Rowena presents on the merits of social marketing
TCC's Social Marketing Associate tells Neil Thornely all about her presentation on the matter in the run up to the UKPHA conferenceRowena Merritt has been working with TCC since 2009. In that short time she has been crucial in the development of TCC’s social marketing strategy. This year we’ll be supporting her as she presents on the findings of a three-year study into the effectiveness of social marketing at the UKPHA’s Annual Health Forum. As the excitement builds in the run up to the event, Rowena gets to the nitty-gritty of what her presentation is about.
So how did you get involved with the project?
Basically, in 2004 there was a government paper called Choosing Health. In the paper it said that there was a need to consider social marketing. At the time there wasn’t really any evidence to say that it worked in Britain. The Department of Health paid the National Consumer Council (now Consumer Focus) to carry out an independent review of whether social marketing actually worked or not. The report carried about 50 recommendations for the DH, one of which was to set up the National Social Marketing Centre. I started working for the NSMC in June 2007 when the project was launched.
What did the project involve?
Well there was a lack of clear evidence that social marketing worked on a local level, and although there was evidence, most of it was from other countries. We knew it worked in America but they have a completely different health structure to England’s NHS. We then went about setting up ten ‘Learning Demonstration Sites’.
Where were the Learning Demonstration Sites and what did they do?
They were all around the country. We set one up in every region where there were health inequalities, the North West, North East, Yorkshire and Humber but we also set on up in Dudley, one in Norfolk, one in London and another in Brighton. They all looked at a different health topic and a different target audience.
We ran a project in North Tyneside that looked at underage drinking on the streets – the results showed that it was very successful in reducing the amount that people drink on the streets, and reducing how much they drink full stop. Our aim wasn’t to say ‘never drink’, because that’s unrealistic, but we wanted to reduce how much they drank – for example – discouraging them from drinking until they vomited. We also highlighted how vulnerable they were when they were drunk and on the streets.
What’s going to be included in the presentation?
It’s going to look mainly at what worked and what didn’t work. It’s going to look at what you need to have in place to make social marketing work on a local level and function within the NHS. I’m basically presenting on a paper that has been written about the three year project that the DH have requested. I’ll be looking at the ten Learning Demonstration Sites and evaluating what worked, and then presenting on what you need to do to make social marketing work within your area. The paper is currently under review with a leading health journal and we’re hoping to get it published.
What is it that drives you to push social marketing?
Because I actually believe it works. I’ve seen it work. The NHS is a huge beast and there are some things which really hinder social marketing within the NHS – the way it’s structured, the way the management works. That’s what really motivates me, tackling those structural changes and attitudinal changes within the system to allow it to be successful. There have been some great examples within the Learning Demonstration Sites scheme of where people have really changed their attitude and their approach to doing things – it’s had an amazing effect. Sites where the NHS staff haven’t embraced it so much, they have been less effective so it really comes down to the employees looking to change the way they work.
How do you hope that the presentation will affect some of the attitudes that NHS decision makers have towards social marketing, idealistically speaking?
I’m a realist – but in an ideal world I think the NHS staff would look at the findings of the project before embarking on a social marketing project of their own. We were the pioneers so I’d hope they would learn from what we did wrong but also what we did right. You have to have the right things in place – you’ve got to have good insight into why your target audience behaves the way they do; you’ve got to look internally at the way you’re organised; do you have the right stakeholders on board?; have you engaged with all the correct people? You can’t do it in isolation because the NHS doesn’t work like that. There’s so much noise around the areas that we’re working with, and the problems we’re tackling are all interlinked with each other.
How do you feel about the presentation?
I’m very excited about the presentation. The Learning Demonstration Site scheme was a three year project and it ends this March, coinciding with the UKPHA Conference, and it’s a nice ending to a scheme which I set up and managed. A wonderful team have worked on the projects, and although it’s been three years of tough work, we have all really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the presentation!
We wish Rowena the best of luck with her presentation.
Look forward to a full report on the presentation and regular updates from TCC whilst at the event.
Neil Thornely
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Last Updated on Friday, 11 February 2011 16:25