The Campaign Company Blog

Binge drinking all in the mind...

The increasing awareness of binge drinking as a problem, particularly amongst young people, has led to a string of policy announcements in recent months.  It is a debate that is played out very publicly and has the government caught trying to assuage the drinks industry, the 'get tough' tabloids and health professionals, all at the same time. 

All of this is based on an assumption that we know what binge drinking actually is.  Binge drinking has been defined in a number of different ways; the majority of which refer to a certain number of units consumed in a particular session.  I sometimes wonder though, whether this is not completely missing the point.

If we take young people as an example, much of the current focus is on education and awareness.  The idea might be that if someone were aware of the facts, they could make a rational and informed decision about whether or not they should binge drink.  A full understanding may result in someone reducing their consumption to recommended levels.  However, this assumes that a 'binge drinker' is a rational consumer.  A rational person would look at the prospect of a night out and think, 'I hope I have a good time tonight'.  A 'binge drinker's outlook would be, 'I want to get completely smashed tonight'.  It is this mind set that lies at the heart of binge drinking amongst young people.

I use inverted commas around 'binge drinker' because, of course every young person who binge drinks does not share this philosophy.  This is why it is so important to segment our target audience in much more sophisticated ways than simply, 'young' and 'old' or 'rich' and poor'.  A multi-pronged approach is required to tackle the problem.  When I think of binge drinking though, I consider those whose purpose on a night out is to get as drunk as possible and subsequently, how to address that attitude.  As a 23 year old, I remember (or in most cases cannot remember) frequently going out with exactly that intention.  Even then, I knew the trade-off (good night blurred with memory loss versus hangover, hole in wallet, frequent regret) was not worth it.  All the education and awareness in the world would not have made a blind bit of difference though.  It was of no consequence whether I drank 15 units or 30 units; the important issue was my intention.

I do wonder whether it is helpful to attempt to define binge drinking at all.  For those who wish to, I would argue that binge drinking has a lot more to do with why we drink than how much we drink.

Cohesion requires patience

When it comes to community cohesion the important thing to remember is what you are aiming at. You need to achieve an outcome where nobody feels uncomfortable or unwelcome in their own neighbourhood and where people are respectful towards each other.  Then you can start to build a shared vision and a sense of community. The benefits of diversity will become obvious in time - a greater tolerance of difference and much more local creativity in the community as innovators are drawn to the rich mix of cultures that co-exist. Celebrating these benefits might be where you want to end up but assuming that widespread tolerance exists at the outset may cause problems and inter-ethnic tensions. The world is changing quicker than any other time in its history. It is changing at a pace that many people are not comfortable with. Any attempts to increase the pace of change will bring about a negative reaction.  Community cohesion requires an effort to manage change at a pace that carries most people along from the existing communities, new communities and the authorities. For community cohesion to work the three different groups need to take steps towards each other. It is as important that all three sides are being seen to making these steps, rather than assume a single direction of travel by everyone at the same pace. Should any of these sides not be playing their part, then the whole process will stall. If they  are being forced to move too quickly they will react. Speeding up the process for one of these groups may  build resentment and distrust from others.  People will cling to what they know and what they are comfortable with. There is then a danger that the gap between the communities becomes wider than the continents that previously separated them.  This is the space that extremists thrive.

Oil and Keeping Healthy in the United Arab Emirates..

The Campaign Company is to start working in Abu Dhabi on Public Health and social marketing campaigns. Nobody would have believed you 50 years ago if you had said that by 2008 the so called "diseases of affluence" would have become the major the health challenges facing the United Arab Emirates.With annual growth rates of 16%,it is now one of the richest countries in the world. And it's all down to oil,the wealth this has brought and the subsequent changes in lifestyle that have ensued for many sections of the population. The prevalence of Diabetes mellitus is probably the highest in the world-24% among locals and 17% among non local. Cardiovascular disease accounted for 22% of deaths in 2006 -Smoking,diet and obesity and lack of exercise, all play their part.The emphasis of health care must shift from the curative to the preventative.

But it's not just chronic disease that's killing the population. The second cause of preventable death in the UAE is road traffic accidents-1056 in 2007. Legislation and design of safer roads can help but essentially it comes down to changing behaviour. And this is where we can help.Along with a range of international partners we have formed a collaboration under the umbrella of the Emirates Institute for Health and Safety.We will be reporting on our campaigns on this blog.

The creative is within us?

