Michelle Geiser

Final Individual Case Study

Love the Gums Youre With Campaign

I. Main Strategic Communication Challenge

Love the Gums Youre With was a campaign from the American Academy of

Periodontology (AAP) in order to increase awareness of gum disease. The AAPs main

challenge was to create awareness to AAP members and their patients about gum health and

the benefits of having healthy gums. AAP also wanted to create a message that was more

engaging, positive, and emotional. They wanted their message to differentiate from the typical

Be sure to floss message that they felt everyone had heard, but didnt do anything about.

AAPs challenge was to create this new message about gum health and use it in a way that

would be heard and passed on by its target audience.

II. Main Socio-cultural Challenges

AAP had to overcome the challenge of a general unawareness or uncaring of

periodontal health by the general population. They found that although this was prevalent in

people over 30, there was very little concern or awareness of this as a health problem. People

see gum health as another item on a long list of day-to-day health problems. It is also less of a

cosmetic problem for people to worry about in the way that teeth can stain and turn yellow or fall

out without proper care.

There are a number of articles claiming that flossing might not have a better effect on

teeth and gum health as believed. An article from The New York Times, discusses the back and

forth views on the effects of flossing. In the article, the AAP dismissed the claims and argued

that the research is not over a long enough period of time to conclusively prove that flossing has

no effect (Louis, 2016). Yet, there are numerous articles from publications like TIME, Mens

Health, Forbes, The BBC, and more that report on the debate of flossing benefits.
 Along with these floss skeptic articles are the people sharing them. A challenge for the

AAP, which could also be an advantage, is the culture around sharing articles on social media

platforms like Facebook. The 2016 election revealed a plethora of news articles and news site

that were fake or reported fake news (Lee, 2016). These articles are shared around Facebook

and promoted on Facebooks trending topics sidebar. The internet had made it easier for people

to enter the new business with the ease of obtaining a website and the ease in which people will

share articles without reading or double checking the source (Lee, 2016). The ease of sharing

could be an advantage to the AAP, but the sharing of fake news, clickbait stories, and articles

that are unread by the sharer could hurt the campaign. Untrue or unsourced articles debating

the merits of flossing or dental health being shared could damage AAPs message easily and

create doubt in the audience's mind surrounding the campaign.

AAP also has to overcome the general dislike of flossing. The inconclusive data on the

benefits of flossing are leeways for people to dismiss flossing or to continue to see flossing as a

waste of time, especially if they believe that is has no real benefits for their teeth. Americans are

notoriously obsessed with having perfect teeth. They get braces, fillings, and teeth whitening,

yet there is little focus on gum health. Little advertising or media focus goes to flossing or gum

health.

III. Main Target Audience

The main target audience for this campaign are the patients. Although the campaign is

directed both at consumers and AAP members, the content is intended for consumers and

patients of AAP members.

This target audience is people around 30 and over, who have a higher risk of obtaining

gum disease. These people are Americans and most likely middle class and up. They are

people who can afford to go to the dentist or periodontist or have a job which pays for dental

insurance. These are people who care about their dental health or health in general. They can

afford to be healthy.
IV. Characteristics of Publics

The latent publics of this campaign are people who are at risk for gum disease, but do

not know it. They might not make regular visits to oral health professionals or take care of their

gums very well. They dont know that theyre at risk for gum disease over thirty and they dont

know there are ways to prevent gum disease. They will not know or have misconceptions about

periodontists and periodontal health. They wont be big consumers of products like floss or other

flossing devices.

The aware publics of this campaign are people who have yet to be affected by gum

disease. They are probably over 30 and have a higher risk of gum disease, but maybe dont

know it. They might know about the benefits of oral health and of flossing, but might not

participate in it themselves. They might know about the risks of not taking care of their gums,

but dont think that it will ever happen to them or that they can fix any possible gum problems

later. They might make regular dental appointments, but dont take extra steps. They might have

good teeth and are regular brushers, but dont floss or worry about their gums. They will know

about periodontal health, but might not care about it too much or pass on their knowledge of it.

