# Presentation: 588018

## Turning Data into Information: Marketing Information to Policy LeadersCDC Assessment Initiative Conference, August 16, 2006

**Paul Gionfriddo**
**Executive Director**

## Introduction

- Former legislator
- Former Mayor
- Former consultant
- Former adjunct faculty member

- Who am I, anyway?

- “That Paul Gionfriddo, he used to be someone.”

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Key Take Home Points

- Tell them what you’re going to say.
- Say it.
- Tell them what you said.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## What I’m Going to Say

- Communicating information to policy leaders (and others) is a challenge.  Learn about them before you talk to them.
- You need to provide your information clearly to make the point you intend to make.

- My focus is on the _challenges_ in getting your message through.  Stephen Few is the expert on communicating effectively, and he will show you this next.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Communication is a Challenge

- “As you know, I don’t speak much Italian.  However, I have taken the time to prepare a few words in Italian tonight.
- “I’m certain that some of what I say will come as a surprise to you, and given my lack of facility with the language, I’m also certain that some of what I say will come as a surprise to me, too.”
- -- anonymous legislator

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Communication is a Challenge

**Norwegians Confused by Bush Salute**
-  By Associated Press January 21 2005, 12:51 PM EST
- OSLO, Norway -- President Bush's "Hook 'em, 'horns" salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Information for Advocacy

- Where social marketing and media advocacy intersect.
- You need to know your audience, and you need to present information in a way that moves powerful systems and structures to change.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Politicians Want Information

- “Before I give you the benefit of my remarks, I’d like to know what we’re talking about.”

**But in the absence of information, politicians will still make decisions.**

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Knowing your audience

- What competes for his/her time and attention?
- Twelve Information Fields to Fill:
- Family, hobbies, and pets;
- Religion, job, and schooling;
- Neighborhood, friends, and shopping;
- Committees, caucus, and constituents.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## They’re Not All the Same

- “It’s not denial.  I’m just selective about the reality I accept.”
- “It’s not denial. I’m just _very_ selective about the reality I accept.”
- “It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I _choose _to accept.”
- _“__I’m not in denial_. I’m just selective about the reality I choose to accept.”

**-- Calvin**

**-- Emphatic Calvin**

- -- **Controlling Calvin**

-  **-- Egocentric Calvin**

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Providing Information Clearly

- Focus yourself to focus your audience.  Decide on your message and stick with it.
- The data should match the message.
- What counts is the quality, not the quantity of the data.
- When there are data, you should use them.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## 1. Focus Yourself. Decide on Your Message and Stick With It  

- Wisconsin State Health Plan 2010 Objective K2a:
- By 2010, reduce the percent of Wisconsin adults (ages 18+) who report current cigarette smoking from 24 percent in 2000 to 19 percent.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## The Table

| Year | Total |  | Males |  | Females |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| (N) | Percent | +/- | Percent | +/- | Percent | +/- |
| 2000 | 24% | 2% | 24% | 2% | 24% | 2% |
| (N) | 2,715 |   | 1,218 |   | 1,497 |   |
| 2001 | 24% | 1% | 25% | 2% | 22% | 2% |
| (N) | 3,598 |   | 1,618 |   | 1,980 |   |
| 2002 | 23% | 1% | 25% | 2% | 21% | 2% |
| (N) | 4,350 |   | 1,789 |   | 2,561 |   |
| 2003 | 22% | 1% | 24% | 2% | 20% | 2% |
| (N) | 4,049 |   | 1,630 |   | 2,419 |   |
| 2004 | 22% | 2% | 25% | 2% | 19% | 2% |
| (N) | 4,490 |   | 1,790 |   | 2,700 |   |

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Charting the Data

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Three Possible Messages

- We’re making no progress toward reducing our percentage of men who smoke.
- We’re making reasonable progress toward reducing our percentage of people who smoke.
- We’ve achieved our objective in reducing the percentage of women who smoke.
- What do you want it to be? Focus yourself to focus your audience.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## 2. The Data Should Match the Message

- “It was said once, remember when they built the (Alaskan) pipeline, ‘Don’t build the pipeline, you’ll get rid of the caribou.’  The caribou love it.  They rub up against it, and they have babies.  There are more caribou in Alaska than you can shake a stick at.”     – former elected official

