National Breastfeeding Programme Update: Issue 8 - Breastfeeding information resources

<h1>Breastfeeding - www.breastfeeding.org.nz</h1> Breastfeeding National Breastfeeding Programme Update logo.

Issue 8 - September 2009

Kia ora tatou katoa, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Ni sa bula, Taloha ni and greetings.

This issue of the newsletter introduces the next phase of the National Breastfeeding Promotion Campaign. The objectives of phase two are to increase public acceptance of breastfeeding and to encourage communities to support and facilitate breastfeeding wherever appropriate and possible. Encouraging and empowering mums to breastfeed in public requires support from peers and those that the mums and their families come into contact with outside the home environment.

Phase two features a mix of advertising, social media and public relations. The audience we are speaking to receives more and more of their information via the internet. Therefore, we are using online media as one of our key communication channels for breastfeeding messages. More traditional channels such as print advertising and public relations are also used, to ensure we reach large numbers of our priority audience. This is an exciting mix of new and traditional media, and we feel just a little bit cutting edge! Read on to find out how it will all work.

In this issue

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Advertising

Print advertising

Images of two of the print advertisements.

From the end of September the public will begin to see breastfeeding print ads in women's and parenting magazines, posters in bus shelters and malls, and on screen in Warehouse stores.

The images show babies being breastfed in a variety of settings: in a bus stop, in the office, at the library, at the airport, at the netball courts, on a bus, and in a shopping mall.

Each picture has a different tagline:

Radio advertising

Breastfeeding messages will be promoted by a number of radio stations around the country. Māori Media Network, which has 21 stations, will run adlibbed messages, and some stations will also interview local health providers about breastfeeding.

The Mai FM Network will run 'Best for baby' tips once a day; while Niu FM will have a weekly five minute programme 'Mamma Knows'. The More FM Network will run breastfeeding adlibs, and will also have information about breastfeeding on its website.

The radio activity starts at the end of September.

Image with social networking site logos.

Breastfeeding social media campaign

People are increasingly spending time on social networking sites; for entertainment and to connect with others. Very often online communities are brought together because they share a common interest. That interest might be music, a common high school, scrapbooking, or a town.

Phase two of the National Breastfeeding Promotion Campaign will use social media sites Bebo and Facebook as a vehicle for communicating breastfeeding messages. These sites are popular with women 15 to 44, an age range that encompasses those most likely to be having families. We will also be using YouTube and Flickr to share videos and photos. Breastfeeding tips and information will be shared via Twitter.

These social media sites will take discussions about breastfeeding to a far wider New Zealand audience than could be achieved through traditional advertising alone. Unlike traditional advertising, social media sites engage with people in real time. The person promoting the message discusses a topic with members of the community, and their discussion is published for the community to see.

Traditional advertising is a one-way communication channel, while social media allows two-way discussion. To keep people in the community, you need to have ongoing dialogue. To develop and maintain this conversation, two community managers will represent the breastfeeding campaign. Their role will be to keep the discussions going, and to ensure the campaign's key messages are communicated. They will do this in a number of ways; including promoting a breastfeeding photo competition, uploading information related to breastfeeding such as links and videos, feeding in breastfeeding tips and information, and linking to campaign messages and imagery.

To draw attention to the Facebook and Bebo breastfeeding campaign pages the community managers will invite groups that might be interested in breastfeeding messages to participate in the discussion. We will also promote the campaign pages on Facebook and Bebo.

The campaign pages will have the user name BreastfeedingNZ. Facebook, Twitter and Bebo will be live from the beginning of October, with promotion beginning at the end of October. The YouTube site will go live at the end of October and a photo competition will run on Flickr in summer. Watch this space for more information or search for BreastfeedingNZ on the sites.

Photo of one of the families featured in the Breastfeeding DVD.

DVD update

Filming for the breastfeeding DVD was completed at the end of August and editing is now underway. A draft edit will be reviewed by the specialist advisory group, before the content is finalised.

The DVD will primarily be distributed by the New Zealand College of Midwives, as a resource for midwives to provide free to pregnant women and mums with new babies. A discussion prompt sheet for midwives, to accompany the DVD, has been developed in consultation with the College.

The DVD will be shown and distributed at the Parent and Child Show in Auckland at the end of October. A comfortable area will be provided for mums to breastfeed at the show, and experts will be on hand to field questions about breastfeeding and the DVD.

It will be available to pregnant women and breastfeeding mums at the end of October, and will be able to be viewed online in chapters on YouTube, Facebook and Bebo, and on http://www.breastfeeding.org.nz.

Photo competition

New Zealand babies could be dining alfresco over summer as their mums compete in a photo competition.

Mums will be encouraged to send in photos of themselves and their friends breastfeeding out and about in the community, to win some great prizes, and to show their support for breastfeeding in a range of public places.

Winners will be chosen from the different regions around New Zealand, so entrants will be encouraged to add a local twist to their photo.

The aim of the competition is to show how natural and normal breastfeeding is, and what a lovely thing it is to see mums breastfeeding their babies. It will complement the images of breastfeeding women being displayed around the country.

We also hope media will profile their local entrants and winners

Photos entered into the competition will be displayed online and the public will vote for regional winners. Those winners will receive a prize pack, and may also feature on a national poster.

The competition will run through the summer months, and more information will be available soon.

For further information

If you have any questions or contributions and would like further information, please email Megan Williams at megan_williams@moh.govt.nz or phone on 04 816 3395.

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Page last updated: 29 September 2009