Session: Designing Messages to Promote Health: Media, Branding and Social Influence Strategies (Society for Prevention Research 22nd Annual Meeting)

Strategies and tactics of social influence or persuasion have been applied in prevention contexts over the years, and often have produced powerful results. However, attempts to formalize and systematize message design to maximize preventive outcomes are rare. In this session, researchers whose work reflects current routes to message design, all grounded in empirical research, will discuss design approaches most likely to produce beneficial health outcomes. One of the most effective strategies for message delivery is product branding. Branding is the foremost approach to commercial product and service communication and marketing. Brands such as Nike with its signature ‘Just Do It’ tagline create mental representations in the minds of consumers and thereby build relationships between consumers and products and services. However, it is rare for communication and marketing such as branding to be used effectively to promote health. This session will offer some strategies from funded research on the uses of branding in health promotion.  A variety of approaches to effective message design and branding characterize the work of the contributors to the symposium, whose ultimate goal is to energize research efforts on the construction of effective messages and use of "commercial" strategies applied to issues of importance.  Finally, in considering ways to encourage additional research in this area, available funding also needs to be considered. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has been a prime funder of the approaches to be discussed in this session.  Avenues to maximize NIDA and other NIH funding opportunities for this area of research will be presented.