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Audience, Research Activity #1, PH 663

@globalcommunicationproject

Good Job of Audience Segmentation:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DH8Ozxn16ZM/TmorKDkiX8I/AAAAAAAAAPM/leRL59ZrGyE/s1600/02.jpg

These pieces from the New York City Department of Health are aimed at increasing condom use in the 65 plus population. The advertisements are clear and a little cheeky. They aren’t graphic and the idea that they would appeal to an older generation isn’t hard to imagine. The slogans acknowledge older individuals as full people, who engage in the entire range of human activities. Dignified and a little funny, the signs lack the patronizing tones that are often directed towards the older populations.

Poor Job of Audience Segmentation:

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity/GettingActive/No-time-for-exercise-Try-our-Top-10-Tips-to-get-more_UCM_442855_Article.jsp#.WA_5uOArLIU

This piece from the American Heart Association is as unfortunately generic as the title would indicate. Rather than segmenting a particular audience to advise, this health “resource” attempts to speak to a general population, resulting in 10 recommendations which are disconnected and reaching. It can be assumed that the tips were meant to be broad enough to resonate with anyone, but the result feels vague, tired and at times a little condescending. My personal favorite? “Skip the cake, say goodbye to pie and take a walk after dinner. You’ll get a reward that’s sweeter than dessert: more family time.”

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Audience, Research Activity #3, PH 663

@globalcommunicationproject

Anthony Hopkin’s portrayal of the notorious Hannibal Lecter created one of the most infamous and terrifying silver screen villains. The character wasn’t haunting because he was obviously violent, he carried no weapon and was usually calm, no, he was frightening because of his ability to know his audience. It was uncanny how he saw the person in front of him and manipulated individuals to his will.

Perhaps it isn’t fully fair to compare McDonald’s to a horror film antagonist, but the ability to know and influence an audience is something the two cultural figures share. Katrina Strapazzon’s explanation of McDonald’s marketing was illuminating and yet unsurprising. The fast food mammoth has the capacity to segment their target audience into various intersecting identities. Nationality, race, income status, gender, age- no matter your combination, the golden arches have a message tailored for you. Interestingly, this audience segmentation is not only for specific products, but for the messaging around general products. Want the Southwest Chicken Bowl? If you’re a woman, I’ll call it a nutritious, guilt free lunch. If you’re a man, its hearty and flavorful.

While McDonald’s has mastered the techniques it utilizes, in this era of social media and continual communication, the methods are not that distinct from the techniques that are utilized in good health communications. Each breaks down their audience’s needs and preferences, and each segments on things that are impactful for their goals (profits vs health). Capacity is of course different, but the truly important distinction here is motive. McDonald’s segments and targets populations to continue their dominance of bodies in the name of Capitalism, while health communications are attempting to change personal beliefs or behaviors, usually with a sincere motive in hand.

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Audience, Part Four, Analysis Activity #2, PH663

The “This Free Life” campaign targets LGBT audiences. In particular, young LGBT individuals. This is because this audience segment is particularly targeted by the tobacco industry and as a result, they are more likely to smoke. The campaign also uses psychographic segmentation. The values they target are the sense of community that LGBT individuals often feel towards their gender identity. They target people in mostly in the stages of change of precontemplation, and contemplation. They are trying to increase importance of change in the minds of the tobacco users. There are a lot of discussions about how “loving your body” or “bettering myself” are important, so another example of psychographic segmentation in this campaign has to do with people who believe in the “value” of self-love and self-compassion.

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Audience, Part Two, Analysis Activity #1, PH663

The #leadthebreak campaign does not try to target the audience segment that they are trying to reach. Therefore, the campaign ends up targeting audience segments that are different from it’s original target. The twitter feed is an example. There are tweets from volunteer organizations featuring young people such as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, responsibility.org, and a number of academically oriented millennials.

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Audience, Part Four, Analysis Activity #3, PH 663

In Katrins Strapazzon’s explanation of target marketing by McDonald’s there are several aspects that overlap with health communication audience segmentation. There are several segments discussed in this video, some of which are more specific than others.

Clearly, McDonald’s is making an effort to segment, from changing menu items based on cultural and geographic preferences, to marketing to different demographic groups. It is unclear though at times if these groups they have segmented are truly specific. McDonald’s does seem to be marketing without functional meaning.

It’s unclear if McDonald’s is using metrics to place individuals into categories, and without further explanation to this it is hard to conclude if the company is able to operationalize why they are putting individuals or groups into certain segments or not. However, I imagine a huge company like McDonald’s is putting effort into this (but several advertisements with blatant segmentation come to mind that are not quite hitting home from a target audience perspective). I also have no idea what kind of research they are doing about their target audiences, so it is hard to compare this to what should be done in health communication.

They seem to be getting at some benefit segmentation, by offering items seasonally, and offering different prizes. This kind of segmentation may encourage those who do not normally eat at McDonald’s to frequent the restaurant at certain times, for some added or perceived benefit.

It seems a little all over the place that McDonald’s would try so many different segments, all of which are very different, which is not something common in health communication. I think in doing so, sometimes it may be off putting to other groups not identifying with the target audience. This could also be try of health communication, but advertisements for McDonald’s have more of a potential to reach other audiences. Perhaps they need to investigate the reach more.

In my opinion, McDonald’s focuses on demographic approaches, but often times this is blatant, so without analysis of how these target audiences actually respond to the marketing, it’s hard for me to say it’s appropriate. Perhaps a more comprehensive segmentation approach would be beneficial. But it also might not matter, since people will go to McDonald’s anyway, regardless of advertisement that is segmented or not! (Psychographic issues in their favor already??)