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## New Jersey’s 2004 Message for Heart Month

- Cardiovascular disease is a major public health problem; it is the leading cause of death in New Jersey and nationally.
- In 2001 more than 28,400 people in New Jersey and over 930,000 Americans died from cardiovascular disease.
- Coronary heart disease and stroke, the principal components of cardiovascular disease, are the first and third leading causes of death in New Jersey.
- African-Americans in New Jersey have higher mortality rates from cardiovascular disease than do whites, both for heart disease (287.6 versus 249.6 per 100,000) and for stroke (65.6 versus 41.9 per 100,000). (Age-adjusted death rates, 2001)

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Here’s One Possible Chart Using These Data

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Here’s the Chart NJ Produced

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Utah: Always Above Average

- Percentage of Adults Who Smoke, By Year

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Utah: Coping with Being Always Above Average

**Healthy People 2010 Objective 27.1a: **
- Cigarette smoking - Adults (age adjusted, ages 18 years and older)**U.S. Target for 2010: **12%**Utah Target for 2010: **11%
**How Are We Doing?**
- Although Utah's smoking rates have decreased since Master Settlement Agreement-funded programs were initiated, _approximately 190,000 Utah adults and teens continue to smoke_. People with low incomes and fewer years of formal education report higher rates of tobacco use compared to the general population. Recent surveys show that approximately 80% of Utah smokers want to quit.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Utah: Always Above Average

- Household Income

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Utah: Coping With Being Always Above Average

**Why Is This Important?**
- Income is strongly related to health status. Low-income persons tend to have poorer health status, in part because they cannot always afford good health care.
**How Are We Doing?**
- Utah's median household income has increased since 1984, even after adjusting for inflation. However, _during the recent recession, income levels dropped off_.**How Does Utah Compare With the U.S.?**
- Utah's median household income has generally kept pace with that in the U.S., but _Utah's households are larger, making per capita income in Utah lower than in the U.S. overall_.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## 3. What Counts is the Quality, not the Quantity, of the Data

- “These are not my figures I’m quoting.  They’re the figures of someone who knows what he’s talking about.”
- Anonymous legislator

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Packaging and Selling Issues to the Legislature: CT

- The Issue: CT had a law mandating last sale dating on milk.  Health advocates wanted to extend it to require last fresh sale dating on all dairy products.
- The Challenge:  Getting attention for a perceived minor issue by packaging the right data.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## An Act Concerning Moldy Yogurt

- The title grabbed their attention.  It was easy to understand, easy to remember, and to the point.   It wasn’t just the data that mattered.
- The argument against:
- Even though it might be a good idea, it would be too difficult and expensive for vendors to stamp a last sale date on all dairy products.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## AAC Moldy Yogurt: How We Convinced Them

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## 4. When There Are Data, You Should Use Them

- The Healthy Virginians 2010 Advisory Team in the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) believes that in order to be effective and manageable, the emphasis in Virginia should be on approximately fifty statewide objectives for the decade.  To get to that number, the Advisory Team reviewed all of the national focus areas and objectives to determine those that it feels are the most important to Virginians.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Healthy Virginia 2010 Objectives

**27-1a.**  Reduce cigarette smoking by adults.
**27-2.**  Reduce tobacco use by adolescents.
**27-3.**  Reduce initiation of tobacco use among children and adolescents.
**27-10.**  Reduce the proportion of nonsmokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke.
**24-3.**  Reduce hospital emergency visits for asthma.
**21-10.**  Increase the proportion of children and adults who use the oral health care system each year.
**16-10a.**  Reduce low birth weight (LBW).

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Healthy Virginia 2010 Objectives: The Data

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## Why Bother?  Because Politicians Are Deciders

- “When I started I was for the bill, but the longer I talk, the more I know I’m against it.”

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006

## What I Said

- Presenting Information to policy leaders (and others) is a challenge.  You need to understand them as your audience or customers.
- You need to provide your information product in a clear way to make the point you intend to make (so that they buy it).
- My focus was on the challenge in getting your message through.  Stephen Few is the expert on effective communication, and he will talk about this now.

- Paul Gionfriddo PBCCHA 8/16/2006