[Case Study]

Improving
the Lives of
Minnesotan's
with Arthritis

Nighthawk Marketing helped the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to plan, develop, and manage a marketing and outreach campaign to promote walking to a diverse audience of Minnesotan's with arthritis or joint pain.

[The Story]

The MDH Arthritis Program

is dedicated to improving the lives of Minnesotans with arthritis. Research has shown that 1 in 5 Minnesota adults report having arthritis. Although there is no cure, arthritis-appropriate physical activity can relieve symptoms and support quality of life. The program is funded by a CDC federal grant, which supports 13 state programs through the DP18-1803, State Public Health Approaches to Addressing Arthritis, cooperative agreement.

THE

NEED

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) was seeking an experienced marketing vendor to plan, develop, and manage a marketing and outreach campaign to promote walking among people with arthritis in Minnesota.

THE

SOLUTION

Creating the Let's Walk Minnesota Campaign

The first step was to conduct primary and secondary marketing research among MDH’s primary audience, which was adults 45 years of age and older with joint pain. After gaining a better understanding of their audience, we developed a marketing communications campaign entitled “Let's Walk Minnesota” along with supporting marketing materials. This included creative and messaging development, campaign planning, and developing internal tools to help MDH implement the campaign.

The ultimate goal of the project was centered on increasing awareness of the benefits of walking for joint pain relief. MDH measured success by tracking the increase in the number of enrolled participants in Walk-with-Ease (WWE) Self-Directed and community-based walking programs along with increased web traffic to the campaign alias URL. Ideas for measurement included monitoring change or the increase in the number of communications activities completed, change in digital reach, change in overall reach, change in digital engagement, and social listening (how many times a hashtag used).

[The Highlights]

Partner Toolkit.

We created a fully accessible, 114 page, Partner Toolkit for MDH's Let's Walk Minnesota campaign. This Partner Toolkit offers communication tools & materials for MDH partners, health professionals, and organizations who seek to promote walking as an evidence-based intervention.

[The Highlights]

Promoting the Benefits of Walking.

We carefully designed a set of accessible materials (Flyers, Postcards, Rack Cards, Digital Content, Social Media Illustrations, Point of Decision Way Finding, and Motivational Posters & Memes) that can be used to support a walking program while also promoting the overall benefits of walking.

[The Highlights]

Train the Trainer Program

Any group in Minnesota such as housing communities, community education, health care clinics, and workplaces can leverage the Let's Walk Minnesota campaign materials improve the health of their members. Our team conducted research so we could help these communities tell their stories.