By Alison Whittaker-Stewart, Physical Activity Campaigns Lead, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
As a marcomms professional, the importance of ‘knowing your audience’ and tailoring communications to reach them effectively is ingrained in our approach. In the initial stages of coordinating the We Are Undefeatable in Blackburn with Darwin (BwD) campaign, we utilised a range of data including Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) data, which identifies local health and social care needs by gathering information from various sources and Sport England’s Active Lives survey. This data helped us pinpoint the most prevalent long-term health conditions in the borough, which includes diabetes, cancer, mental health, heart, and respiratory conditions.
One of the first campaign storytellers I met was Bob, a local resident living with a heart condition who stays active by riding his electric bike. My gut feeling was that Bob’s story might not resonate with people living in the more deprived wards of the borough, those most affected by health inequalities. However, relying on gut instinct alone, should not be the only approach, especially when utilising public funds and designing a campaign to meet the needs of local communities. I felt we needed evidence to support our understanding of the borough and effectively shape the campaign.
Attending the BwD Comms, Insight, and Engagement meeting organised by the ICB proved extremely beneficial. Informing the group of the forthcoming campaign and the potential challenges we faced opened up new avenues of collaboration. Following this meeting, the CEO of Healthwatch BwD generously shared profiles for every ward in the borough, providing qualitative insights and deepening our understanding of the challenges faced by the residents.
Additionally, our council’s public health data analyst supplied a comprehensive health profile spreadsheet and met with us to explain the data. We simplified all of this data and insight to support us with campaign delivery, by creating a RAG table that prioritised wards, their most prevalent health conditions, demographic information and local storytellers.
This table guided our campaign delivery. It determined which adverts were shared where, which storytellers would feature on specific bus stops and billboards, who we’d target on social media, which posters to print, and which stories to advertise in magazines. This data-driven approach at ward-level helped to make the campaign more relatable and successful, as it reflected the needs of our residents
Furthermore, we utilised data and insights from the We Are Undefeatable ‘Bridging the Gap’ report (April 2024), which highlighted the public’s trust in the NHS, GPs, and healthcare professionals as sources of physical activity advice. However, these professionals expressed a need for more easily accessible and printable resources as well as increased knowledge of local facilities and services. In response, we created a Moving Medicine resource pack, which was distributed to all GP surgeries in the borough to support local health and social care professionals to better understand physical activity for people living with health conditions. We also provided professionally printed posters which could be displayed in the waiting areas.
Through the We Are Undefeatable in Blackburn with Darwen campaign, we’ve learned several valuable lessons which we feel can be applied to other public health communication campaigns. The significance of leveraging data-driven insights, tailoring campaigns to local needs and collaborating with others across the local eco-system are all critical factors in achieving success. By doing this we can create more effective campaigns and make a lasting impact on public health outcomes.
You can explore the We Are Undefeatable in Blackburn with Darwen campaign by visiting this webpage.
If you are interested in exploring how you could localise the national campaign in your area please contact We Are Undefeatable Activation Manager, Peter Dutton for more information (peter.dutton@ageuk.org.uk)