@globalcommunicationproject

#audience #Part Four #analysis activity 3 #ph663

Audience, Part Four, Analysis Activity #2, PH663

After examining the “This Free Life” campaign, there is a clear target audience. The campaign states that it’s focus is with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The community is specific, clearly stated, and has functional meaning. This segmentation is purely demographic. This is clearly stated in the “about us” section of the website, and also an easy conclusion to come to after viewing a variety of their material. There is no specific geographic segmentation for this campaign, which may be beneficial since it could be applied anywhere in the United States (or even elsewhere). Much of the content is available on the website, making the geographic location for audience unnecessary. However, most of their events are held in metropolis cities, so may be targeting a more urban scene (where gayborhoods are more common?) Events in rural areas, without a sense of LGBT community would not be an effective place to hold such events, suggesting that the campaign has selected appropriate locations. The campaign discuss tobacco use, which is a known epidemiological risk factor and large contributor to poor health. I think overall the campaign does an excellent job addressing these issues, specifically with how cigarette smoke hurts those in this community (from appearance, to life, to affecting those through secondhand smoke). I found it really powerful that the campaign arrives at the though that this community has done so much to move forward and progress, so why smoke and hold them back? This thought certainly plays into some psychographic aspects of segmentation, as if to say, if you’re smoking, you’re holding this community back. There is a huge emphasis in “pride” in this community (and individuals having pride OF their community), and I think some of the overall message is to have pride not to smoke. I also think that this campaign did a nice job of looking at each sub-segment of the general LGBT community and has content that many different people can identify. The website itself is very eye catching, mobile friendly, and just screams millennials. I think that it was a very clever way to target these segments/ sub-segments. It is also very clear that this is who the audience is supposed to be, and the messaging matches the intended audience.

@globalcommunicationproject

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Audience, Part Four, Analysis Activity #3, PH663

Based on Katrina Strapazzon’s explanation of McDonald’s target marketing, there are some definite overlaps with health communication segmentation practices. An example of this overlap would be McDonald’s use of geographic segmentation through distinct regional areas including the U.S., Europe, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, other countries (Canada and Latin America) and ethnicity (Hispanics, African Americans and Asians). Each geographic segment reflects taste preferences and is tailored appropriately - examples include the Crispy Chinese sandwich, the McCurry Pan, the McAlooTikki, and the McAfrika etc. While health communication might not necessarily segment by taste, making sure the health information reflects cultural norms and attitudes is important and could touch on a broader form of phychograpic segmentation (even though these might be organized through ethnicity you could also argue these food items transcend ethnicity and form a broader cultural norm found through formative research). They also similarly use demographic segmentation through advertisements and products targeting children (happy meals with toys and playgrounds), young adults/students (free wi-fi) and, as stated in the presentation, low calorie/”healthy food” items that target women (though I imagine this appeals to any McDonald’s customer counting their calories). They also segment on income with their dollar menu, extra value meals, and premium items. Health communication campaigns may also do this at times - in terms of resource access and resource subsidization in the case of lower income populations and picking messages and images that might resonate with the community you are advertising in (e.g. your health promotion ad might be different in Rancho Santa Fe vs Sherman Heights). The author also argues that McDonald’s occasionally segments by holiday. I can imagine health communication campaigns segmenting this way by say encouraging healthy behaviors during holidays that are typically associated with drinking (St. Paddy’s day in Boston...).

@globalcommunicationproject

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Audience, Part Four, Analysis Activity #2, PH663

The “This Free Life” Campaign is an anti-smoking campaign aimed specifically at the LGBTQ community. It is segmented by demographics (young, most groups of the LGBTQ in terms of sexual orientation/identity, and gender) epidemiologic/health - (the site states that thousands of LGBTQ people die from tobacco use so they are identifying the community as high risk) and psychographic - (the campaign plays on pop culture trends - featuring famous drag queens from Ru Paul’s Drag Race and over all appealing to a young, fun, creative, and cool aesthetic). I can’t seem to tell if this campaign is geographically segmented - as I can’t make out clearly from the videos/Instagram whether it is rural or urban etc. Maybe they are being inclusive since their primary audience is young and might not have control over where they live yet.

I know that a significant amount of formative research went into the development of this campaign through Joe’s lecture. Because of this, I’m sure interviews with LGBTQ people happened within the cities and suburbs they were targeting about what kinds of messages resonated with them, reasons why they smoke or don’t smoke, impressions, and things they care about in general. I am not a member of the LGBTQ community so I can’t speak with resounding confidence from a personal place on it’s effectiveness in terms of segmentation and messaging. However, I can imagine this campaign resonates with it’s wording, usage of bright colors (that typically appeal to young people), beautiful images of different genders and races and general fun and creative appeal. I really appreciated this campaign’s framing of smoking within the historical - and current - struggles of the LGBTQ community. The language they use is galvanizing and community building - helping people to feel that they are a part of a greater community. They manage to weave together the key words for movement building and historical context (hurts our community), nationalism and consumerism/capitalism (threatens our freedom), perceptions of the LGBTQ community's priorities (ruins our appearance), and the public health concern (exposes our bodies to toxic chemicals and wrecks our health). Overall I think this campaign is reaching it’s “destination” and successfully appealing to it’s target audience.

@globalcommunicationproject

https://thisfreelife.betobaccofree.hhs.gov/why-care-about-tobacco

#audience #ph663 #part four #analysis activity 2