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
Pablo Picasso

Do we destroy the creative capacity of our children?
Our education system was designed for the Industrial revolution and was built on a foundational structure of  a pryamid  progression within education. With primary and secondary education providing 'blue collar' workforce and the level of your education determined what level you would work in. The top levels being lawyers, MP's, govenors and other high ranking positions within the economy.  But now 70 years on we still have the same structure for educating our children. Graduates are leaving university with a BA to go home where the job now needs a MA  and a PhD where the previous job needed a MA.

So why with such an influx of students are we still thinking that the education is working? The same system can be seen across the globe, yet we do nothing to progress the education system to taylor the needs of the individuals. In the UK and the US money spent on educating a child has risen 60% in the last 20 years, yet the levels of standards across the board have not risen at all. Why is this?

Does picasso's quote have any relevance to the state of our education as it stands now?
The Paperclip Experiment
The Paperclip experiment was conducted using 50 children from the age of 3-5 and then using the same children to conduct the experiment every 5 years to test their level of creativity and imagination through their education.
The participents were told to think of ways in which you could use a paper clip and write them down. Once all of the results were taken the number of uses that they could find for a paperclip was compared to all other responses across allage ranges and would give a percentage of how creative they were. The higher percentage indicates a 'genious' level of creativity and imagination. Try and predict what will happen.

    3-5year olds                        98%
    8-10year olds                     32%
    13-15year olds                  10%
    25+                                        2%

More to come .....

Wikis for Consultation

On Tuesday David Evans (MD of The Campaign Company) and myself presented to the Consultation Institute conference 'Technologies for Participation'

The event was being run in conjuncture with ICELE (The international centre for excellence in local democracy) and featured a host of speakers from local authoriities, local strategic partnerships, software vendors and other across the consultation and engagement spectrum.

A one of the presentations which were of particular interest included Steve Jarman, head of research at Cardiff City Council whose doing some interesting work around setting up a 'Data Observatory' for Wales, creating a consultation portal, 'E-Consult' and webcasting. Steve was giving clear direction that no single technological approach but instead a mixed methodology forms the basis of a successful use of technology in consultation.

The Campaign Company session focused on the use of wiki's for consultation, the presentation is available here.

Key points included:

• Wikis are most suitable where the audience is already engaged in the subject
• Wikis work as a part of a wider engagement strategy which includes appropriate methods to access and support every section of the audience
• Wikis are by definition a 'bottom up' platform, the struture and direction will be defined by the users. In light of this the organisation running the project has to be prepared to cede much of it's control to the audience
• Whilst hopefully the wiki will be driven by the audience, it will require continual moderation, support and training to ensure it is focused and accessible

In many ways Wikis offer very different opportunities to traditional e-consultation tools. The have the ability to creat community, bring policy makers and service deliverers together with service users and communities in a way a e-petition or voting handset can't. However to achieve this it has to be directed at the right audience, around the right issue and with the right support

Memo to Local Authorities: "Make me smile (come up and see me)"!

A useful report published today from the Young Foundation on the wellbeing and happiness agenda and empowerment. It adds strength to the case against the low aspiration agenda for the Community Empowerment White Paper argued by some who do not wish to leave their comfort zone and which I have previously blogged on.

The report presents evidence to make the case for three hypotheses:

• that wellbeing is higher in areas where residents can influence decisions
  affecting their neighbourhood
• that wellbeing is higher amongst people who have regular contact with
  their neighbours
• that wellbeing is higher in areas where residents have the confidence to
  exercise control over local circumstances.

TCC experience working with local authorities and their local strategic partners also seems to confirm these hypotheses. The insight we gather through social marketing for Primary Care Trusts (PCT's), provides a slightly different angle in looking at this issue, but also seems to confirm the case being made.

In saying this, I don't fully agree with Richard Layard's arguments over the happiness issue and that you can improve things across the board to similarly match the rise in GDP. For example any complex human society will have sadness at various points in life such as a family bereavement and other stressful episodes that happen such as divorce or bankruptcy. Nevertheless the public and voluntary sector can do much to help the least happy 10% through the recently agreed extra expenditure on talking therapies in mental health.

Whilst some of the wellbeing and happiness agenda may be ambitious at times, surely part of the empowerment agenda should include an attempt at increasing wellbeing. If a local authority can't always make people happy all the time, surely it can try to empower residents to increase local human interactions that in themselves will "make people smile a bit more". This can even be be measured in how people react to a local authority in surveys and qualitative local discussion groups.

