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The Ministry of Youth Development (MAD) and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRS)I contracted Squiggle and Watts Ltd to complete an evidence review on effective social marketing to young people. This review is part of the Mad’s research programmer entitled What Works in Youth Development. By identifying the success factors of youth focused social marketing interventions, this review will inform future policies and interventions to promote positive youth development. This review provides current evidence of youth-specific social marketing interventions that improved outcomes for young people.
The main aim was to identify the critical success factors for social marketing interventions effective in changing youth behavior in the medium to long term (at least 1-2 years). Other objectives were to identify the population groups for which youth social marketing has been effective, as well as evidence of any unintended consequences of out social marketing interventions. MAD requested a concise report accessible to the broader youth sector. Findings of the review – what works in social marketing to youth?
The review confirmed that a group of recent social marketing campaigns have been successful in achieving reported adolescent behavior change. Tobacco use, marijuana use, physical activity and sexual health were the main topics with evidence of effectiveness. Some campaigns such as Truth and VERB in the United States (US) achieved positive effects on smoking and physical activity rates in the order of 18 to 40%. The literature highlights various factors critical to the success of youth social marketing campaigns.
Evidence for these success factors was strong and consistent across different campaigns and contexts. Features of effective campaigns included thorough research on the audience and targeting of messages to youth audiences; use of creative private sector-based marketing strategies (such as branding positive lifestyles); use of multiple channels (such as television, text or web based promotion and printed resources or giveaways) to increase exposure; and addressing public policy in addition to individual behavior.
Sustained funding and duration, and high levels of marketing exposure, were important in the most successful programmer such as the Us-based Truth and VERB campaigns. A message from the review was the need for multiple organizations with an interest in youth outcomes to combine their resources (e. G. Expertise, time, funding) to deliver social marketing campaigns to youth (McKinney 2007).
As part of the Hrs Partnership Programmer 4 In summary, this review found that effective youth social marketing campaigns marketing 0 0 ‘By youth for youth’ where young people were included in all aspects of he campaign and their guidance was taken on board and used to shape and refine the campaign Use of methods and channels that were accessible and appealing to youth Social marketing informed by research and theory 0 Use of theory and formative research to inform the campaign and comprehension evaluation from the beginning A comprehensive and multi-faceted approach 0 0 0 Long-term campaigns of at least 1-2 years that were well resourced/funded Multi-faceted campaigns including policy changes and focus on ‘upstream’ factors Complement other initiatives such as school- based programmer, advocacy or policy changes Ethnic and age specific approaches in social marketing 0 0 Ethnic-specific approaches, especially for MГROR and Pacific youth Targeting to subgroups such as adolescents e. G. -14 years and high-risk adolescents Application of commercial marketing success factors to social marketing 0 0 0 Use of branding and counter-marketing has been effective in the US in particular Aim for high exposure to a variety of different marketing activities Follow industry guidelines for reach, frequency and duration of advertisements Use of appropriate messages that empower youth 0 0 Messages that empower youth ND appeal to their need for independence and rebellion Strong and intense emotional messages (both positive and negative), use of social threat and personal testimony Work across sectors and organizations 0 0 Pooling of resources across organizations for future social marketing campaigns to maximize funding Consider the need for a specific national framework or steering group (including youth, youth sector, researchers, university, and policy) for youth social marketing. Counter-marketing is an action, intervention or campaign specifically designed to oppose, diminish or eliminate the harmful effects of promotion by commercial impasses (for instance promotion of tobacco by tobacco companies). Definition adapted from the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit Glossary of Tobacco Control available at http://glossary. Tort. Org/list/C, accessed 1 1 January 2010. The evidence on effectiveness for particular youth sub-populations was more limited and inconclusive, due to a lack of ethnic-specific findings. However, the review found Americans. Youth social marketing campaigns have been effective for the general Australian population, for instance after a nine year smoker campaign, smoking reverence in Western Australia declined from 28% to 7% among 14-year-olds and from 43% to 14% among 1 5-year-olds. There is some evidence of success (but less strong) with the Aboriginal youth population in Australia. In New Zealand, there is potential for effective campaigns for MГROR and Pacific youth populations, but current evaluations are limited to impacts on attitudes and intentions rather than behavioral change.
Evaluations of campaigns aimed at the MГROR population overall, not Just youth, suggest concern about whoГAna wellbeing is an important motivator for MГROR. This may also be important for MГROR youth. The review suggests social marketing campaigns have been especially successful with younger teenagers and teens’ (9-14 year olds). The review found little information on unanticipated consequences of social marketing with youth. An example of a negative unintended outcome was that an earlier phase of one campaign was associated with an increase rather than a decline in drug use (Farrell et al. 2009). Possible reasons for this may have been inadequate implementation, low levels of exposure to advertising, or use of irrelevant messages to youth at risk.
The campaign was redesigned, and achieved reductions in drug use, with higher levels of advertising and more specific targeting to youth at high risk of drug use. Review methods This review was based on systematic review principles and included 45 papers covering 15 distinct campaigns, mostly from the US but also from Australia, New Zealand and Tong. Several large reviews were included that covered evidence from multiple countries or regions including Canada, Scandinavia and Europe. A transparent and replicable search strategy was developed in consultation with MAD, HRS and other advisors. Selection criteria along with search terms were used to search for and select papers.
Papers were primarily retrieved from electronic databases, Journals, websites and experts in social marketing. Summary information on interventions, methodologies and findings, as well as strengths and weaknesses of each paper was recorded in an Excel table. The papers were appraised using a quality assessment checklist to decide whether they were robust enough to inform future youth development initiatives and policy decisions. Consistency across studies was considered, along with plausibility of endings, and possible reasons for any inconsistencies were explored. The evidence was synthesized into a description of the reviews overall findings.
This review provides timely and relevant information to assist the New Zealand youth sector in planning best practice social marketing initiatives with the greatest chance of improving youth outcomes. Even so, there is a need for further research, especially investigating effectiveness of social marketing to various cultural groups including indigenous groups in other countries, and MГROR and Pacific youth in New Zealand. 6 1. Introduction The Ministry of Youth Development (MAD) and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRS) contracted Squiggle and Watts Ltd to carry out an evidence review of research programmer, What Works in Youth Development’, and the Hrs Partnership Programmer. Social marketing draws on commercial marketing techniques to influence behavior change to improve social and personal outcomes.
This evidence review identifies ‘what works’ in social marketing programmer to change young people’s behaviors. Investigating the success factors of effective youth focused social marketing interventions will help inform policy development by identifying how interventions can facilitate positive behavior change by young people and lead to improved health and social outcomes. This review will contribute to the body of knowledge being collected for the What Works in Youth Development’ programmer and will help build evidence in the youth development field in New Zealand. The audience for this report is the youth development sector, including youth workers, service providers and policymakers.