all celebrity projects have been successful. Recently, actress Melissa Joan Hart cancelled her Kickstarter project after it fell woefully short of its $2 million fundraising goal—collecting just more than $51,000, proving that patrons don’t find all celebrity projects worthy of funding.

Still, critics argue that celebrity-initiated projects make it harder for lesser known artists (Kickstarter’s original muses) to meet their fundraising goals. For those individuals, crowdsourcing is the only way they can collect funding for their projects. Critics say it’s unfair to use Kickstarter as a means to fund something that you either 1) already have the money for or 2) have the professional connections to make happen. Celebrities, they argue, meet both of those.

Kickstarter founders, Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler, took to their blog to defend celebrities’ projects:

But seeing how Kickstarter makes 5% of the total funds from a successful project, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which they wouldn’t support a multi-million dollar celebrity project as a way to boost their revenue potential.

Yet, there is something to be said for a person’s ability to choose which projects to back—they can elect to help fund an A-list actor’s movie or an aspiring singer’s new album. Isn’t that the democratic way? Still, I wouldn’t want my creative masterpiece stationed on the Website beside the Veronica Mars project. The long term effects of celebrities on Kickstarter has yet to be seen. But their presence does beg the question—is it fair?

Mexican Americans comprise the majority of U.S. Latinos, and as experts in social marketing who specialize in helping Americans live happier, healthier lives, the U.S. Latino audience is one we inherently recognize and address in our day-to-day work. As we do, we take great care in approaching Latinos with cultural understanding and not simply the Spanish language―just as we would with any other population as fundamental to our country’s make-up.

The HHS’ Office of Minority Health demonstrates how important these efforts are in health care, in particular, and sets an example we should follow. In April, it released enhanced standards to help promote equity and remove ethnic disparities in health care. The National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards in Health and Health Care offer guidance to health organizations on how to better deliver care to culturally diverse populations. A recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality states that the estimated cost of inequitable and inadequate care due to ethnic and racial disparities is $1.24 trillion!

CLAS Standard #1: Provide effective, equitable, understandable and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy and other communication needs. The remaining 14 standards cover three categories: (1) Governance, leadership and workforce; (2) Communication and language assistance; and (3) Engagement, continuous improvement and accountability. You can read them in their entirety here.

HHS calls these standards a “blueprint” for delivering culturally and linguistically appropriate health care. As social marketers, we should develop our own blueprint, our own set of standards, for communicating with the U.S. Latino audience. This would ensure that the messaging and strategy we develop resonates culturally and is, in fact, effective among this important population. In addition, when programs call for outreach to Latinos, the strategy should be developed as a core pillar to the program rather than an add-on or afterthought. I’m proud to say this is something that Ogilvy is passionate about, and I look forward to seeing how our work grows stronger as we approach Latinos with thoughtful, methodical communications programs.

So, as you raise your margarita and dig into that guacamole this weekend, remember that Cinco de Mayo commemorates more than a date in history but also a rich and significant part of today’s American culture – one that deserves our consideration not only on the 5^th of May but year-round.

Ogilvy Washington’s Social Marketing Practice offers Hispanic marketing services through Think Latino, an in-house group of bilingual and bi-cultural Latino experts.

I’ve really enjoyed this role. I love finding creative solutions to help organizations get the dynamic and innovative features they are looking for within their budget. How does their often non-technical vision for a technical platform become actualized? And on the other side, I can help the technical experts understand why a new way to navigate or feature certain content may obscure key messages.

My first official Web project was in 2004—helping the organization I worked for conceive of and implement a better strategy to communicate research findings to the public and press.  That first project helped me understand that, since the birth of World Wide Web, media is in a constant state of change and progress.

Email had just arrived on the scene during my sophomore or junior year of college (and you had to go to the library to check it!), I bought myself my first cell phone with my first pay check at my first job, and it was two years into that first job when we got on AOL Instant messenger (and AOL email) as a company platform. I’m not kidding when I say the first week we were all panicked by the constant dinging and “You’ve Got Mail!” resounding throughout the office.

Now, we have Twitter, Facebook, and apps (check out my colleague Lauren Littleton’s post about Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine) to convey information instantly through social networks.

In a world where a Tweet can cause trading companies to dump shares in a matter of seconds, Web sites can’t compete with being the source for breaking information. They need to provide context, tell a richer story. They need to do more than tell the story—they need to take readers on a journey through a series of customized stories.