The active publics are people that take regular care of their teeth and gums. They take

extra steps to ensure their oral health is good and take as measures in trying to prevent gum

disease. They probably include flossing or gum care into their daily oral health regimens. They

might purchase floss or flossing devices regularly and use them on a regular routine. They

might make regular visits to a dentist, orthodontist, or periodontist. They might also be AAP

members or work in oral health themselves. They will know about proper gum health and

encourage others to partake in it as well.

V. Main Message

The main message that this campaign is trying to promote is Love the Gums Youre

With. AAP was promoting the idea to patients to love and protect their gums, by gaining

knowledge about periodontal health and prevention of gum diseases and having people direct
 more of their attention to having healthy gums. AAP wanted to reintroduce gum health to people

in a way that is fun and relatable while encouraging periodontal health and awareness.

VI. Tactics and Strategies

A. Tactics

There were several tactics used to gain national coverage and attention to the Love the

Gums Youre With campaign. The AAP conducted a national media tour with Chris Harrison, that

included interviews on radio, television, and guest hosting on The View. Then an AAP created a

network of spokesperson, by having periodontists speak to their local and regional media.

They also created a digital press kit to be distributed to the media and used online. Along

with this, a state of gum health report was created to inform consumers and reporters on

periodontal health.

Online, AAP created a content hub on the AAP website with quizzes, articles, and

periodontist searches for consumers, along with content which they could share on Facebook to

show their dedication to periodontal health. AAP also built up their online engagement on

Facebook and Twitter with a big social media push in order to reach audiences on a digital

scale.

AAP members were given digital toolkits and a library with promotional items to use in

their offices with patients or outside the office to promote their practices and the campaign. As

well, a Love the Gums Youre With lounge was created for the 100th Anniversary AAP meeting.

In this lounge, members could be educated on the campaign and how to use the campaign tools

and member resources for use in their own markets and practices.

B. Strategy

The strategy in this campaign was to put periodontal health into the national spotlight

and change peoples thoughts about gum health. AAP wanted to do this by changing the way

they communicated their message with their audience. Instead of scolding people into flossing,

they wanted to create a message that was more fun and relatable. They wanted to do this by
having a spokesperson (Chris Harrison) that someone could relate to or knew and by spreading

their message on a relatable platform, like social media. They also wanted to reach their

audiences on a larger scale by using national and regional press and media.

AAP also wanted to include its members in this campaign. They wanted their members

to become spokespeople for the campaign and for gum health on a more local market. They

wanted to involve the AAP members in order to promote the campaign and periodontal health in

their offices, local markets, and to their patients.

VII. Main Communication Models

There were two models used in this campaign: public information and asymmetrical.

The public information model was used in the way the campaign is distributed. AAP

created toolkits, press kits, and online material that was given to AAP members and the media.

This one way method of communication was used to promote AAPs message about periodontal

health. The materials flowed directly from the organization (AAP) to the its audience (AAP

members, media, consumers) with little to no feedback on the tactics in this part of the

campaign. The information that they were sending out was truthful and was used to change the

opinion of consumers when it came to gum health.

They also used an asymmetrical model in their approach to social media and work with

AAP members. They took the feedback of their audience in their tactics, but this feedback

wasnt taken into account in regards to the campaign. With social media, they created online

material that consumers could share on Facebook. AAP also created a larger engagement on

social media like Facebook and Twitter, so that they could gain a larger audience during the

launch of the campaign and during it.

With AAP members they created a way for members to better educate themselves

during the Love the Gums Youre With lounge. They also received feedback from their

members, which allowed them to see how members liked the campaign and the materials that

they created to better serve their message. This feedback was mostly taken to reinforce the
campaign or to prove the success of the campaign rather than to make any changes or

improvements to it or AAP.

