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COLLEGE OF FOOD, AGRICULTURAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN ECOLOGY

FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

It takes a village… to run a successful Social Marketing Campaign Ohio SNAP-Ed’s initiative to increase fruit and vegetable consumption across the state.E.B. Hustead, SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Coordinator; B.R. Butler, FCS Program Evaluation Director; J. Counihan, Project Manager, CEO CPA Baobab; K.L. Golis, OSU Nutrition Program Graduate Research Associate; A.C. Zubieta, SNAP-Ed Director

INTRODUCTION

In 2016 Ohio SNAP-Ed launched a Social MarketingCampaign to increase fruit and vegetable consumptionamongst SNAP-eligible families with children. Socialmarketing is defined as “the application of commercialmarketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution,and evaluation of programs designed to influence voluntarybehavior of target audiences in order to improve theirpersonal welfare and that of society.” (Andreasen, 1995).The objectives of the SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Campaignare as follows:

Objective 1: Plan, design, implement, and evaluatea Social Marketing Campaign that supports, expandsand extends the existing OSU Extension SNAP-Eddirect education program.

Objective 2: Create and document the processes ofthe Social Marketing Campaign and its pilot andstaged implementation throughout Ohio.

STATE NUTRITION ACTION COMMITTEE

The State Nutrition Action Committee has been meeting forover a decade to discuss approaches to health and nutritionchallenges across the state of Ohio. SNAC agency logos arelisted below.

Phase 1Formative ResearchPhase 1 began in April 2016 with the hiring of a SNAP-EdSocial Marketing Coordinator. Formative research began inMay 2016 and consisted of Nielsen Mapping Data, focusgroups in three counties, and a statewide survey todetermine motivators, obstacles, and access issuesassociated with Ohio families with children at or below185% of poverty eating more fruits and vegetables. Elevenfocus groups total were held in Franklin, Fairfield, andAthens counties and a total of 80 individuals participated.The statewide survey collected 860 responses from 64counties across the state.

Phase 2Campaign Materials PilotPhase 2 will begin in the Spring of2017 and will take the form of a pilotof campaign materials developed byFahlgren Mortine. The pilot will mostlikely be conducted via focus groupsin three– four counties throughout thestate and will be used to evaluate therelatability of the messages and theefficacy of the forms of materialsused.

Today2016

Hire Social Marketing

Coordinator

April ‘16Begin

formative research

May ‘16Hire Creative

Agency: FahlgrenMortine

Sept. ‘16Pilot SM materials

April ‘17Rollout: 1st

22 counties

Sept. ’17Rollout: 2nd

22 counties

June ‘18

Phase 4Spring 2019 – Winter 2020

Phase 3Fall 2017 – Spring 2020

Phase 2Spring 2017 – Fall 2017

Phase 1Summer 2016 – Spring 2017

20212020201920182017

March ‘19Rollout: 3rd

22 counties

Dec. ‘19Rollout: 4th

22 countiesApril ‘19

Begin Evaluation on 1st 44 counties

June. ‘20Begin Evaluation

on 2nd 44 counties

Dec. ‘21Conclude Evaluation

SNAP-ED SOCIAL MARKETING TIMELINE: 2016 - 2021

Figure 1: Projected SNAP-Ed Social Marketing timeline from 2016 – 2021. Phase 1 is described in further detail above Figure 1 while Phases 2, 3, and 4 are described below. Projected rollout and evaluation dates are a best estimate and contingent on planning with the hired Creative Agency, Fahlgren Mortine.

Hiring a Creative AgencyPhase 1 continued through the summer and fall of 2016:the SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Core Team prepared aRequest for Proposals (RFP) in June, 2016 which was sentto eight Creative Agencies across the country. FourCreative Agencies attended a mandatory question andanswer session on June 30, 2016 to learn more about theproject, and three agencies submitted proposals. Afterreview, two agencies were invited to present their plan forthe SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Campaign to members ofthe core team and the State Nutrition Action Committee onAugust 30, 2016. Fahlgren Mortine was selected as thecreative agency for the campaign and a contract wassigned in September 2016.

Phase 3RolloutTo achieve statewide rollout, the 88counties of Ohio will be divided into 4quadrants consisting of 22 countieseach. The rollout of the first 22counties will begin in the Fall of 2017and an additional 22 counties willrollout every 9 months through theSpring of 2020. The plan is to startwith the Southeast region in Fall2017.

Phase 4EvaluationEvaluation of the first 44 counties tohave implemented the SocialMarketing Campaign will begin inSpring of 2019. Evaluation of thesecond set of 44 counties will beginin June of 2020. Evaluation will focuson how much we were able to “movethe needle” of fruit and vegetableconsumption across the state.Evaluation should conclude by theend of 2020.

CONCLUSIONS

A social marketing campaign will reinforce nutrition andhealthy lifestyle information for SNAP-eligible families withchildren across the state of Ohio. Through collaborationswith agency partners in SNAC agencies will be able topresent consistent information across many platforms andoutlets. Because they will be receiving consistent nutritioninformation and exposed to similar media at many of theirassistance touchpoints in the community, audiences aremore likely to adopt a behavioral change. The SNAP-EdSocial Marketing Campaign began in 2016 with phase 1:formative research and the hiring of a creative agency.Phase 2 will begin in the Spring of 2017 with a four-countypilot of materials generated by the Creative Agency. Phase 3will begin in Fall 2017 with four rollouts of 22 counties everynine months. The campaign will conclude with phase 4: anintense evaluation of changes in fruit and vegetableconsumption amongst SNAP-eligible families with childrenacross the state.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Core Team would like tothank all members of Ohio SNAP-Ed and extension,particularly the SNAP-Ed Program Assistants, SNAP-EdRegional Program Specialists, and FCS Educators. Withoutyour hard work and valuable community networks andconnections, the Social Marketing Campaign would not havebeen a success.

We would also like to thank members of the State NutritionAction Committee including: the Ohio Department of Jobsand Family Services, Ohio Department of Public Health,WIC, Ohio Department of Aging, Ohio Department ofEducation, EFNEP and other community partners includingthe Mid-Ohio Foodbank and the Ohio Association ofFoodbanks. Finally, the SNAP-Ed Social Marketing CoreTeam is immensely grateful to the Ohio State UniversityOffice of Special Projects, specifically Andrew Jasin andAshley Neidhart, for their assistance in the contractingprocess.

This study is supported by a grant from the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture Nutrition Education and Obesity GrantProgram (G-1415-17-0847 and G-1617-0452)-SNAP-Ed.