How Social Marketing Impacted Cardiovascular Health.
Client: Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Stroke
Prevention Task Force
Project: Blood Pressure and Stroke Awareness
Dates: 2003 to Date
Challenge:
North Carolina is often called the buckle of the Stroke
Belt, with cardiovascular health risk factors much worse
than the rest of the nation. To combat this, the state
launched the Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
Task Force and charged Brogan & Partners with educating
people throughout the state. Particular focus was placed
on people over age 45 in the 62 counties in NC, specifically
those with the highest prevalance of heart disease and
stroke, with emphasis on African Americans.
Objectives:
With a wide array of possible topics to educate on, the
Task Force chose to focus on educating citizens on proper
blood pressure levels and encourage them to ask their
doctor about their blood pressure. For stroke, the focus
was on educating people about the warning signs of a stroke
and encouraging them to call 911 if they or a loved one
experienced them.
Results:
The campaign experienced many good results. Among them,
post-campaign research found that the number of African
Americans who knew that 120/80 was a normal reading grew
from 72% to 77%. Even better, the health disparity between
Caucasians and African-Americans in terms of understanding
of stroke symptoms that existed before the campaign began
was eliminated.
