'My Body Matters' Campaign Designed to Encourage Underserved Women in 18 Ohio Counties to Apply for Free Cancer Screenings

Company Bio:

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health is a government public health organization that works in partnership with the community to protect and improve the well-being of everyone in Cuyahoga County.

Websites:

Executive Summary

Using funding from the Ohio Department of Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Project, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) enlisted Prosper for Purpose for a public awareness and outreach campaign. The main objective was to educate underserved Northeast Ohio populations about breast and cervical health and ultimately, increase the number of health screenings among women in the targeted communities.

The "My Body Matters" campaign was executed in two phases based on grants and program goals. During the first grant, Prosper for Purpose and CCBH collaborated on the campaign to compel women to find ways around barriers to receiving routine breast and cervical cancer screenings. For the second grant, Prosper for Purpose focused on establishing relationships with "My Body Matters" providers and expanding the marketing tactics to include more women in a broader age group.

Challenges

According to a recent Ohio Annual Cancer Report, breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer incidence in Ohio. The incidence rate for Ohio was 125.8 per 100,000, placing Ohio in the second highest tier for incidence rates across the country. The Ohio Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey also indicated 60% of Ohio women 40 and older reported having had a mammogram — less than the national average of 69%.

CCBH has been a grantee of the ODH‘s Breast and Cervical Cancer Project since 1994. Recently, the ODH has decreased the number of regional offices, thereby increasing CCBH’s service areas. CCBH was in need of a high-impact, population-based plan that would address breast & cervical cancer screening awareness among Ohio women in their significantly larger service area.

How We Helped

For phase one of the grant funding, Prosper set out to strategically communicate that eligible women can receive breast and cervical cancer screenings at no cost through the new "My Body Matters" program.

For phase two, Prosper focused on establishing relationships with "My Body Matters" providers and expanding the phase one marketing tactics to a broader range of women aged 21 to 64 years old.

The specific brand development tactics employed by Prosper for Purpose included creating a campaign identity through brand design and key messages as well as writing public service announcements, talking points and creating the "My Body Matters" website.

Results and Future Plans

At the conclusion of Prosper’s work on the "My Body Matters" campaign, more than 1,060 women received breast and cervical cancer screenings. Prosper also helped to secure 318 service providers for the program.

"My Body Matters" went on to win a Gold Rocks Award from the Public Relations Society of America Greater Cleveland Chapter for excellence in integrated communications.

Public relations and marketing tactics included media, partner and influencer outreach, community events and more while development tactics consisted of creating a campaign timeline, periodic benchmarking and partner management.