The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Evidence: Systematic Review of Health Branding: Growth of a Promising Practice

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Participating organisations in the Global Alliance for Social and Behaviour Change - Building Informed and Engaged Societies were asked to identify, in their opinion, the 5 most compelling research and evaluation studies that demonstrate the direct impact of this field of work on a major development issue. This was one of the nominees. For the full compiled list, please click here. For the compilation of the key impact data across all research evidence identified, please click here.

Title of paper, article, book (chapter), publication?:

Systematic Review of Health Branding: Growth of a Promising Practice

Name(s) of author(s)?:

W Douglas Evans, PhD, Jonathan Blitstein, PhD, Donna Vallone, PhD, Samantha Post, MPH, and Wendy Nielsen, PhD

Who published this paper, article, book (chapter) or other publication?:

Translational Behavioral Medicine

What are the best extracts that highlight the evidence for the impact of a communication for development, social change, behaviour change, public engagement, or informed citizen strategy on a development issue and priority?:

After excluding those new articles that did not meet full-text inclusion criteria, we reviewed 69 in total...Branded health campaigns cover most major domains of public health and appear worldwide. Since 2008, we observed improvement in evaluation, application of theory, and description of campaign strategies in published work. We recommend enhanced education of public health practitioners and researchers on the use and evaluation of branding.

To which development issue does this evidence and impact data relate?:

Wide range of public health topics in both developed and developing countries.

To which strategic approach(es) does the evidence and impact data relate?:

Social marketing and health communication, branding, entertainment-education, IPC, social networking

What research methodology (ies) was/were used to produce this evidence and impact data?:

Systematic literature review

What is the URL to access this paper, article, book (chapter) or other publication?:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4332908/

Why was this research evidence found to be useful?:

It is the most comprehensive published review of branding as a behavior change methodology.