June 14, 2014 NPHIC Award Entries http://www.nphic.org/awards-home-page
Award Category Media Relations: Media Kits Entry 7 Title Stair Week Media Toolkit Submitted by Kristina Wieghmink, M.Ed. Ottawa County Department of Public Health Communications Specialist & NPHIC Member (616)494-5597 kwieghmink@miottawa.org
Background and Research
One of the reasons people might not use the stairs is because they perceive them as unattractive or unsafe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity conducted a study beginning in 1998 to see if making physical changes to a stairwell in the Atlanta-based Koger Center Rhodes Building, combined with music and motivational signs, would motivate employees to use the stairs. A four-stage passive intervention was implemented over 3½ years that included painting and carpeting, framed artwork, motivational signs, and music. Infrared beams were used to track the number of stair users. “StairWELL to Better Health” was a low-cost intervention and the data suggest that physical improvements, motivational signs and music can increase stairwell use among building occupants.*
Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) released a stair prompt signage design to promote active living in Western Michigan. Graphic images promoting healthy behavior have been shown to motivate stair users, according to the CDC. The message in the signage, “Get Healthy, Save the Earth, Take the Stairs!” also points to a greener option, the stairs, over energy-consuming elevators.
According to national research on health-promoting architecture, six studies evaluated the relationship between people’s perception of the environment and physical activity. Overall, the median improvement in some aspect of physical activity was 35% given a perceived safer, inviting environment. In active building design research, men who climbed at least 20 floors per week can lower their risk of stroke and death from all causes by 20 percent. Additional 1
information is available from the December 2012 American Institute of Architects report, “Local Leaders, Healthier Communities Through Design.” http://ow.ly/mNZ0J
The Stair Week Media Toolkit was created to provide marketing tools to help increase promotion of Stair Week, September 3 – 6, 2013, resulting in a greater target audience reach and awareness of stair physical activity.
The target audience included campaign partners, associated organizations, the public and the media
Planning
The goal for the campaign was encouraging people, who are able-bodied, to take the stairs and be more physically active towards better health.
The objective was to provide campaign partners, associated organizations and the public with stair posters to prominently display at the point of decision: whether to use the stairs or the elevators.
Another objective was to convey to our target audience that using the stairs requires little additional time, no wardrobe change and few additional costs because building code requires stairs.
Planning began when the founder of Stair Week, Joyce Lee-Fellow at the National Leadership Academy for Public Health, coordinated a collaborative group consisting of representatives from: o o o o o o o o o o o o
Ottawa County Department of Public Health, The Kent County Health Department, The Muskegon County Health Department, United Way of the Lakeshore, Heart of West Michigan United Way, Greater Ottawa County United Way, Dana Friis-Hansen, Director of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, David Rosen, President of the Kendall College of Art and Design, The American Institute of Architects, Grand Rapids Chapter, International Interior Design Association, Michigan Chapter, U.S. Green Building Council, West Michigan Chapter, and other design and building organizations.
The next step of the planning process was for the three county communication professionals and health officers to develop a communications plan. The plan included information about our budget, problem to address, target audience, desired outcome, potential barriers and special needs, partnerships, type of communications and deliverables, take away messages, project deadline, what we wanted people to do with the information and what action we wanted them to take. 2
After creating the communications plan, we went through a communications audit. During the audit, we evaluated which communication methods we wanted to implement. We also researched what the CDC and other counties were doing and the effectiveness of initiatives.
The collaborative group determined each of their organization’s resources that were available, funds that would be allocated for the cost of printing and how much time each person was able to give to the campaign.
After we defined our goals, objectives, developed the communications plan and completed the communications audit, I collected more information to create the media toolkit; o
why taking the stairs is important,
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studies that support the need,
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what and where is the point of decision,
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how do organizations and people participate,
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what tools will be available to help promote the campaign,
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how and where do organizations and people receive campaign signs,
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where and how do they post the signs,
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what electronic tools will be available,
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what are the campaign brand guidelines,
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a complete list of all partners,
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and resources used to develop the campaign.
