May212013
Hearing Transcript on Media Outreach to Veterans.
|
MEDIA OUTREACH TO VETERANS
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 15, 2008 SERIAL No. 110-98 Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
CORRINE BROWN, Florida |
STEVE BUYER, Indiana, Ranking |
|
||
|
|
|||||
|
|
Malcom A. Shorter, Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. |
|
|||
C O N T E N T S
July 15, 2008
Media Outreach to Veterans
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chairman Harry E. Mitchell
Prepared statement of Chairman Mitchell
Hon. Ginny Brown-Waite, Ranking Republican Member
Prepared statement of Congresswoman Brown-Waite
WITNESSES
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Hon. Lisette M. Mondello, Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
Prepared statement of Ms. Mondello
Goodstein, Ronald C., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Prepared statement of Dr. Goodstein
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Vanessa Williamson, Policy Director
Prepared statement of Ms. Williamson
O'Herrin, Elizabeth, Washington, DC
Prepared statement of Ms. O'Herrin
Sutton, Sharyn M., Ph.D., Washington, DC
Prepared statement of Dr. Sutton
MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Background Material:
Post Hearing Follow-up, Questions and Responses for the Record:
MEDIA OUTREACH TO VETERANS
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
U. S. House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:02 p.m., in Room 334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Harry E. Mitchell [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Mitchell, Space, Walz, and Brown-Waite.
OPENING STATEMENT CHAIRMAN MITCHELL
Mr. MITCHELL. Good afternoon. And welcome to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on media outreach to veterans. This meeting will come to order.
Today we will be hearing from veterans, marketing experts, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) about the prospects and challenges in using television media to reach veterans not currently enrolled in VA services.
In November, CBS News got some shocking and critical information, information to light that veterans aged 20 to 24 were killing themselves when they returned home at rates between two and a half to four times higher than their nonveteran peers.
Possibly more troubling, though, was that the Department of Veterans Affairs was not keeping track of veterans' suicides nationwide.
In December, we had a hearing to find out why. I do not think anyone at that hearing will forget the moving testimony of Mike and Kim Bowman, whose 23-year-old son, Tim, survived a year of duty in Iraq only to come home and take his own life.
Mr. Bowman warned us that the VA needs to do a better job of reaching out to veterans at risk for suicide. Do not just make it so veterans have to go to the VA, he told us, make the VA go to the veteran.
The VA reports that out of a veteran population of about 25 million, only 7.8 million are enrolled to receive healthcare services and only five and a half million were actually treated last year. I want to know about the other 17 million veterans. What is being done to bring them to the VA?
Following the hearing, I asked the VA for information about what the folks in the field, those helping veterans one on one every day, have been asking for to reach veterans at risk for suicide and their families.
After four months of stonewalling and a suggestion that I go file a “Freedom of Information Act” request, the VA finally began producing documents and cooperating with my inquiry in May. Documents began arriving and VA officials began meeting with my office.
As we learn more about the VA’s efforts to reach veterans outside the VA system, we learn more about the potential advantages of television advertising as well as the frustration with the VA’s ban.
Until recently, the VA had a self-imposed ban against television advertising. In other words, if anyone at the VA suggested using public service announcements (PSAs) to raise the public awareness of VA’s suicide hotline or other mental health services, they were told that it was against VA policy to do so.
In an era when slogans like "Be All You Can Be" and "The Few, The Proud, The Marines" have become household phrases and commercials touting them are only a few clicks away on YouTube, the VA’s ban on television advertising seem to many of us, outdated and out of touch.
Of course, those are recruiting ads, but I think they illustrate an important point. We have the means to spread important messages. We just need to have the will.
On June 18, 2008, Secretary Peake called to inform me that he had formally lifted the ban on television advertising. I am grateful for his action and I commend him for it. It is a decision that I hope will end up saving lives.
Lifting the ban is only the beginning. The VA will now have to partner with advertising professionals to design and implement an effective public awareness campaign and find an effective way to monitor its impact.
This Congress has placed a high priority on funding VA healthcare. As a result, the VA has been able to hire thousands of new mental health professionals. Veterans now need to know where to go to get that help.
