National Media Forum on Highway Safety

National Media Forum on Highway Safety
Strategic Research, Planning and Implementation

INTRODUCTION

In forging effective interventions that promote traffic safety, a bedrock principle calls for collecting and analyzing data to underpin policy initiatives and to identify opportunities for effecting change. Effective communications are based on that same principle of data collection and analysis. Central to that effort is an understanding of audience. That may mean looking beyond fatality data. You may need to do some market research to get a better understanding of your audience. An effective communicator thinks about the audience first, last, and always. Knowing your audience is a critical step that lets you develop programs, messages and materials that are consistently meaningful, relevant, and persuasive to them. Knowing your audience enables you to better understand how to position your issue tactically. That includes identifying "openings" through which to deliver your message for optimal impact. The timing of such educational efforts, for example, can have an enormous impact on public policymakers and planners in their deliberations. This session will discuss:

The role of research in shaping a communication plan and follow-on campaigns that are part of that plan;
The role of public relations as one tool to further the goals and objectives of your communications efforts; and
Resources within your community and State that can reveal details about your target audiences - details that can help shape the planning and implementation of your State and local traffic safety communication plans.

KEY QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

To make this session more relevant to your needs, consider the following key questions:

When conducting your strategic research, what data are you analyzing beyond your own State's fatality data?
What, if anything, has made it difficult for you to collect information about the target audiences in your State or communities?
Are there partnerships you could expand or develop that could help you gather data about your target audiences?
When you carried out your communications plan in the past, how did you make decisions about which communication channels would be most effective in reaching your target market?

WHY INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS?

INTRODUCTION

As the public encounters a daily blitz of commercial messages and appeals, integrated marketing communications offers the most effective way for consumers to acquire, process and cope with new information. Integrated marketing communications is the use of a single message delivered through multiple communications channels offering marketers a way to overcome commercial clutter and for the message to be noticed, remembered, and hopefully acted upon.

In the case of highway safety, it allows drivers and passengers to quickly identify and evaluate the relevance of such brands as Click It or Ticket or You Drink & Drive. You Lose. to their lives and value systems. When consumers hear or see a single, unified message such as Click It or Ticket or You Drink & Drive. You Lose. delivered through multiple media there is a much better likelihood that the messages will break through the clutter and be internalized.

The marketer who does not use integrated marketing communication as a way to build awareness and brand meaning for consumers and the public will often be ignored or misunderstood. An integrated approach builds brand awareness and produces desired behavior change faster and more cost effectively than any other approach. It is a way to increase marketing effectiveness while conserving critical resources.

ISSUES

Breaking Through the Clutter -The Difference Between an Advertising Program and an Integrated Program
Advertising is only one part of the communication mix. Marketing programs relying solely on advertising provide fewer results per dollar spent than fully integrated programs using a communication mix of earned media, advertising, special events and sponsorships.

Proactive Integrated Planning versus Reactive Piecemeal Programs
Marketers who take a year-round holistic and integrated approach to planning produce greater results than those who use isolated paid-advertising programs based on short-term opportunities or special "offers of the day" from the media. Long-term strategy always out-produces short-term paid-advertising programs.

Sustaining Awareness Between Mobilizations and Crackdowns
Although mobilizations and crackdowns are highly effective in increasing public awareness and changing public behavior, a year-round integrated communications plan full of PR activities can help prevent significant drop-off in awareness after major mobilizations and crackdowns are complete.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AS PART OF THE BIGGER PICTURE

INTRODUCTION

A good integrated marketing communications program includes a clear and coordinated set of core messages that carry a cohesive and integrated theme through all forms of communication. These forms include earned media/publicity, public service announcements (PSA's), paid advertising, Internet, sponsored events, promotional materials, etc.

While recognizing that these marketing techniques collectively represent only one facet of the multi-faceted program (i.e., enforcement, adjudication, training and treatment, etc.) needed to create real behavioral change with our target audiences on important highway safety issues, it is important to look at these communications techniques in greater depth to maximize their use and effectiveness.

DEFINITIONS

The following tools are a means for highway safety marketers to carry out an integrated communications program based on a comprehensive year-round plan.

Paid Advertising
Advertising is a paid, mass-mediated attempt to persuade. If communication is not paid for, it is not advertising. For example, a form of promotion called "public service announcements" or "earned media" is not paid for. Advertising is disseminated through familiar means - television, radio, newspapers, magazines, Internet, direct mail and billboards. The advantage of advertising over earned media is that the timing and content of the advertising messages can be carefully controlled and target audiences can be reached more precisely.