Budget, Materials Used & Execution
$1,200 budget used for the cost of printing 400 8.50” x 11” full color mounted prints on 3mm white PVC
With a limited budget, we relied on the campaign partners’ time and resources.
Messages to the target audience: o
Message 1 - Taking the stairs is one way to be more physically active. We are presented with a choice between taking the stairs and taking an elevator or escalator. Choosing the 3
stairs instead of the elevator is a quick way for people to add physical activity to their day in addition to saving on energy costs to run expensive elevators and escalators. o
Message 2 – “Take the Stairs campaign is an opportunity for County Health Departments to work together. We know we all have the same health challenges and want to promote healthy lifestyles,” stated by Lisa Stefanovsky, Ottawa County Health Officer.
Communication and deliverables: o
See the enclosed Stair Week Media Report for a complete list and links to the sources.
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Media Toolkit http://ow.ly/mOa1U emailed to campaign partners to forward to their contacts.
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Save-the-date cards,
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Example Facebook posts,
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Example Twitter tweets,
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Website banner graphic,
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8.50” x 11” Electronic posters,
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400 - 8.50” x 11” Printed signs delivered to: Ottawa County, Kent County, Ottawa County facilities buildings, Muskegon County, Mercy Health, Jenison Public High School Aquatic Center, West MI Chamber of Commerce, Kendall College, K – 12 schools throughout all three counties, and other partner organizations.
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Collaborative YouTube promotional video posted by: Kent County http://youtu.be/d8aVolYJfbo Ottawa County https://www.youtube.com/user/miOttawa
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Revised website http://www.miottawa.org/Health/OCHD/promo.htm, created a shortened url http://ow.ly/mOa1U and links posted to the media toolkit on campaign partner’s websites. This way, participants were able to have greater access to the tools and were able to easily promote the campaign. 4
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News release to the media and campaign partners.
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Television guest appearance on WZZM’s Take Five morning show.
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Television guest appearance on WGVU’s Ask the Green Expert show.
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News release ran on other local television stations.
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Radio interview with WCSG.
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Articles in local newspapers.
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Social media posts to www.facebook.com/miOttawaHealth, www.facebook.com/ecoOttawa and https://twitter.com/miocdph
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Promotional event hosted by the International Interior Design Association and Third Thursdays Networking in Grand Rapids, MI on 08/15/2013.
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National Public Health Information Coalition – Health Promotional Call on 08/22/2013 http://www.nphic.org/members-area/cdc-nphic-call-documents
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Stair Week Breakfast kick-off at the Grand Rapids Art Museum with campaign partners and the media on 09/03/2014.
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Presentation at Grand Valley State University on October 4, 2013 Public Health overview and OCDPH initiatives.
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Presentation at the OCDPH all staff meeting on October 24, 2013 Communications update and current initiatives.
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Presentation at the Lakeshore Alliance Against Sexual and Domestic Violence Association meeting on January 21, 2014 – Public Health overview and OCDPH initiatives.
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Presentation at the Michigan Environmental Health Association Educational Conference on March 21, 2014 - Branding process and OCDPH initiatives.
Results
See the enclosed Stair Week media report for a complete list and links to the sources.
Number of contacts who received the electronic media toolkit.
Number of contacts who received the news release.
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Social media and website analytic reports to determine the target audience reach (posts viewed, shared, liked, commented, re-tweeted, increase in followers and visits).
Number of attendees who received information at the promotional event, kick-off event, Grand Valley State University presentation, OCDPH all staff meeting, Lakeshore Alliance Against Sexual and Domestic Violence Association meeting and the Michigan Environmental Health Educational Conference.
Number of organizations nationwide who requested the toolkit to run a similar campaign in their region.
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Stairwell Campaign http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/toolkits/stairwell/ Kerr, N.A., Yore, M.M., Ham, S.A., & Dietz, W.H. (2004). Increasing Stair Use in a Worksite Through Environmental Changes. American Journal of Health Promotion, 18 (4): 312–315.
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