UNIVERSITY COALITIONS for GLOBAL HEALTH

Campaign Strategy

Introduction

Now that your recruitment is complete, it’s time to move into the “nuts and bolts” of creating a campaign strategy.

Steps for Creating a Campaign Strategy

Find your Issue
Set Goals
Assess Resources
Targets
Messaging
Tactics
Evaluation

Remember: When designing a campaign, do not move directly to tactics before properly planning a strategy. Without a strategy, the tactics, no matter how bold or attention grabbing, are not likely to win a campaign.

Cutting the Issue

Winnable campaigns all have one similar quality: they all pinpoint a specific issue. This process can be tricky, so first ask yourself this question: “What is the objective of my campaign?” To answer this you have to turn a problem into an issue.

Problem vs. Issue
Problem	Issue
You cannot choose	You can always choose
No definable solution	Specific solution to a problem
Broad : Global access to HIV/AIDS medicines	Specific: restrictive trade policies

A problem is access to HIV/AIDS medications, but how do you solve that problem? You can’t. It’s too broad to organize a campaign around. Then ask yourself, what are the issues that are causing the larger access problem? Suddenly you have a wealth of issues to choose from: restrictive trade policy, lack of health-care infrastructure to deliver medicines, etc.

Characteristics of good issues

It will improve peoples’ lives
It’s something that a large number of people care about
The organization has the resources in terms of money and people to win this issue
It will unite people for a common cause
The issue will engage more students in your organization
The issue is winnable

Setting Goals

The first step in any campaign is to clearly define and research your objective. Successful campaigns not only win concrete improvements in people’s lives, they build a stronger organization and increase student involvement. All campaigns include both advocacy and organizational goals.

Advocacy Goals

Immediate (6 months): Raise the issue of the health-care worker shortage to all relevant student movements and policy-makers. It’s important to note this is strategic. It’s not awareness for awareness sake; it’s the deliberate education of the important parties.
Medium (one year): Introduce and find congressional co-sponsors for the African Health Workers Investment Act.
Long (2+years): Achieve $650 million in U.S. foreign aid spending on improving health-care infrastructure in the developing world.

Organizational Goals

Immediate (six months): Recruit 1,000 new subscribers to emails lists while maintaining existing members.
Medium (one year): Strengthen student contacts in cities/regions that can influence important policy makers.
Long (2+ years): Have more than a dozen student groups around the country working on this issue. Develop strategic partnerships with other student organizations.

Goals should be SMART
Specific – About the objective you are working to achieve
Measurable – Something that you can track
Appropriate – Your goals should be compatible with your mission and vision
Realistic – Goals should reflect your capacity and experience
Time-bound – When you plan to achieve this goal

The Big Resource Picture

This is the time to do both “in house inventory” of your organizational resources and to reach out to others for support. Working with unusual allies can help change the balance of power so that your campaign can succeed.

What are your organization’s strengths and weaknesses?
How many supporters do you have? How many leaders?
What capacity do you have to reach out to the media?
What capacity do you have to produce events?
What connections do you have?
Who are your allies and opponents?

Record all of your answers and remember to be realistic and honest with yourself.

Who’s in Power

All campaigns are organized around a specific target. Ask the following questions to determine who your targets are.

Who has the power to give you what you want?

This person is always an individual person or group of people, never a board or committee. It is important to be specific and name your targets.

Ex: Congress needs to increase funding for global spending on health.
Target: Senator Aimslow because he sits on the U.S. Appropriations Committee.
What power do you have over your target?

Do you have people in his state or does one of your students work at his country club? It’s time to put the puzzle together.
What influences my target’s decision making?

Know the decision making system
Ex: If you are advocating for change at your university, the school President may not have the power to make the change, but the board of directors does. Targeting the president of the university would be a waste of time and resources.

It is important to determine who is on your side, who is not on your side, and who is in the persuadable middle. Sometimes the obvious target isn’t accessible and it’s necessary to work through others to reach him/her. These people are indirect targets.