Photo Credit: The New York Times

For example, The New York Times is redesigning their Web site to “encourage app behavior of moving through articles, rather than back to the home page.” Is The New York Times Web site going to get the information out into cyberspace first? Probably not. Their social media platforms (or those of their competitors) will. But their plan is that when social media leads you to their site, you’ll stick around, learn more, explore more, and then share more—through on your own social media channels. Even though you hear it first on Twitter, you’ll go to The New York Times Web site for their trusted, reliable brand experience.

Read this article by tech blog Mashable, Inside the ‘New York Times’ Redesign. You may have already seen some of these features emerging (sometimes sporadically) on sites you work on or frequent. What do you think of their redesign? Of responsive design? Of more white space? Larger images? The diminished traditional navigation bars? You can also experience the preview yourself and sign up to request access to the prototype through The New York Times.

Further, what have been your challenges and successes in encouraging clients to change the way they view media—for example, by mimicking “app behavior,” diversifying media, or re-envisioning their Web site as more than just a repository?

The dialogue was introduced by OgilvyEngage’s interactive panel discussion on the private sector’s engagement in Social Marketing and why businesses should foster behavior change.  The panel helped sharpen perspectives on the issue and examined the multiple roles that the private sector can play as well as how to get the most out of private sector collaborations.

The panel featured key thought leaders in the social marketing field, including:

• Nancy Lee, President of Social Marketing Services, Inc. and Adjunct Faculty at University of Washington;
• Jay Bernhardt, President of Digital Health Impact, Inc. and Professor and chair of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida;
• Celeste Bottorff, Vice President of Living Well at The Coca-Cola Company; and,
• Tom Beall, Managing Director of the Global Social Marketing practice at Ogilvy Public Relations.

Overall, the discussion centered around how government and other traditional leaders of social marketing movements can benefit from private sector leadership and support on behavior-related initiatives. Kicking off the panel, Nancy Lee touched on the evolution of corporate social marketing and clarified how it differs from Corporate Social Responsibility and Cause Marketing, saying that corporate social marketing is perhaps the most important direction for Social Marketing.  Tom Beall chimed in to shed light on the communications aspects of behavior change programs.  Jay Bernhardt furthered the discussion by offering perspective on how important it is, when seeking help from the private sector, “to think of them as partnerships not sponsorships,” and further added that “starting small is key to building trust and momentum.”  And in support of Jay’s comment on partnerships verses sponsorships, Celeste Bottorff noted that money represents the least powerful of corporate resources and that for Coca-Cola it’s “their voice, distribution, and customer relationships that add the greatest value in public private partnerships.”

But the most valuable takeaway for me was a point made by Jay – “the solutions to our society’s most wicked problems will only be solved with involvement of all sectors.”  It is clear that there are many very strong, and sometimes opposing opinions on this issue, and as a practitioner I recognize that it can sometimes be uncomfortable to venture into this space. But as Social Marketing as a discipline is evolving,  it’s going to be increasingly important for all of us to accept the new way forward and acknowledge the mutual benefit that comes through the private sectors engagement in social change.  As Celeste noted, “both sides of public-private partnerships need courage,” but “it’s the right thing to do, and we should do it because we can do it.”

Our dedicated behavior change practice, OgilvyEngage partners with companies and organizations to help create customized communications programs that prompt and support shifts in attitudes and behaviors among target audiences and enhances return on investment for businesses. To learn more, check our paper From Cause to Change: The business of behavior, which discusses how businesses can harness the power of behavior change and show that what’s good for individuals and good for society can also be good for business.

1.  Social change marketing, as I’m now referring to our discipline, is still brand challenged — most notably by the ever-growing confusion with “social media” and the fact that to some “marketing” is a bad word.  Yes, we need to do a better job of “marketing social change marketing.”  So let’s stop talking about it, and let’s start doing it.

2.  It was refreshing to hear some presenters admit they don’t have all the answers and call for the field to collaborate on finding solutions to big problems.

3.  It was disheartening to see the divide that still exists between academics and practitioners.  As my colleague, Tom Beall, eloquently said: Let’s build on our commonalities and not exploit our divisions.

4. I wish there were more time to experience the culture of Toronto.  To open the conference, we were treated to a beautiful blessing from a member of First Nations followed by a performance by a World Champion Hoop Dancer — something I’d never seen before and thoroughly enjoyed.  Yet, I found myself wishing for more opportunities to experience the culture of Canada and the beautiful city of Toronto throughout the next 2 1/2 days.  The next time we gather, I hope there are more opportunities to do so that are baked in to the conference agenda.

5.  Presentations that rely heavily on visuals and compelling stories are far more engaging than text-heavy slides.  (This is not a new learning but one that was re-confirmed after watching 2 1/2 days of consecutive presentations.)

6. Experts from outside the field of social marketing but who work in a related field bring a valuable perspective — we should strive to hear more from them.