To that end, I am excited to hear from the VA about its plans for a pilot public awareness campaign. First, however, we will hear from Elizabeth O’Herrin, an Iraqi War veteran, about how veterans see the VA today, as well as Vanessa Williamson, about how private organizations are using media to help veterans.
Before I recognize others for opening remarks, I want to thank Chairman Filner and Ranking Member Buyer for their bipartisan leadership on this issue as well as Ranking Member Brown-Waite who has been an invaluable partner.
I would also like to thank Mr. Boozman for his leadership in recognizing potential legislation and Mr. Hall whose Subcommittee has been actively searching for ways to publicize benefits available to veterans.
I would like our witnesses to stay within the five minutes of opening statements. Your full statement will be submitted for the record, but this panel is large and we need to make sure we have a great dialogue.
I would also like to ask Members to stay within the five minutes so that we can get to everyone. I will not interrupt an answer, but please do not ask any questions after the time is complete. And, again, this is a large panel. We will have a second round of questions, if possible.
At this time, I would like the witnesses from both panels if they would please stand to be sworn in.
[Witnesses sworn.]
[The statement of Chairman Mitchell appears in the Appendix.]
Mr. MITCHELL. At this time, I would like to recognize Ms. Brown-Waite.
OPENING STATEMENT HON. GINNY BROWN-WAITE
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Thank you very much, Chairman Mitchell.
Informing veterans about the benefits that are available to them should be a very high priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Printing brochures and handbooks in this day of the internet and instant messaging is still an option. But the use of the 21st century technology does need to be explored.
On May 20, 2008, the House passed H.R. 3681, the "Veterans Benefit Awareness Act of 2007." This provides authorization for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to promote benefits available to veterans by advertising through the national media.
This advertising would promote awareness of veterans' programs provided by the Secretary including, but not limited to, programs for homeless veterans, promotion of veteran-owned small businesses, opportunities for employment in the Department of Veterans Affairs, educational opportunities and training, compensation, pension, vocational rehabilitation, and healthcare benefits, along with mental healthcare including the prevention of veteran suicide.
This bill, which was authored by Congressman Boozman, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, and Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, the Chair of that Subcommittee, was introduced due to raised concerns by officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs that they did not have, or they thought they did not have, the authority to advertise their services to the public through a national media campaign. That bill is still awaiting Senate action.
On June 4th, the Chairman and I sent a letter requesting the Chairman and Ranking Member of the full Committee to use the resources of the Committee to explore the potential efficacy of a broadcast public awareness campaign as a means of conducting outreach to veterans at risk for suicide.
On June 16th, Secretary Peake sent a memo to the Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and other key officials at the Department clarifying the ability of the VA to advertise in the national media.
That memorandum provided within two months after this delegation of authority, the Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs review the purchases of media advertisement under this memorandum, at which time the Assistant Secretary would provide a recommendation to the Secretary to either continue the existing program or pursue a new policy.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the Secretary's memo be included in the official record.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you. Without objection, so ordered.
[The Secretary's Memorandum, dated June 16, 2008, appears in the Appendix.]
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I am looking forward to hearing from the witnesses today on the implementation of the Secretary's memorandum. It has been one month since the memorandum has been issued and I am interested to learn what steps have been taken to further inform our veterans about these services that are available through the VA.
I yield back the balance of my time.
[The statement of Congresswoman Brown-Waite appears in the Appendix.]
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
On our first panel, we have Elizabeth O’Herrin, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veteran and former Wisconsin Air National Guard Member; Vanessa Williamson, Policy Director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA); Ronald C. Goodstein, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing from Georgetown University; and Dr. Sharyn Sutton from Washington, DC, a communications and social marketing consultant.
We will begin with you, Ms. O’Herrin. And thank you. If you would, keep it within five minutes.
STATEMENTS OF ELIZABETH O'HERRIN, WASHINGTON, DC (OIF VETERAN AND FORMER WISCONSIN AIR NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER); VANESSA WILLIAMSON, POLICY DIRECTOR, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA; RONALD C. GOODSTEIN, PH.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, THE ROBERT EMMETT MCDONOUGH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, DC; AND SHARYN M. SUTTON, PH.D., WASHINGTON, DC (COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MARKETING CONSULTANT)
STATEMENTS OF ELIZABETH O’HERRIN
Ms. O'HERRIN. Good afternoon, Chairman Mitchell and other distinguished representatives of the Subcommittee. I thank you for the opportunity to be here today and share my perspective as a young Iraq War veteran who believes there is much to be done to reach out to our returning troops.
