SITUATION
In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Act, which imposed a new 50-cent per pack tobacco tax to fund programs aimed at enhancing early childhood development and discouraging smoking around children.

One key element of the Act was a statewide media campaign educating parents and caregivers about the importance of a child's early years, and the harmful effects of smoking by and around pregnant women. The target audiences included all of California's major ethnic and immigrant populations.

In late 2000, GMMB was selected in a highly competitive bidding process to direct and produce a three-year, $90 million advertising campaign.

APPROACH
We knew that educating parents and other caregivers about how to better care for their young children is an extremely delicate matter. It was essential that people perceive the ads to be helpful and sensitive to the demands of their daily lives, not as unrealistic, academic, or overly preachy. Hence, our first step was to conduct an unprecedented research effort to learn the best ways to inform and motivate all the target audiences.

Over the course of the next few months, we conducted nearly 40 focus groups and 2000 survey interviews among different groups of varying ethnicity, age, language backgrounds, and smoking habits.

From the research, we were able to identify the key gaps in information and awareness, the most effective messengers for each target group, and the best ways to motivate people to change their behavior.

Most importantly, we learned:

• Surprisingly, many parents, especially new immigrants, did not believe they could play a major role in the intellectual development of young children;
  
  
• Parents and caregivers were extremely receptive to specific suggestions for how to incorporate basic teaching tools like reading, talking, and playing into their daily routines;
  
  
• Providing people with clear information about the cause-and-effect relationships between their own actions and their children's development was extremely effective;
  
  
• When it comes to discouraging smoking by and around pregnant women, different approaches were needed to reach different ethnic audiences. Among whites, the biggest problem was smoking by low-income women, nearly all of who were already aware of the threats their smoking created for their fetuses. In contrast, among Latinos and Asian Pacific Islanders, especially those who were recent immigrants, the main issue was smoking by men who were unaware of the health hazards they were causing.

Using these research results, we developed a series of television, radio, print and outdoor ads, unified by the theme of "Your Choices Shape Their Chances" in order to drive home the central point that parents' and caregivers' behavior can make a huge difference in how their children develop. The ads aim to motivate parents to spend more time reading, talking and playing with their children, and were produced in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Tagalog, and Cambodian.

The ads showed people how to incorporate reading, talking, and playing into their daily routines. In order to encourage the behaviors, the ads clearly state the long-term benefits of the behaviors.

Before the ads were aired, they were subjected to an extremely rigorous ad testing process. The testing showed the ads clearly communicated their main points, and would ultimately affect people's behavior. Among the most positive findings was that all target audiences felt the ads were sensitive to their own personal lifestyles, priorities, and demands on their time. As a result, people were extremely receptive to them.

Building upon this ongoing effort to educate parents about the difference they can make in the way their children develop, the campaign recently broadened its emphasis to include early education outside the home, especially the benefits of preschool. Recent studies have proven that sending children to preschool has both short and long-term benefits - for both the children attending, and for society as a whole. As a result, educating parents and the greater Californian community about the importance of preschool for all children is now a top priority of CCFC.

To better understand how Californians feel about early care and education, we once again embarked upon a major research process.

We learned:

• The issue of preschool itself is not top-of-mind for most residents. When it comes to the most important issues facing the state, Californians are more readily aware of the challenges involving adolescents and teenagers than they are of younger children's needs.
  
  
• It is clear that many Californians - including many parents of young children - do not understand the importance and potential benefits of preschool. As a result, many parents who already have access to subsidized preschool or the financial means to pay for preschool do not avail themselves of it;
  
  
• A significant number of Californians believe that staying at home with parents full-time is better for children than attending preschool for a few hours a day.
  

Based on this information, we developed a series of ads that described the specific benefits of preschool, and encouraged parents to send their children to preschool if they can. When tested, the ads earned highly positive responses from our target audiences, and successfully communicated important information about the impact of preschool.

RESULTS
A recent statewide survey for First 5 California measured the effect of the campaign on attitudes towards preschool. As a result of the ads, Californians have become dramatically more supportive of preschool. Changes in attitudes among Hispanics, a key target audience, were especially pronounced. Significant results include:

• Parents who believe that sending children to preschool is better than having them stay home full time with a parent increased from 42 percent to 68 percent. Among Hispanics, there was an increase from 30 percent to 76 percent - one of the most dramatic shifts we have ever seen.
  
  
• Californians who believe that the state should offer some sort of organized education to children four and under grew from 48 percent to 60 percent. The increase among Spanish-speaking Latinos was even more dramatic - increasing from 49 percent to 69 percent.
  
  
• Respondents who believe that major changes are needed in state efforts to ensure that all children start kindergarten ready to do their best increased from 47 percent to 62 percent.
  
  
• Name ID of First 5 California increased from 16 percent to 38 percent.

Additionally, over 100,000 Kits for New Parents have been ordered through the state hotline as a result of the advertising campaign.

AWARDS
Ads produced for the campaign have already won some of the most prestigious awards in advertising:

• "Preemie" received the Silver Addy® from the American Advertising Federation in the category of Public Service Television, and "Laundry," "Codger" and "Will You" received a Silver Addy® for the best National/Regional Public Service Campaign.
  
  
• The "Your Choices Shape Their Chances" campaign received the Pollie award for the best state-level public affairs campaign in the nation from the American Association of Political Consultants.
  
  
• "Preemie" received the Pollie award for best State Public Affairs TV ad.
  
  
• "Whirlwind"-Spanish received the Pollie award for best Bilingual/Foreign Language Public Affairs TV ad.
  
  
• "Laundry" - Korean received the second place Pollie award for Bilingual/Foreign Language Public Affairs TV ad.
  
  
• "Every" - Korean received the Pollie award for best Bilingual/Foreign Language Public Affairs radio ad.
  
  
• "Smoking" received the Pollie award for best State Public Affairs radio ad.
  
  
• The 2001 advertising campaign won the Golden Advocate Award for best Niche Marketing: Ethnic Program and Multi-Media by the 2002 Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Association.
  
  
• "Will You" won Outstanding Achievement in Public Service Announcement from the Literacy in Media awards; "Every" won Honorable Mention and "Growing Down" was a finalist in the same category.
  
  
• "Preemie" won the Telly Award in the Regional TV Public Service Category, and "Codger," "Will You," "Laundry" and "Whirlwind" were finalists for the same.