TCC have worked for local authorities such as Newham where we have developed community engagement programmes for Neighbourhood Forums along the lines of "shared challenges" such as local community led "Clean Sweeps" of Neighbourhoods. Watching whole families of all ages and from very diverse backgrounds turn up to don their luminous jackets and work together to litter pick local public spaces, in my experience, puts a smile on most people's faces!

The forthcoming Community Empowerment White Paper should address well-being issues and assist local authorities in putting a smile back on the faces of their many local communities!

Making the most of your Governors

The latest analysis commissioned by Monitor indicates Foundation Trusts are making real progress in bringing local accountability to the NHS. This is fantastic news for hospitals and healthcare services and the communities they serve. Real people are finally feeling they are having a real influence on decisions that affect their healthcare. But what makes for a successful Trust? The answer lies in the Governors...

A successful Trust recognises that it's Board of Governors are, or should be, at the heart of their future plans. If FT's are about giving people on the front line more freedom, and patients more choice, then Governor's have a crucial role to play. They become the watchdogs where the Government has stepped back, and they become the hospital's advocates to the public, assisting in patient choice.

But this is a new role, even those that have been in place longest have really only been operating under their current set-up for a few years at most. Many have never done anything like this before. Indeed, it is questionable whether there has ever been a role like this before!

Monitor highlight that 4 out of 5 Governors are now clear about their roles and responsibilities, around half have exercised their statutory powers and many feel that they can adequately represent the needs of their constituents. But the real key to the success of the Governors is in the relationship they are able to build – and maintain – with the Trust Board.

At TCC we have found that empowering Governors to be effective in their roles requires offsetting high aspirations with realistic management of expectations. A committed, enthusiastic group of Governors is useless if their Board doesn't listen to them. Likewise, a Council of Governors ready to make executive decisions on the remuneration and allowances of the chair and executive board, for instance, is ineffective if they don't understand the roles and pressures of those they are keeping in check. It is vital that Governors are supported in their roles by the Trust Board, that they are given all the information and tools they need in order to be effective.

The next step, inevitably, will be to mobilise the Governors in helping create an engaged and active membership base for their Trusts. Where the focus has been on numbers, more numbers, attention is now shifting to engagement. Sustained membership recruitment will always be a concern for Trusts as patients continue to exercise their choice or move away from the area, and it will be the role of the Governors to keep their interest and to keep them involved. Creative communications techniques that are effective at getting information moving in both directions will be crucial where budgets are already stretched.

Building Capacity and Building Communities.

We’ve been working with a London Local Authority on their ward based approach to community involvement. Ward residents will meet three to four times a year in assemblies chaired by councillors but coordinated by the community to make decisions and recommendations to the council. It is a new approach with new structures. We are engaged in delivering training and capacity building with councillors and coordinating group members as the structures bed in. The training has a bit of a twist though; we are supporting it through the use of a Wiki space.  

The Wiki is a multi purpose space; it is first of all a source of training material provided by TCC but it also allows participants to add content. The content can be anything from personal experience to a best practice article, all of which are up for discussion in a forum that is simple to use. In essence, as the work of the assemblies develops participants will be able to share experience across all of the boroughs wards.  The ward basis for community involvement is given a borough wide dynamic through the use of the Wiki.

Time will tell if it can deliver a true on-line community.

Social Networks and Information Design

Social Networks
Diverse and ever growing this web of connections is hard to track and observe. The aquiring and representation of this information is no easy task. Many different ways of designing and encompassing this information have been created with different effects and outcomes that are effective or confusing.

The task is to first decide what you want to demonstrate and explain, then acquire the information that will be needed, then decide on the medium of where it will be communicated and design the method of display.

Below is an extensive and direct solution to showing social groups that exist within the context of friends and the networks that they generate. Where the lines group together you can see that a social group has formed.

With Information like this you can then breakdown their origin and impliment a process and method to communicate with this obvious and collective of people. A key to a successful campaign surely then to target your markets efficiently and effectively and with tools like this and specialist specific and relevant methods of information design you can begin to make the most of your data.

Below are a few more examples of social networking tools

http://nexus.ludios.net/view/Nicholas_Bushby/HjqDbvcRjHwv/?dark=0

http://nexus.ludios.net/view/Nicholas_Bushby/HjqDbvcRjHwv/?dark=1