A partnership between the Centre for Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) identified that an alarming number of infant mortalities were being caused by babies' exposure to dairy products at such a young age. Iris DDB was tasked with creating a behaviour change intervention that would encourage urban moms to thus take up early breastfeeding.
The specific behaviour we zeroed in on was neighbourhood gossip as a vehicle for positive change. We crafted a short miniseries, pitched it to our client as a sort of Zambian take on 'Desperate Housewives', and found a way to culminate the story in happy endings that celebrated the willingness of Zambian moms to raise each other's children as one village.
A lot of the things I learned about behaviour change -- on this project and on a later campaign addressing toilet sanitation and targeting urban landlords -- I have found quite applicable to for-profit messaging. A simple framework developed by Ms. Val Curtis and Robert Younger, who I had the great pleasure to work with, compacts an effective behaviour change intervention as one that creates a moment of surprise for the audience (discovery); presents an opportunity to evaluate or negotiate that surprise (evaluation); and, ultimately, the means with which they may proceed to integrate it into everyday life, long after the intervention ends (application).
You can read more about the intervention here: http://kombonihousewives.lshtm.ac.uk/index.html
Agency: Iris DDB.
Behaviour Change Model:
Ms. Val Curtis (1958 - 2020), Director of the Environmental Health Group (LSHTM).
Mr. Robert Aunger, Associate Professor in Evolutionary Public Health (LSHTM).
Creative Director: Crispen Sachikonye.
Copywriter: Chola Chisengalumbwe.
