Since 1996 Hill & Knowlton has been trying to help stem the tide of teen pregnancy in California, where every nine minutes a baby is born to a teen mother. Commissioned by
the California Department of Health Services' Office of Family Planning, "The Partnership for Responsible Parenting" has tried to raise public awareness of the issue by reaching
out to teens.
By 2000, both the client and agency had decided it was time to refresh the campaign. Because of the campaign's ambiguous title, "we found that people were not relating to the
program as a teen-pregnancy prevention program, so we needed to tighten the focus of what we wanted the people in California to think about," says Hill & Knowlton Vice
President Phyllis Tucker.
Tucker brought in market research firm Field Research Corp. to conduct statewide testing among teens and adults to learn what they perceived about the present campaign and what
they thought about the teen pregnancy issue in general. For openers, they learned that teens wanted to be addressed directly, and that any campaign needed to be geared toward
males as well as females.
Enter the re-branded campaign: "It's Up To Me...To Prevent Teen Pregnancy."
The strategy
To reach the greatest number of teens, the PR team forged working ties with some 600 community-based organizations throughout California. The plan was to provide these groups
with appropriate PR materials that could be used to help raise awareness of the issue, and let these groups act as the front lines in delivering the message of personal
responsibility.
"We have been trying to be creative, trying to be practical, and still at the end of the day having all that result in behavior changes," Tucker says. To that end, the PR team
created an activity kit meant to encourage kids to talk early and talk often about their sexuality. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for these community organizations to
lend their support. "They are doing the counseling, they are doing the outreach, and so the materials that we develop for them have to make sense in the context of the work that
they do every day."
The branded activity kit contains activities and information, including a discussion guide, 3-D quiz cards and an original card game intended to inspire conversation between
adults and younger people. The PR team also relied on community organizations to rally the troops for morale-boosting exercises. Together, the PR professionals and the community
groups have organized 17 teen rallies featuring teen entertainers, speakers, ethnic dance groups and exhibitors, all focused on delivering teen-pregnancy prevention messages.
To make these events happen, the PR pros have done a fair share of handholding with their community partners. "We have a full-day training session on how to put on a rally, how
to get these entertainment groups, how to get donations for prizes and things to give away. Then we will do media-spokesperson training for teens," explains Account Supervisor
Marianne Miller.
Multiple elements
Promoting the theme of personal responsibility and empowerment, "It's up to me" has delivered its message through diverse channels. The PR team partnered with the top-rated
Spanish-language television station in Los Angeles (Univision/KMEX-TV) to produce and air four, 30-second PSA-style segments called "consejos," or "pieces of advice." These spots
promoted a Spanish-language hotline and emphasized the importance of adult/teen communication.
To encourage male responsibility, the campaign team developed a contest for young men, asking them to create and submit thought-provoking posters with artwork and messages
about male responsibility in regard to sex and fatherhood. Five winning posters were reproduced as postcards and distributed to community organizations statewide. The campaign
also sponsored a rap contest for young men to express their thoughts on responsibility. Three grand-prize winners professionally recorded their songs on an original CD titled,
"It's Up to Men."
The list goes on. A Web site provides information on reproductive issues. A toll-free hotline offers information in English and Spanish. Long-distance calling cards offer free
long-distance service to those who will listen to a short message on teen-pregnancy prevention.
While all these efforts have played a role in the campaign, not everything has worked as well as was hoped. When it comes to working with community-based organizations,
campaign newsletters have pretty much fallen flat. "We have proposed these things where we would have a community newsletter, something that would communicate to people everything
that was happening in the campaign. We would try to make it local, try to connect it to their county or city," Tucker says. "But by the time we get that news out, it is no longer
timely, it is no longer relevant, it costs a whole lot of money to produce it - and it does not change anybody's behavior."
But behaviors are changing, thanks to this broad and multifaceted campaign. "The campaign has really served to build the awareness of Californians about this public-health
issue," says Anna Ramirez, chief of the state's Department of Health Services' Office of Family Planning. "Things have been going very well in terms of teen birth rates, which
have been going down significantly in California" in recent years. The state's teen birth rate has declined 31.3%, almost twice the national rate of reduction.
As for the campaign itself, teen rallies have attracted 5,000 attendees, while "Consejos" have resulted in nearly 20 million Spanish-language impressions. The toll-free line
has drawn 8,874 calls, the Web site has attracted 180,000 visitors, and some 175,000 collateral items including T-shirts, CD cases, brochures and pens have been distributed
statewide.
Hill and Knowlton
Staff on this campaign: Phyllis Tucker, vice president; Marianne Miller, account supervisor; Dan Shaw, account supervisor; Lynn Tran, account executive; Victoria Walsh; account
coordinator
Campaign time frame: Launched in 1996, revised in 2000, and still ongoing
Budget: $500,000
Contacts: Phyllis Tucker, 323.966.5787; [email protected]; Marianne Miller, 323.966.5700; [email protected]