VIII. SWOT

A strength of this campaign was the credibility of the organization. AAP is composed of

8,000 members who are professionals in periodontology. They are an organization that has an

authority on the topic which they are trying to promote. If they were an oral health company like

Crest or Colgate, than their message could be easily dismissed regardless of if they were trying

to sell a message or a product. AAPs authority allows them to create a message that can be

taken as an expert opinion. Their reputation and perceived knowledge allows them the

credibility to inform people and speak on the topic of periodontal health.

On the other hand, a weakness for AAP is their lack of recognition. As opposed to other

health organizations like the American Dental Association, AAP is relatively unknown. Although

they are a recognized branch of oral health, by the American Dental Association, they do not

have a huge presence in social media or in consumers frame of reference. Their cause is a

relatively specialized branch of oral health. This low awareness makes it harder for them to get

their message out to their target audience. Their low social media presence made it hard for

them to create a big social media push or to create materials that could become viral or highly

shared. As well the specialized genre of their organization made it harder for them to distribute

their materials outside traditional press to audiences that werent already aware of AAP or

periodontal health.

An opportunity for the campaign is a consumer lean to be healthier. Americans opinions

are adapting to be more health conscious. Cases of diabetes, smoking, and soda consumption

have gone done in recent years as Americans try to obtain healthier lifestyles (Carroll, 2016).

This is an opportunity for AAP to reintroduce gum health as something to be concerned about.

They have the opportunity to continue a trend in health by introducing a health routine that is

somewhat less sacrificial and intrusive in consumers lives. AAP has the opportunity to make
educating people on periodontal health a major goal for their organization. As they are a group

of experts and practicing periodontists, they have the opportunity to educate Americans who are

looking to be healthier about periodontal health and the steps to good gum health. Changing

American ideals are a big opportunity for AAP.

A threat for the campaign would be a continuous lack of regard for dental and gum

health. Most people dont see gum health as any importance and continuous articles and

reports trying to disregard information on flossing add to the thought that flossing is pointless or

has no effect on dental health. A continual presence of disregard and negative attitude towards

oral care and oral care specialists continues to undermine the campaigns message. As well

many oral care thoughts are set in and are hard to break. This calls for AAP to push harder and

reinforce their message more as they try to back away from messages that traditionally scold

audiences.

IX. Evaluation Measures

The evaluation measures taken by AAP were taken through media attention, social

media engagement, and feedback from members. AAP looked at how much media attention

they gained in the timeframe of their campaign. Since their goal was to make periodontal health

a national topic, they needed to see how well their media coverage did to make it so. They

evaluated how many mentions they received and how wide of an audience they reached. This

media evaluation helped them see how far their message got in media via radio, television, and

other news sites.

They also evaluated the campaign through social media. AAP wanted to reach their

target audience on a digital level and used social media to do that. They evaluated their social

media success through their own social media and through the social media of Chris Harrison

as a spokesperson. They used social media to evaluate their reach as well, which allowed them

to see if they could bring the message to the consumers on a digital level.
 Lastly, AAP evaluated measures based upon feedback from their members. They looked

to see how their members were reacting to the campaign and the toolkit provided by AAP. They

reported positive feedback from members and used that to evaluated if the way they presented

their message would work. They used it to see if the new way of presenting gum health as less

of a scold and more of a fun, whimsical message would work.

An evaluation measure I would have considered would be consumer feedback. I think if

the main goal is to educate the public on periodontal health, then we have to look at what the

consumers think. If AAP used consumer feedback as a way of evaluating the campaign than

they could see if the message was a better way to reach people. They wanted to make the

message of gum health different to appeal to people and by getting their feedback than they can

see if they accomplished their goal. Consumers are the main beneficiaries of AAPs message

and their feedback could be a large evaluation of the campaigns success.