I joined the Air National Guard on September 13th, 2001, and I have deployed three times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I can personally attest to my experiences with the Department of Veterans Affairs as both a member of the National Guard and a veteran, which is a little bit different than being a veteran of active duty.
I would like to pull one particular thought from my written testimony and use this opportunity to expound on it a little bit.
I went on my third deployment to Iraq this spring and I was stationed there just for a couple months. And so the experience I am about to speak of right now is especially salient to me.
The theory is when you are on active duty, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is supposed to take care of you and after you have served your country, they hand you off to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
But I believe a rather significant disconnect can be illustrated by the awareness campaigns for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that I witnessed while I was on active duty and the complete lack thereof when I separated from active duty after deploying.
It is interesting to me that while I was deployed, public service announcements were literally everywhere you turned because they are constantly on the Armed Forces Network which is broadcast everywhere in the desert. They are in the gym. They are at the chow hall. You see the Armed Forces Network and the PSAs everywhere.
But when I came home, these public service announcements completely disappeared. There was no awareness campaign despite the fact that you generally get PTSD after the fact. It's called post traumatic stress disorder for a reason.
I was actually in Iraq when the Super Bowl was aired and I distinctly remember sitting down at chow and having a long discussion with a bunch of Army guys about public service announcements on American Forces Network (AFN). They were kind of grumbling because there were not going to be any good commercials on during the Super Bowl. It was going to be about four hours of public service announcements.
And I have to say that they have a notorious reputation for being a little bit on the cheesy side, but I think it is common practice for military members to joke about public service announcements. But I want to emphasize one thing in particular. We talked about these PSAs and we talked about them on a very regular basis.
And while people might joke about the need to be careful during lightning strikes or the importance of shredding important documents or even post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, these PSAs are doing their job which is to create awareness because they stick in people's heads and people talk about them.
For example, while I was deployed, if I had been unfortunate enough to have been sexually assaulted, I would have known exactly where to go to talk to somebody. I knew that I would not have to report it officially on the record. I knew what protocol to follow to ensure that everything remained confidential. And this was literally hammered into my head through PSAs. And should something have happened, I would not have had to go searching for the answers after the fact. It was a very proactive outreach method used by the Department of Defense.
And I was fortunate enough to never witness anything of this, but if I had, the tools to cope with the incident were routinely given to me. It did not leave any room for confusion or hesitancy, which when confusion and hesitancy happens, it can often lead to individuals not actually seeking out the help that they really need.
And I feel at the VA, they have a plethora of services and benefits and information, but I feel that the attitude is a little bit like we are here for you, but you have to come to us. And many veterans wait until there is a legitimate problem before they start to dig for answers. And I believe taking a less passive stance, instead using more active outreach methods could do a great deal to encourage veterans to seek out assistance before it is too late.
I commend the Department of Veterans Affairs for their efforts in reaching out to veterans and also veterans service organizations for trying to fill in the gaps. It is not an easy job and there is a lot of work to do, but I believe that a few key changes within the Department of Veterans Affairs could go a long way into giving young veterans the tools that they need to reintegrate into civilian life upon return home.
I talked a great deal about new methods such as e-mail in my written testimony, the VA implementing the use of e-mail, and I would be happy to answer any questions about my written testimony.
Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. O’Herrin appears in the Appendix.]
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
Ms. Williamson?
STATEMENT OF VANESSA WILLIAMSON
Ms. WILLIAMSON. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the need for VA media outreach.
I am the Policy Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the country's first and largest nonprofit and nonpartisan Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' group.
As a civilian who has worked with this population for almost four years now, I have seen firsthand the tremendous gap between the VA and the veterans they are seeking to help.
There are millions of veterans who qualify for VA benefits and services, but who do not use them simply because they do not know the programs exist, they do not know they qualify, or they do not know how to apply.