Public Service Announcements (PSA's)
Public service announcements (PSA's) are not advertising. True, they look like ads and sound like ads, but they aren't ads. They are offered by cable TV, broadcast stations and print outlets on a non-paid basis as information in the public interest. Simply put, PSA's are excluded from the definition of advertising because they are unpaid communication and are not "placed." That means that the timing when the PSA's run and the number of PSA's that run cannot be controlled. Marketing campaigns that rely solely on PSA's, without paid advertising and other forms of communications, rarely achieve awareness levels sufficient to create adequate public awareness and behavioral change.

Non-Sustaining Public Service Announcements
NCSA's or Non-Commercial Sustaining Announcements are announcements: (1) sponsored by a non-traditional advertiser whose resources are not sufficient to insure placement and frequency of a normal commercial buy, but whose unique coverage needs can't be met by the normal placement of PSA's, and (2) are broadcast using airtime donated by stations through the NCSA program of State broadcasters' associations.

Basically, stations guarantee air play in all dayparts and provide a "notarized affidavit of performance." You pay for it, but the NCSA program is designated by the FCC, and there are ways to get around the SAG loophole. Note that the time your PSA airs is completely up to the station. You may get some good dayparts, but you can't control placement.

Public Relations
Public relations describe the way issues and messages are communicated between an organization and the public. It is typically the discipline that looks after an organization's reputation. Through a planned and sustained set of activities including events, sponsorships, and earned media, the PR program's goal is to win understanding and support, and influence the opinions and behaviors of the organization's key audiences.

Earned Media
Earned media or publicity is an important component of public relations. It is unpaid-for media exposure of events, issues, personalities and other news. The major advantage of earned media - when the coverage is good - is that it tends to carry heightened credibility with the consumer. It also provides important information to policy and decision makers. A major disadvantage is that unlike advertising, the content cannot be easily controlled, and there is no guarantee the message will get delivered as intended, when intended, to the intended audience.

Sponsorships of Events
Events, whether paid or unpaid, are sponsored for the purpose of the positive transfer of image from the event to the brand. Events can be single-sponsored, in which all of the transfer of image accrues to one sponsor, or events can be co-sponsored, which spreads the cost among several co-sponsoring entities.

To the extent the event is part of an integrated plan and the image of the event is viewed positively by the target audience, there is a higher likelihood that the event will help create tangible results in increasing awareness.

Collateral/Promotional Materials
Most integrated marketing communication campaigns also require some forms of high-visibility materials (brochures, trade show booths, posters, etc.) aimed at educating, publicizing, and winning support for communications objectives. Collateral and promotional materials create an additional and important opportunity to increase exposure to a central message or series of core messages that are integral to the overall campaign. Promotional materials such as brochures allow the integrated marketer to communicate information and facts that are too lengthy to communicate through paid advertising and give the marketer a tool with which to respond to partners, the public, and the media when additional information is requested.

Communication Mix
The communication mix is the percentage of resources allocated to each form of communication such as advertising, PSA's, earned media, sponsored events, materials, etc. Use of all of these communications tools within an integrated plan allows highway safety marketers to develop effective year-round communications programs. These programs are part of a multi-faceted marketing program involving prevention, enforcement, adjudication, training and treatment.

Year-Round Planning
Greater results are achieved through year-round communications programs. The awareness levels for your messages with your target audience are sustained at higher levels when the messages are coordinated and integrated throughout the year. This continual reinforcement helps create positive behavior change.

There are several inherent weaknesses with programs that rely solely on messaging during just the mobilizations and crackdowns.

Awareness levels decline soon after the mobilizations and crackdowns because there is no sustaining messaging program or strategy. As a result, positive behavior change by the target audience is often short-lived. Consumers who were exposed to messages during mobilizations and adopted the desired behavior may soon revert to old habits.
Expenditure levels for subsequent mobilization communication programs require more financial investment than would be necessary if the mobilizations were part of a year-round communications plan. It is less expensive to maintain awareness levels with a sustaining, year-round communications strategy than it is to rebuild awareness levels annually during major mobilizations.

For those States moving toward a year-round enforcement effort, you can run more limited media campaigns throughout the year - thus achieving sustained awareness within your community that law enforcement takes highway safety seriously and is enforcing laws outside the once a year national efforts. During the National Mobilization and Crackdown media blitz you can use that overall effort to your advantage and punctuate your individual efforts throughout the year. Developing relationships with your local media to sustain the message is key.