I also would have evaluated the traffic on gained on the Love the Gums Youre With

website. AAP wanted to reach consumers digitally and the campaign website was part of the

message. It fit into their goal of recreating how people see periodontal health, allowed more

social media engagement and reached the audience digitally. Using the analytics from the

website could have allowed them to see if they were successful in reaching consumers and

creating more of an online and social media presence.

X. What could have been done differently?

For this campaign, I would have focused the message differently. A lot of attention was

attributed to the AAP members and the media, but not actual consumers themselves. AAP was

fairly successful in delivering their message to the media and reaching audiences there, but

werent as successful in creating a big social media or online presence. I would have tried to

create an even bigger push on social media if AAP truly wanted to reach consumers digitally.

The media coverage is good, but it isnt something that is going to be pushed into everyones
everyday view or thoughts. Building a bigger social media following would have allowed AAP to

remind people of their message and reinforce it, while creating more material to be shared and

viewed.

I also would have had the campaign focus more on partnering with another organization.

Periodontal health is a part of dental health. Partnering with the American Dental Association,

who have 44 thousand twitter followers, could help give them momentum and allow them to

reach a wider audience. This could also allow them to further the idea that gum health should be

a part of daily oral care routine and allow for more discussion on periodontal health. As well this

could help raise awareness of AAP as an organization. They have a low general awareness and

building them along with the message would help AAPs message grow in a consumer's oral

care frame of reference.

I also would have chosen to use less tactics. In a sense, AAP tried to do it all. They

wanted to obtain media coverage, a digital presence, and their members happiness. While it is

possible to do all these things in a singular campaign, I think that AAP should have focused their

message on just one. I would have tried to focus on gaining more media coverage in order to

get the message out to a wide audience and create an awareness of AAP and periodontal

health. AAP was not likely to gain a large social media following or presence as they werent

trying to really target a young audience or build themselves as a big modern brand. Although all

their tactics were successful in some measure, I think focusing on one tactics would have

garnered more momentum for their message.

XI. Lessons Learned

I learned that media coverage can still go a long way. Im quick to think that a campaign

needs social media attention. While I see having a good social media presence as a good thing,

it isnt the most important strategy for every client. Although AAP wanted to reach people online

and digitally, they made more of an impression and reached a larger audience through

traditional media. This has taught me to look at what is going to be the best for a specific
campaign. This campaign needed to reach people and did it best with traditional media rather

than another client who might need more of an approach through social media. I will take into

account the specific needs of a client when I look at and work on future campaigns.

I also learned that it is important to know your audience. While some of the tactics in this

campaign appealed to the target audience (people over 30), some might not have gotten or

appealed to the audience. While there are many over 30 adults who are active on Facebook or

watch The Bachelor, these are tactics that might appeal to a younger generation. As well AAP

was trying to cover a very broad audience. As everyone has gums which need care, it is difficult

to target certain or specific people and messages have to be a lot broader. I see that going into

a campaign requires you to really think about who is the audience and what is the best way to

reach them. If you know your audience well than you can tailor your message to them. Its

important to do research on your target market and know what will appeal to them. AAP did not

have a specific audience and had a message and tactics that were geared towards generic

groups and wider audiences. They created a generic strategy that used more tactics than were

needed. Although some campaigns are made to blanket big target audience, it is hard to know

which strategies and tactics will be the most effective unless you can determine a very specific

target audience.
Works Cited

Carroll, Linda. (January 2, 2016). 2016: The Year Americans Get Serious About Getting

Healthy? NBC News. Retrieved from: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-

news/2016-year-americans-get-serious-about-getting-healthy-n488731

Lee, Timothy B. (November 16, 2016). Facebook's fake news problem, explained. Vox.

Retrieved from: http://www.vox.com/new-money/2016/11/16/13637310/facebook-fake-

news-explained

Louis, Catherine Saint. (August 2, 2016). Feeling Guilty About Not Flossing? Maybe Theres No

Need. The New York Times. Retrieved from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/health/flossing-teeth-cavities.html