Highlights from One Campaign to Promote Awareness

In 2003, the Aging Futures Partnership in Broome County, N.Y., knew that the southern New York area offered a wealth of services to its growing population of older adults—and that people needing those services often had no idea they were available. How could the partnership make this claim so confidently? Partly because their knowledge was supported by data they’d collected in a recent evaluation.

Having solid data helped open the door to a basket of foundation grants and in-kind donations that funded the partnership’s Multimedia Awareness Campaign, launched in 2004.

Two major campaign thrusts were to promote awareness of the partnership’s Senior Resource Line (a telephone information and referral service) and distribute its Elder Services Guide (a printed booklet describing local services for older adults). Right from the outset, the partnership found ways to track results and incorporate what they learned as the campaign unfolded.

The campaign was broad-based and extensive in scope. Here is just part of its story.

How to Get the Messages Across?

The main audience for this campaign was older adults. After reviewing Nielsen ratings, the partnership chose to focus heavily on WBNG-TV’s “Action News at Noon” program.

Nielsen Ratings:

• Of the area’s top five rated news programs (all on WBNG), “Action News at Noon” had the highest percentage of adult viewers age 65 and over (69 percent).
• The segment had an average daily viewership of about 16,000 adults overall, including 11,000 adults aged 65 and over.

The campaign booked 52 weekly Wednesday time slots on the noon program, and then produced a special “Senior Connections” segment for each slot. Of these segments, 51 were live presentations and one was taped ahead of time. Negotiations with WBNG resulted in an in-kind donation from the station and extra exposure through posting content to the station’s Web site.

Rolling Out the Campaign

The campaign began in February 2004 with introductory material and promotion of the Senior Resource Line and Elder Services Guide. The partnership already tracked activity on the resource line and had baseline data for the previous year. This made it possible to compare weekly numbers (using Wednesday, Thursday and Friday data) and isolate the effect of Wednesday’s “Senior Connections.”

Percentage Increase in Calls to Senior Resource Line (over previous year)
          After March 3 program                   107%
          After March 24 program                 256%

Percentage Increase in Requests for Elder Services Guide (over previous year)
          After March 10 program                 345%

These data showed a huge spike, indicating that this part of the campaign was effectively reaching the target audience. The spike tended to taper off and return to normal levels within a day or two after the segment aired.

The first full-content “Senior Connections” took place April 2, 2004. Volunteers staffed a phone bank, and viewers were invited to call and request a packet of information that included the Elder Services Guide, and a refrigerator magnet and pen promoting the Senior Resource Line.

          Initial calls requesting information packet                994
          Subsequent calls (over the next few days)                15
          Total Calls                                                            1,009

Phone bank staff asked callers for their phone numbers for possible follow-up, and 95 percent of callers provided this information.

Following Up to Learn More from the Target Audience
One of the partnership’s goals in this campaign was to learn more from older adults, and fine-tune the campaign with their concerns and needs in mind. Two evaluation techniques were used.

In the first large mailing of 1,009 information packets (see above), the partnership included a self-addressed and stamped Tell Us What You Think postcard asking two questions: “Did you find the materials you received useful?” and “Do you feel more confident in your ability to find the services you need?” There was also space provided for comments. A total of 300 postcards (30%) were returned, with these results:

          Found the material useful or
          somewhat useful                                 99.6%

          Felt more confident or
          somewhat more confident                   99.6%

From statements provided in the postcard’s area for comments, the partnership was able to extract these qualitative conclusions:

1. Seniors lack awareness of services available in the community.
2. Seniors consider the Elder Services Guide useful, comprehensive, organized, easy to read, and helpful to have information all in one place.
3. Seniors consistently rate the Elder Services Guide more user-friendly than the phone book.
4. Many seniors are quick to report that they don’t need the information now, but it may be useful in the future.

In mid-May, the partnership randomly contacted 200 of these people by phone to ask some outcome-based questions (e.g., Have you had an opportunity to use your Elder Services Guide yet? If so, for what service and how did you make out?). Their answers yielded the following information:

Top 4 Guide Categories Used by Respondents
          Financial help                                           30%
          Help around the house, home repair       17%
          Transportation                                         10%
          Caregiver assistance                               10%

Top 4 Anticipated Needs of Respondents
          Transportation                                         22%
          Financial help                                           19%
          Caregiver assistance                               19%
          Help around the house                            18%

Knowing this information allowed the partnership to tweak subsequent content in the “Senior Connections” segments and to focus other elements of the campaign (e.g., advertising spots on various television channels, specific print material).

The partnership also solicited comments from the county Office for Aging’s Advisory Committee, a mixed consumer-professional group; collected survey comments from people attending the local Health Expo 2004; conducted a focus group session with members of the Jewish Community Center’s Friendship Club; and sought informal feedback throughout the campaign. All of the information gained was used to retool and manage the campaign.

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Read about lessons learned by people involved with the campaign.

Aging Futures Partnership is a planning partnership that involves more than 34 agencies, businesses, faith communities and older persons responding to the needs of the Broome County, N.Y., elder population. Aging Futures is an implementation grant recipient with Community Partnerships for Older Adults, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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