A year-round communications plan with a series of coordinated messages in support of the major mobilizations and crackdowns and other key highway safety opportunities is the best way to maximize communication results, achieve long-term behavior change and conserve critical resources.

Questions Critical To The Planning Process

What is your budget? How many resources in terms of time, people and dollars can you allocate to accomplish your desired impaired driving and occupant protection communications program objectives?
Who is your target audience?
What are your objective and goal (i.e. social norming, behavior modification, or public awareness)?
Based on the target audience, objective, and goal, which media vehicles are most appropriate to use?
Is your plan integrated (i.e. paid advertising, PSA's, earned media, event sponsorship, promotional materials, electronic/new media, etc.)?
Does your plan result in a year-round program?
How will you measure the results?
Are there potential partners or sponsorships that can help extend your limited resources?

Budgeting
Before allocating your communication budget, determine the amount needed for earned media and press outreach. States should then determine how much to allocate to other communication mix ingredients such as advertising, PSAs, materials and events in just the right way to maximize awareness and produce positive results. You also will need to allocate funds for production of state-specific paid advertising, as well as for PSA's.

RESOURCES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

American Association of Advertising Agencies: www.aaaa.org

Developing a Creative and Innovative Integrated Marketing Communication Plan by James R. Ogden (1998)

The New Marketing Paradigm: Integrated Marketing Communications by Don E. Schultz (1996)

Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications by Kenneth E. Clow and Donald Baack (2003)

Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective by George E. Belch (2003)

Marketing: Principles and Perspectives by William O. Bearden (2003)

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout (2000)

THE IMPORTANCE OF PINPOINTING YOUR AUDIENCE

ACCURATELY IDENTIFYING THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MESSAGE IS ESSENTIAL TO THE SUCCESS OF ANY ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN. THIS APPLIES TO THE CREATIVE AS WELL AS THE MEDIA EFFORT. LET'S EXPLORE THIS FURTHER FROM THE MEDIA PERSPECTIVE.

The more specific and defined your target audience is the more efficient your media plan will be. In fact, plans with a very detailed target audience often require fewer dollars than one with a very broad target. For example, in the case of television, very select programming can be used to reach young men 18- to 34-years-old. In fact there are only two demographic breaks for 18-to-34-year-olds: 18 to 24 and 25 to 34. A less definitive target audience might be adults 18+. This target requires a larger budget since you will need to find programming to reach the younger portion (18-24), the middle group (25-54) and the older portion (55+) of the adult 18+ target. In addition, you have to consider male and female delivery of all those programs.

It is also very important to describe your audience in terms of ethnicity. If African Americans or Hispanics should be part of the target audience it is important to indicate this. Much of the programming you will consider may perform well against your ethnic target, while others will not. However, it may also be necessary to use more targeted programming for your ethnic audiences, including Spanish-language media to reach the Hispanic community.

In addition to knowing whom we want to target we also need to know where they are located geographically. For example, if there are five markets in the State and safety belt usage is particularly low in two of those markets we must focus, or pinpoint, our advertising dollars in those markets.
In summary, to develop a cost-efficient media plan that will affect behavioral change we not only need to know who we should target our messages to, but also where to focus it.

PREPARING FOR THE INEVITABLE CRISIS SITUATION

Every organization is a target for a crisis, and crises can come in many forms. The first step in preparing a crisis communications plan to deal with such situations is to identify all of the potential crises in advance that you believe could impact your office. Then draw up contingency plans and checklists to outline what action will be taken by whom and in what sequence to address each of the likely situations you have identified. Try to anticipate every eventuality. Figure out in advance how you will inform and address your staff and superiors, the media, the public, and all other key stakeholders important to you.

Next, carefully select members of your crisis management team for their ability to remain calm and focused during stressful situations. Then bring together the members of that team to review, discuss, refine, and practice their roles and responsibilities. Such in-depth advance planning and discussion can increase your chances of successfully weathering the storm and achieving a positive outcome.

WHEN THE CRISIS HITS

Call your crisis management team together quickly to review and revise your advance game plan depending on the actual situation. Reset your plan. Then calmly begin implementing the plan as agreed. If someone or something has been harmed, demonstrate your genuine sympathy and support to the victims, their families and friends. Clearly explain the situation and state your concerns about what you think have taken place. Promise a full inquiry and report. Outline the steps you have taken, are taking, and plan to take to address or rectify the situation. Above all, remain calm, be honest, and stay focused.