Promoting Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety to Hispanic Audiences

2. Marketing Plan

This section summarizes the recommendations for marketing pedestrian and bicycle safety to Hispanic audiences based on analysis and synthesis of the information from the literature review, focus groups, and review of Hispanic outreach materials.

Table 2-1 summarizes the results of the literature search and focus groups in terms of responses to the key questions (listed in the first column). Sections 2.1 through 2.4 present the recommendations for marketing pedestrian and bicycle safety to Hispanic audiences.

Overall, there was much agreement between what was found in the literature review and what was found in the focus groups. The commonalities and contradictions found between the literature review and the focus groups are summarized in Table 2-2.

2.1 Audience

Based on the research, the following audiences may be more at risk as pedestrians or bicyclists or may be groups that should be targeted by pedestrian/bicycle campaigns to "get the word" out through word-of-mouth marketing:

• New immigrants.
• Mexican males.
• Children.
• Seniors.
• Male members of the household (e.g., fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers).
• Entire family.

2.2 Safety Issues to Include in Campaign

Recommended pedestrian and bicycle safety issues to be included in the outreach campaigns have been split into the following two categories:

1. Educational issues:

• Basic rules of the road and how they are enforced in the U.S.
• Meaning of traffic signs and signals.

2. Informational issues:

• How to be a safe pedestrian/bicyclist.
• Hispanics are especially at risk for crashes.

While there is a fine line between educational and informational issues, educational issues focus more on teaching the audience rules and regulations that they are expected to follow and how these rules and regulations are enforced. Informational issues focus more on issues like what it takes to be a safe pedestrian or bicyclist (e.g., always use a crosswalk, push the call button to receive the pedestrian signal, always look left-right-left before crossing the street).

2.3 Messages

Based on the research, messages about pedestrian and bicycle safety for Hispanic audiences should:

• Focus on the value of family and impact on family.
• Be realistic, with relationships to their lives.
• Have an emotional component (e.g., graphic and explicit descriptions of crashes), but should not be overly frightening or use "scare tactics."

It is recommended that these messages:

• Use graphics, photos, and other visuals.
• Be concise, not too wordy, and written for low literacy level.
• Be clear and free of jargon.

2.4 Materials/Media

Use of a variety of materials (messages should be seen and heard in a variety of places) is recommended, rather than focusing on one type of media. The recommended media to be included in an outreach campaign include:

• Television.
• Radio.
• Newspaper.
• Magazines.
• Brochures/flyers/handouts.

It should be noted that the use of Hispanic media is important. There are many Hispanics who watch only Spanish TV, listen to only Spanish radio stations, and/or read only Spanish newspapers and magazines. Therefore, using only mainstream media may not reach some of the target audience.

2.5 Suggested Methods of Dissemination of Materials

One of the most important recommendations from the research is that materials alone are not enough to change behavior. Due to the importance of family and community in the Hispanic culture, commitment to safety practices are more likely to occur when the materials are used in combination with at least one community outreach activity, with the most impact coming from multiple activities held within the community and when respected leaders of the community as well as family members reinforce the messages through:

• Person-to-person contact.
• Word-of-mouth campaigns.

With these recommendations in mind, Table 2-3 makes the connection between the audience (the who), the issues and types of messages (the what), the media (the how), and the methods of dissemination (the where). For example, if children are the focus of a safety campaign, issues could be educational and/or informational; messages should focus on the value of family; and posters, handouts, and comics are media that should be disseminated at schools with person-to-person contact with teachers, administrators, or other authority figures. Television is also a recommended medium for information dissemination and could be used in addition to the print media distributed at schools. If household males are the target of a safety campaign, issues could be educational and/or informational; messages should have an emotional component and focus on the impact of the family if something were to happen to them; and TV and radio stations, along with print media, are recommended media types. TV and/or radio advertisements could be broadcast during appropriate sports events; and brochures, flyers, or handouts could be made available at motor vehicle offices.

Safety campaigns should be tailored to fit the needs of each community. This will help determine whether educational or informational issues are most important.