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CIPHI’s nation-wide media strategy and campaign

The Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI) represents and unites environmental public health professionals (EPHPs) across Canada. With eight branches in Canada’s provinces and territories, CIPHI advances the profession and field of environmental public health through certification, advocacy, education, and support of professional development for EPHPs.

Protecting the health of all Canadians, CIPHI’s hard work matters. Big time.

Unfortunately, misinformation, limited knowledge about public health, and poor public understanding of the EPH profession has resulted in an ongoing lack of knowledge about and appreciation for EPHPs and their work. Consequently, EPHPs have been underutilized in public health systems, have received lower salaries, and have seen budgets shrink, all of which contributes to decreased support for the health and safety of Canadians.

As part of a multi-year effort to change this, CIPHI partnered with Be the Change Group to develop, implement, and evaluate a marketing and advocacy strategy targeting diverse audiences, with the goal of creating a stronger and more recognizable professional and public identity for the organization and EPHPs.

Drawing on our comprehensive strategy that incorporated high-quality images and playful taglines, we launched a nation-wide campaign celebrating EPHPs and the importance of their work. The campaign resulted in high levels of engagement and reach, and bolstered CIPHI’s brand presence with key stakeholders. What’s more, EPHPs told us that they enjoyed the campaign and felt appreciated.

Sector

    Services

      Impact

      The change

      18.3K%

      increase in Facebook page likes

      9.8K%

      increase in Facebook page reach

      74.8%

      increase in website visitors

      Discovery

      Over 700 individuals engaged

      Through focus groups, key informant interviews, and online surveys, we engaged and listened to over 700 individuals across Canada, including EPHPs, CIPHI volunteers and members, employers, and decision-makers.

      Community engagement

      Across Canada we engaged:

      727

      online survey respondents

      17

      key informants

      29

      focus group participants

      Communications and strategy

      Strategic communications and a brand audit

      To clearly identify communications priorities that would help CIPHI advance toward its goals, we carried out a brand audit that included a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis and a stakeholder analysis. Based on our findings, we built a three-year strategy that outlined marketing and communications activities and their timelines, a communications plan matrix, and intended outcomes.

      Our solution

      A campaign that made people look (and think) twice
      By combining high-quality, engaging images and succinct, eye-catching, and playful taglines, our campaign communicated and celebrated the important work of EPHPs across Canada. While physical assets were in play, the campaign was primarily digital, which ensured a broad reach across the country, maximized the budget, and delivered content that was shareable within the organization and on external networks.

      To ensure that we understood the audiences unique to each region in which CIPHI works, we met with CIPHI regional branch representatives, researched local media outlets that aligned with the target audiences they identified, and supported each region with their media buys and campaign rollouts.

      In addition to leveraging online channels, our team coordinated media buys for more traditional channels, such as billboards targeting specific regions. This supplemented the reach of the digital channels and also bolstered CIPHI’s brand presence in strategic areas and with key demographic groups.

      Be the Change Group’s work went above and beyond what we could have imagined for our organization. The team is talented, communicative, and wonderful to work with.

      Valerie Jackson, BC CIPHI President-Elect, National Advocacy Committee member