These veterans could be getting a college education, buying their own home, qualifying for healthcare when they are sick, but they are not because they do not think they can afford it. And the VA has not told them otherwise.
The VA's healthcare system is actually a very good system, but accessing it can be very difficult. Right now at least 1.8 million veterans lack health insurance and half of those veterans actually qualify for VA care. That is almost a million veterans without regular access to healthcare who the VA could be serving.
Like other uninsured Americans, these veterans are avoiding getting their health problems treated while relying on expensive emergency room care. Among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in particular, less than half have signed up for VA care. These veterans have only five years to get into the door of the VA or they risk getting labeled Priority 8 and losing their access altogether.
The VA needs to take steps now to reach these veterans before it is too late. In the meantime, veterans are missing out on some of the best healthcare you can get in this country. Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), American Veterans (AMVETS), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) agree that VA healthcare is “equivalent to or better than care in any private or public healthcare system.” But until the VA advertises their healthcare services, hundreds of thousands of veterans will lack access.
Veterans also qualify for tens of thousands of dollars in education benefits. Under the GI Bill, which became law only weeks ago, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans receive free tuition up to the cost of the most expensive in-State public university. They also get a living stipend and a book stipend, and there is even a new program to encourage expensive private schools to offer veteran scholarships.
But we know from history that many veterans do not take advantage of their GI Bill. In fact, under the old Montgomery GI Bill, only eight percent of veterans used their whole benefit and 30 percent of veterans did not use their GI Bill at all.
A VA advertising campaign now would ensure that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans get the chance to build a brighter future for themselves and their families. And I know how hard this Committee worked to make this GI Bill a reality, so we really do need to take the next step.
The last area I am going to talk about in terms of the need for VA advertising is home loans. Military towns are ground zero for the subprime mortgage crisis. Foreclosure rates in towns around military bases are increasing at four times the national average.
While troops and veterans were being bombarded over the last few years with advertising for subprime mortgages, they heard no advertising at all regarding safe and reliable VA home loans. As a result, the VA Home Loan Program has been under-utilized.
The number of new VA loans has declined every year between 2004 and 2007. And in 2006, at the peak of U.S. subprime lending, the number of VA loans had fallen to barely a third of the level of two years earlier.
This is especially unfortunate because veterans using VA home loans get a much safer mortgage and the support of VA financial counseling if they need it. And VA backed mortgages are not going into foreclosure like subprime loans are.
In fact, although 90 percent of current VA backed home loans were given with no down payment at all, their foreclosure rate is near the level of prime borrowers which is borrowers with the highest possible credit rating.
But because the VA does not advertise, many troops and veterans who could have gotten a VA home loan are now suffering with a subprime mortgage and are at risk of losing their homes altogether.
So in terms of home loans, healthcare, and education, the VA offers excellent programs, but access is difficult. And without a strategy to advertise their services, veterans are going to continue to miss out.
Knowing that nonprofit advocacy organizations can often respond faster than the government, IAVA has partnered with the Ad Council to conduct a multi-year public service announcement campaign to reduce the stigma of mental healthcare and to ensure that veterans seeking access to care get the benefits and support that they deserve.
The Ad Council is responsible for many of the Nation's most iconic public service announcement campaigns including "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires," "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste," and "Friends Do Not Let Friends Drive Drunk."
The Ad Council has also shown great success. For example, as a result of Ad Council's Big Brother, Big Sister Campaign, applications for Big Brother's, Big Sister's mentors soared from 90,000 to 620,000 in only nine months.
Ready.gov, the Department of Homeland Secretary's outreach site, received more than 18 million unique visitors within the first ten months of their campaign launch.
We are hoping to see the same kind of success with our campaign. IAVA, Ad Council PSAs will appear on the television, in radio, in print, outdoors, and on line, and will be rolling out in November of this year.
Over the last two months, IAVA has met with VA on three occasions to discuss our new campaign and we are hopeful that the VA will be able to prepare for any increase in demand the campaign generates.
But our PSA campaign will in no way eliminate the need for the VA to plan its own outreach and advertising campaign. Our veterans have earned these benefits defending their country and should not have to fight for them when they come home.
Thank you for your time.
[The statement of Ms. Williamson appears in the Appendix.]
