How Creativity Can Influence Individuals’ BehaviourHow Creativity Can Influence Individuals’ Behaviour

Scott ConnollyDirector of Research

OUR MISSIONPopulation Media Center (PMC) collaborates with the mass media and other organizations worldwide to:

1. Bring about stabilization of human population numbers at a level that can be sustained by the world’s natural resources.2. Lessen the harmful impact of humanity on the earth’s environment

The emphasis of our work is to educate people about the benefit of small families, encourage the use of effective family planning methods, elevate women’s status, an promote gender equality. Changes in attitudes and behaviors among the audience aremeasures of success.

ISSUES WE ADDRESSHuman Health Human

RightsEnvironmental Preservation

Economic Equality

• Reproductive Health• Family Planning• Maternal & Child Health• Obstetric Fistula• Female Genital Mutilation• HIV/AIDS• Adolescent Reproductive

Health• Drug & Alcohol Abuse• Nutrition• Malaria• Disease Prevention &

Control

• Education• Gender Equality• Child Marriage• Gender-Based

Violence• Violence• Child Abuse• Prostitution• Rights of the

Disabled

• Deforestation• Farming Practices• Climate Change• Biodiversity• Water

• Financial Literacy & Planning

• Entrepreneurship

Funders and Partners:United Nations Population Fund

UNICEFDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation

MacArthur FoundationDepartment of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development (DFATD) Canada

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Compelling and Relevant• Must be 75% entertainment• Can address 5-10 major themes

Long-Running• 206 episodes over two years is ideal• Time for characters to evolve in their

thinking and behavior at a believable pace• Time for audience to evolve in their

thinking and behavior• Time for emotional bonding with

characters

Soap Operas for Social Good

Entertaining and Emotional• Dramatic -- to keep the audience wanting more• Emotion influences behavior more forcefully than purely

cognitive information• PMC programs are often the top-rated show on the air

Real Life, Real People• Show real people with realistic choices• “Positive,” “Negative,” and “Transitional” characters• Never lecture

Soap Operas for Social Good

Rwanda• Ndyera wants a very large family but to support them he

must illegally trap a gorilla in the forest and sell it on the black market. He gets caught in his own trap. He decides to limit his family size and adopts a sustainable farming method to grow food.

Nigeria • Kande is a 13 year old girl from N. Nigeria whose father

marries her for dowry. She gets pregnant and loses the baby, plus gets obstetric fistula. Her husband casts her out. But a friend helps her, and she learns how to get treatment, is re-integrated into society, enrolls in school and becomes a successful seamstress. Becomes positive role model.

Storylines from Around the World

Population Media Center (PMC)

Impacted more than 50 countries worldwide.

Why PMC is Effective

• Focuses in countries with highest need• Based on formative research (real life)• Hires all local producers and writers• Works with national & local broadcasters• Uses multiple media and transmedia• Robust monitoring & evaluation (M&E)

Why PMC Is Effective

Formative Research• Studies the habits and lifestyles of members of the target

audience to determine needs, desires, behaviors and media usage in order to develop understandable, high-quality, culturally appropriate characters and storylines; and above all, to reproduce the life styles of the target audience.

Formative Research (cont.)

• Literature Review• Media Analysis• Social Services Infrastructure Analysis• Health Behavior Analysis• Qualitative Research (Focus Groups)• Ethnographic Research

Methods:

Bringing the Audience and Issues to the Creatives

• Writer’s Notebook– Health statistics, but in visual form– Transcripts from focus groups

• Expert presentations from clients and donors during the training. • Field visits to health centers and communities

Collaborative Research with Writers and Producers

• Help develop questions necessary for research purposes

• Input on research on target audience relevant to story creation

• Observation of focus groups with target audience

• Review of all related new media programming and publishing related to target market

Examples of PMC Metrics (Quantitative)

Audience Size and Econometric Indicators:• Reach (% that listen) and Frequency (# of times listen)

– Program: Ruwan Dare (“Midnight Rain”), Hausa Drama, Northern Nigeria.

– Result:70% listened one or more times to PMC drama – Audience Size:12 million Nigerians– Cost Per Listener: 8 cents US– Cost Per Behavior Change: (For spousal communication about

family planning: 89 cents US)

Examples of PMC Metrics (Quantitative)

Behavior Change Indicators: Family Planning and HIV• Percent of new clients at family planning clinics motivated to get services by

PMC dramas• Program: Ethiopia, Yeken Kignit (“Looking over One’s Daily Life”) • Result: 18% motivated to get services • Program: Burkina Faso, (Yam Yankre or “the Choice”), and (Here S’ra or “the

Road to Happiness”) • Result: Listeners 60% vs. non-listeners 53% responded “yes” to the question

“Have you ever been voluntarily tested for HIV?”  (differences are statistically significant).

• Listeners were 1.8 times more likely than non-listeners to say have been tested, voluntarily, for HIV

Examples of PMC Metrics (Qualitative)

Participatory Research • Post-broadcast qualitative evaluation with drawings

“My life has changed in many ways, and I have tried to influence many others. This is a sketch of me and my daughter Miriam. I have told her that no matter what, she should complete her education. I also spoke to my two elder sisters, who have daughters who were recently married off. I told my sisters to tell my nieces and their husbands to delay pregnancies, and if they become pregnant they should go for regular health check-ups.” Male participant, Kano, Nigeria

How has listening to the radio program influenced your life?

Gugar Goge Nigeria

In the first month, East Los High rose to be one of the top five shows on Hulu, and also the top show for Hulu’s Latino viewers.

In the first month, more than 30,000 people used Planned Parenthood’s “The Check” widget available on eastloshigh.com to explore their risk and need to get tested for STDs, HIV, or pregnancy.

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Experiential learning through gameplay

• Player becomes the Transitional Character.• Interactivity leads to decision-making. • Player experiences cause and effect.

Adapting Sabido Methodology to Game Design

entertainment-education role modeling social change

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PMC Links to Canada• Feuilleton radiophonique Vivra Verra “Time will Tell”,

Republique Democratique du Congo (RDC) – Partenaire DFATD Canada

PMC Links to Montreal• Haitian Diaspora• Soap opera broadcast in Creole to change

attitudes among Haitians about restavek (child slaves) in Haiti

Future Outlook for SectorEntertainment-Education and Health Behavior – Transmedia storytelling using social media and web– Using gaming and gaming audience to engage in and

promote pro-social values aligned with human rights – Development communication and ONG partnerships

Population Media CenterPMC@populationmedia.org+1-802-985-8156