Create your Message

Campaigns are successful only if they empower students to take action. This means communicating with students with a message they understand.

Know Your Frame

The first step in this process is to look at how a story is told, called its frame. One example of reframing an issue is using the word ‘lagoon’ instead of ‘pond’. While both refer to the same landscape, ‘lagoon’ invokes the notion of an exciting and exotic paradise and ‘pond’ creates images of a calm and ordinary pool of water. Thoughtful message selection is important to every campaign.

Reframe for the Audience

The message that moves your students is often not the message that appeals to your targets.

Example: PATHWAY Act lobbying

Student Message: Promote a lobby day by talking about how the abstinence until marriage earmark is ineffective, because over half of all new HIV/AIDS infections occur in married women. Students may also appeal to the importance of negotiating safe sex and gender equity.

Target Message: Rather than talking about infection rates and women’s rights when speaking with congressional representatives, you would highlight the Institute of Medicine and Government Accountability Office reports that both noted the earmark as ineffective use of PEPFAR funding.

Knowing the mindset of your supporters and opponents is crucial to designing a message.

Get a Hook Phrase

Every campaign needs a “hook phrase” to capture the essence of the campaign. “RX for Survival” is a good example of effective messaging. Every communication you send should include this message.

Be Clear and Specific

Effective communication must also be clear about what you are asking your targets to do. “RX for Survival” is a great slogan but it is not enough. People have no idea how to do that. You must also specify the action you want them to take: “Increase government funding for HIV medications.”

Tactics

A campaign is a series of planned actions (tactics) aimed at achieving a particular goal. There are several key categories of tactics that make a successful advocacy campaign:

Spokesperson Communication: one person calls and talks to the foreign relations staff person, one person faxes follow-up information, etc.
Mass Communication: Your campus sends 300 letters; has a call-in day and generates 400 phone calls, etc.
Face-to-Face Communication: a group from your organization meets with your congressional representative when he is the home district office; your group organizes a lobby day with congressional staffers in D.C., etc.
Media: letter to the editor in the paper, get media coverage at an event, etc.
Direct Action: hold a rally, have a city-wide march, etc.

Your campaign should have a good mix of tactics that:

Inform your target audiences
Give supporters opportunities to be involved in a variety of ways
Hold your elected officials accountable

Remember to consider how much your tactics will cost in terms of time and money. Does your organization have the capacity to do the tactics you’ve selected?

Sample Tactics

Organize a Call-In Day
Organize a Lobby Day
Phone, Fax or Letter/Email Zap – Flood the offices of representatives or CEOs with calls and/or faxes. Make sure all calls, faxes and letters/emails are sent at the same time.
Organize a postcard mail-in
Organize a teach-in
Demonstrations – Organize a peaceful picket. Make sure to invite the media.
Post attention grabbing flyers demanding action around your community
Hold a vigil
Petition
Build a mock graveyard of tombstones (of people who have died from HIV/AIDS) and place it in a prominent location on your campus. Get on-lookers to take some sort of action such as making a call.
Media Tactics
- Writing Letters-to-the-Editor section of a newspaper or school paper
- Blog
- Post your campaign on your organization’s website
- Podcast
- Phone in to local talk radio shows and discuss your campaign objectives; organize your campus so that the radio station is flooded with calls about your radio interview

Evaluation

It is important to know that your organization is on track for meeting your goals within an adequate timeframe. When a campaign is successful the target will be reacting to the campaign strategy, if there is no response (good or bad), it’s best to regroup and reorganize.

Make a Strategy Chart

It is important to think about the impact each tactic will have on your goals. So after you have brainstormed a list of tactics, go back through them placing them into a strategy chart.

Goals	Organizational Considerations	Allies and Opponents	Tactics	Indicators of Success
Long Term	Resources required	Primary Target	List tactics based on timeline	Record targets responses
Medium Term	Organizational goal	Secondary Targets
Short Term	Current Organizational problems