Developing a Communication Campaign: Stages, Brief, and Testing, Slides of Communication

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Developing a communication campaign.

Because communication is such a critical part of sanitation marketing, we wanted to focus an entire module on developing a communication campaign. The learning objectives for this module include understanding

• The steps to develop a communication campaign
• Some tips to manage this process
• Examples from WSP’s implementation in Indonesia In this module, we assume that you will contract an advertising agency to produce the communication materials.

The first stage—design—is grounded by an advertising agency brief. The brief is the most critical part of designing a communication campaign. It is the cornerstone of the campaign and will serve as the key reference document for both you and the agency throughout the process. The brief distills the findings from the formative research, specifying the target audience, target behaviors and the communication objectivestarget behaviors, and the communication objectives. It should tell the agency everything it needs to know to understand what the target audience does, feels, and thinks today—and what you want them to do, think, and feel tomorrow, as a result of the campaign.

It should tell the agency everything it needs to know to understand what the target audience does, feels, and thinks today—and what you want them to do, think, and feel tomorrow, as a result of the campaign.

Working from the brief, the advertising agency begins by developing some possible communication concepts or “big ideas”. For example, in Tanzania, formative research showed that many rural people felt that because they were poor there was nothing they could do to improve their sanitation. That is referred to as an external “locus of control.” In consultation with WSP, the agency proposed a concept around empowerment_._ This concept was executed through the Choo BoraBora campaigncampaign—“A good toilet is possible ” A good toilet is possible. Keep in mind, there is an unfortunate tendency among lower‐capacity agencies to go straight to execution and focus on catchy logos and slogans. Ask them to take a step back and start by developing broad concepts. (Photo credits: TK)

Next, the agency tests the concepts and preliminary executions on a representative sample of the target audience. Testing will reveal if the target audience understands the concepts and execution, finds them attractive, and can identify with them, among other criteria. The agency should provide a full debriefing on the test results and not just “yes, participants liked itparticipants liked it .” Learn what tested well what didn’t and explore why Knowing these Learn what tested well, what didn t, and explore why. Knowing these details will help you manage the process in later stages. After testing, the agency should use the findings to refine the concepts and execution. A follow‐up round of testing is recommended to ensure the refinements are on track, and that areas that needed to be strengthened are now working. See Tools & Resources for additional guidelines on pre‐testing. You can share these with the ad agency as well!

Once the concepts are fully tested and final, the agency begins production. For example, for radio or television spots this requires writing scripts, casting, taping, and editing. Developing a message checklist based on the brief that you and the agency agree on will help the agency develop scripts and other materials, you will find it useful when it comes time for review and sign‐off.

Once the materials are ready, plan a meeting or workshop to orient partners and stakeholders on their purpose and how they should be used. Involving them in the design will facilitate this process.

(Image credit: TK)

Drawing on these insights and others, the ad agency identified two social drivers that could be used to support and reinforce Community‐Led Total Sanitation efforts: the shame of open defecation and the fear of gossip. The agency developed a concept around each driver. The concept based on shame performed better during pre‐testing. This concept was executed as a character namedThis concept was executed as a character named LikLik TelekTelek , oror “Uncle Shit ” designed toUncle Shit, designed to evoke disgust. He holds incorrect beliefs about feces and sanitation and practices and represents a behavior, that of open defecation, that is no longer acceptable. (Photo credit: TK)

The agency produced posters and a short video drama featuring Lik Telek. As part of the dissemination strategy, WSP held a workshop for representatives from 29 districts. Participants were introduced to the materials and learned how to develop a promotion plan and budget.