Avoiding the Stork: A statewide social marketing campaign to reduce unintended pregnancy

Following an extensive 2 year period of formative research and development, a statewide campaign (Until You're Ready, AvoidtheStork.com©) was implemented to prevent unintended pregnancies among 18-30 year old woman. The campaign was a humor-based, multi-channel effort that utilized traditional (e.g., TV, radio) and non-traditional (e.g., event sponsorship, live appearances of the Stork) strategies for engaging the audience. As one method of assessing the impact of the campaign, a statewide, telephone survey of 18-30 year old women (n = 1391) was conducted following the completion of the year-long campaign. Recall of the campaign was high with 72.3% of respondents recalling the campaign. Of those who reported seeing the campaign 84.2% saw an ad on TV, 39.5% saw a billboard, 19.5% saw a campaign t-shirt, and 5.4% saw campaign materials in a bar/restaurant. Women (11.5%) also reported having a campaign related item, such as a Stork condom, T-shirt, lip balm. Campaign impressions were positive. Over half (54.5%) thought the campaign was funny and three-quarters thought it was informative (75.2%). Over half (51.8%) laughed when they saw the campaign, while 21.6% showed the campaign to others, and 42.5% talked about the campaign with others. This study highlights how extensive formative research can ensure that the campaign implementation maximizes reach and exposure. Additionally the study illustrates the importance of a strategy that utilizes multiple communication channels to surround audience members with campaign messages in a variety of venues where audience members may be most receptive to campaign messages.