7.  The solutions to our society’s most wicked problems will only be solved with the involvement of ALL sectors of society.  (Jay Bernhardt)

8. Both sides of public-private partnerships need courage for there are always detractors.  (Celeste Bottorff)

9. Social and Marketing go together like a horse and carriage.  Lyrics by Nancy Lee.  Vocals by Nancy Lee’s Granddaughters.

10. There is amazing insightful, creative, and innovative social marketing work happening around the world.  I’m inspired and am looking forward to getting back to work to apply some of what I learned this week!

In a few days, I’ll be joining more than 500 colleagues, academics, researchers, and students in Toronto for the third biennial World Social Marketing Conference. As the title sponsor, Ogilvy Public Relations is honored to contribute to this pioneering event. This is the first time the conference will be held in North America.

For those who haven’t attended this event in the past, the conference is a unique opportunity for social marketing practitioners to meet and discuss behavior change principles and techniques that ultimately help people lead safer, healthier and more productive lives.

This year’s theme – exploring new challenges and solutions to social change – spotlights how social marketing practitioners are overcoming barriers to designing and  implementing highly effective, sustainable interventions. Panels, posters, and educational sessions on health, the environment, criminal justice, transport and finance will be presented with particular focus on sustainability, intra-disciplinary working and the relevance and application of behavior change practice and science.

The conference will feature notable speakers including: conference Chair Jeff French, a recognized global leader in the application of behavior change and social marketing, and Chief Executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.; Nancy Lee, international economist, author, and president of Social Marketing Services, Inc.; Brian Wansink, professor at Cornell University and author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think;” and Phillip Kotler, professor, author, and founder of Kotler Marketing Group, Inc.

The conference will also feature renowned author and environmentalist Ma Jun, Founding Director of China’s Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs, as a keynote speaker.

For those of who cannot attend this year’s conference, I encourage you to follow and spur discussions about the conference online through Twitter, using the hashtags #wsmc and #OgilvyWSMC. You can also follow the conversation here on the Social Marketing exCHANGE and through the conference website, www.wsmconference.com.

Do you have issues that you would like to see World Conference participants address next week? Do you have recommendations for how we together build a stronger global movement dedicated to capturing, spreading and nurturing even better and more effective social marketing practices? Leave a comment here and I’ll share it with the conference organizers and participants next week. We will do our best to get your questions answered and your ideas considered.

I’m guilty as charged when it comes to keeping your head down and commuting in silence. Take this morning for instance, while on my way to work I, like those around me, was looking at my phone. I read the Washington Post, read emails, and poked around Facebook. It was then that I remembered a post from a high school friend called, Stop and Hear the Music. It is particularly poignant to the observation that we as individuals no longer stop to take notice of the little things. We take for granted that those people we encounter on the street, on the bus or metro, the things we see in our structured schedules will be there for the duration. When did we stop smelling the roses, or listening to the music?

In an experiment initiated by The Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten on January 12, 2007, American Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua

Photo courtesy of http://www.joshuabell.com/photos

Bell donned a baseball cap and played as an incognito busker at the Metro subway station L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, DC. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; of the 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him). The night before, he earned considerably more playing the same repertoire at a concert. Weingarten won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his article on the experiment. I challenge us all to stop and make the time to GO down to the Tidal Basin on your lunch hour, SAY hello to the person next to you on the bus, PUT your phone away, and LISTEN to the music.

Below is a brief excerpt from Weingarten’s article:

“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by The Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”

So here are a few things that I’ve done – in no particular order— in the last few months:

1. Set monthly budget check-ins with my husband on our shared calendar
2. Committed to discussing changes to my 401k and other saving goals with our financial advisor
3. Begun to help  my Dad organize my parents’ financials and estate plans
4. Failed at curtailing my online shopping habit – ooh, a package from J. Crew has actually just arrived
5. Sweated about the fact that my husband and I really haven’t stuck to our monthly budget check-ins (see #1 above)

What I haven’t done – or done proactively – is talk with others, my friends, or even family, about my opinions, my choices, and my fears.  While we may have more access to information, software, and financial advice in 2013, talking openly about savings, spending, or investing is not the topic of choice among social and peer groups.   Even writing this blog post makes me a bit uncomfortable as I mention things about our financial advisor, how health issues have so suddenly changed how I approach my family’s financial situation, and about my new clothing purchases. Yes, I know I didn’t need those new spring tops, but at least they were on sale, right?

As a social marketer, I’ve committed much of my professional life to tackling issues around financial planning and security – as they relate to behavior.   So moving forward this year, while I’m going to look for ways to be more active and open about my own behavior regarding money, I’ve also outlined a few specific topic areas that I’ll be taking a deeper dive into in this year on the exCHANGE.

• Our opinions and behaviors (our Moneytudes) are still widely shaped by those close to us – our family, our upbringing. And while attitudes can differ by generation, recent studies have also shown the influence that parents can have on younger generations.
• The country’s economic climate can influence attitudes about money, but some experts have commented that it may not translate into behavior change. Anxiety has been higher as a result of the housing and economic crisis, for example, but this has not always resulted in changes in spending and savings.  In contrast, personal life events continue to be seen as major drivers of financial decision making  (e.g. marriage, job change or loss, family growth)
• What it takes to successfully save for retirement (and the unexpected) is still largely misunderstood by many Americans, and can lead to mistakes, inaction, or being misled by fraudulent entities.
• Technology, especially online banking and mobile apps have expanded access to financial planning tools and resources – for all ages and income levels.  Websites like Mint.com have become very popular, and even the U.S. Department of Treasury rolled out a contest last summer, called the MyMoneyAppUp Challenge, for the best mobile app ideas to help Americans make smart financial decisions.

These are just a few of the ways in which Americans’ relationship with their finances is evolving.  What do you want to know more about?

What has shaped your attitudes about money, or planning for the future?

What are you personal barriers to paying off debt or saving more?

Who do you turn to for advice? Is that different than who your friends or family seek out?

Kevin Byrne speaking at The Carmine.

Kevin Byrne is the man behind the Baltimore Ravens’ media plan. He spoke recently at The Carmine in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, DC. He was a personable, thoughtful individual whose passion for his job was palpable. It’s possible he was still riding the Super Bowl XLVII win high, but something tells me that, like any true public relations professional, he has moved on to the next set of challenges.

Working as the Senior Vice President & Community Relations Manager for a professional football team seems as if it’s 50% public relations and 50% crisis management. Byrne has been with the Ravens for more than 30 years and has been providing the franchise with day-to-day advice (how to maintain a strong Ravens fanbase) and counsel on the unusual (how to speak with the media about a possible murder indictment charge); this man has seen, and done, it all.

As a communications and crisis management professional, Byrne provided tips on how to effectively maintain and move forward the image and appearance of a national brand. While social marketing professionals have slightly different goals than the NFL, the advice provided speaks true to what we do.

1. Internal communication is the most important. It goes without saying that colleagues must talk to each in order to get anything done but what Byrne was referring to specifically was internal dialogue between us and the client. While Byrne is the head of Ravens media communications, he often meets with the owners, coaches, and even players to ensure that messaging is agreed upon and consistent.
2. Managing vs. controlling. Communications is only a faction of an NFL team. That means a number of differing personalities with different opinions and often different agendas. Instead of acting as the summit of all decisions and ignoring the thoughts and needs of these different parties, Byrne believes he is more effective in promoting the Ravens brand when he is managing these different parties rather than trying to control every detail. Working with the head coaches, owners, and even the players themselves to ensure that everyone is on the same page in a collaborative, thoughtful fashion rather than providing a list of talking points to each strengthens relationships and presents a united front to the media.
3. Always remember W.I.N. Yeah, sure, we all want to win, but what Byrne is referring to here is to keep in mind What’s Important Now. Often during brainstorms and meetings, it can be easy to forget the big picture. Brendon Ayanbadejo, former Ravens linebacker and marriage equality advocate was looking for opportunities to advocate on behalf of same-sex marriage around the Super Bowl game. While Byrne encourages players to have their individual voices heard, he asks that during the season, all players prioritize the team’s larger goals.
4. Humanize the brand to strengthen connections. Social marketing professionals are well aware that first-hand accounts and stories are more compelling than lifeless facts. NFL communications also adheres to this rule; Byrne takes time to consistently blog about Ravens news, players, and activities on the Ravens website throughout the year to keep the team connected to its fans. He is sure to present both sides of any news, even if an argument isn’t the most flattering about the Ravens. This establishes the Ravens website as the go-to source for all information.
5. During a crisis, consider redirecting the focus. Sometimes the media and the public can grab control of information that is unflattering or false. Byrne suggests analyzing the situation and determining whether this needs to be addressed or if there is a bigger, more important issue of which to remind the media. In Byrne’s case, when former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was accused of using deer antler spray to help him recover from an injury, Lewis redirected inquiries toward the more pressing issue at hand: winning Super Bowl XLVII.

Byrne may live in a different world than some of us, with Super Bowl rings and thousands of media inquiries a day, but his presentation showed that no matter the scale of work, communications professionals across the board share similar experiences. Isn’t that refreshing?

Whoops, how'd that get in there!

Temporarily stepping foot into Byrne's world.

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