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
Dr. Goodstein.
STATEMENT OF RONALD C. GOODSTEIN, PH.D.
Mr. GOODSTEIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee. I am Ron Goodstein from Georgetown University.
And I just came today from teaching this morning for Kimberly-Clark and 50 executives from hospitals around the USA. We were talking their communications, their media strategy, their marketing strategy, and I spent three hours not talking about communications at all but talking about marketing research.
I agree with everyone here that the idea is to advertise to the veterans, to let them know that you are out there, to build the awareness. You do have the means. You do have the motivation, but you need to know what to say and to whom.
Of course, being an academic, I have to have slides, so let me go that way.
[Slides shown.]
I think the idea of the media outreach is strong. I think you are talking to people who not only need our help but deserve our help for what they have done for the country.
I want to talk a little it about the benefits of the media outreach, the idea of how to do the research that is needed, illustrate why SW square C is a formula for success, and provide a couple ideas for moving forward all within five minutes.
The reality of communications is people do not watch, people do not look, people opt out. Unless the advertising that is done is relevant to the audience it is going to reach, this campaign might have no effect as well even though having an effect is not an option.
What does a media outreach campaign do? Build awareness for the services is just a start. People need to comprehend what those services are and, more importantly, why they are relevant to the people you are trying to reach.
What is the image of receiving that service from the VA? It does not come without prior attitudes and prior associations, some of which are very positive and some of which are very negative and need to change, as well as what is the attitude towards receiving those services from the VA, how easy are they to do business with, can I guarantee that my psychologist will be there three months from now, and will they give me the services I need before I am willing to put my life, my mental health into your hands.
So the idea here is to begin not with an ad campaign but to begin with marketing research to understand what the Veterans Administration officers and what their campaign can do.
I would not suggest the idea of benchmarking competitors. There are a lot of positive PSAs, public service announcements in the field, but there are a lot that are negative as well. And the difference is doing your homework.
I have worked for 16 years with the Head Start organization and their last public service announcement campaign is not very useable by the people who need their help the most. The campaign is well-developed. It is well-created. It is compelling. However, it features kids holding up posters with paper plates, spaghetti hair, macaroni eyes, something we would all find very cute, very attractive.
However, Head Start is for the poorest of the poor. They do not allow their kids to use food as artwork. These ads are rendered useless. They cannot post them in the places where Head Start prospects might be.
So rather than benchmark PSAs on competitors, my suggestion is to benchmark what it is that veterans actually need, who are their motivators, what is their motivation, what are their issues, what are their problems, what do they read.
The idea is not to just communicate to them but before an Request for Proposal goes out from an ad agency, it ought to go out to a research agency. You need to know as much about that veteran and move the VA closer to them. And we call that process customer relationship marketing.
And for the things that the VA has that people do not know they need, educate them as to what that is. So the idea here is to begin the process not with advertising but to begin it with research.
In order to assure success, the VA only has to answer two really important questions and it is a function of SW square C. In layman's terms, so what, who cares. The answer to who cares is not the VA and not us. It is not political officials. The answer to who cares is the veteran and the answer to so what is what do they care about.
In order to be effective, a PSA campaign in any format has to answer who are we trying to target and what are their motivations and key drivers. So we have got to view this from the customer's perspective.
None of us are contemplating suicide. None of us have lost a limb in the war. None of us are having the same psychological issues they have, so let us talk to them first. Let us make sure that what we are offering them actually is a benefit they need.
If the VA is offering the right services, let us inform them that that is the case. If the image is that the VA does not offer the services they need or the quality is not there, then you have to correct the problem and then work to change the image.
But the whole point is we have got to start with them, not the VA. We do not need to be different from what has gone on in the past. We need to be better. And the answer to better means we are different in a way that matters to the veteran. We need to make sure that what they get, why it is better, and the support for that is worth the cost to them. And this is all a function of research.
How do you find out? Primary research, secondary research. Some has already been done. More has to be done in terms of focus groups and interviews. As you said, 17 million vets not going to the VA. Do they all have the same issues or do they differ? And if they do, let us develop a series of campaigns that will make it work best.
As I said, there is a lot of research techniques that are out there that are applicable. I would never even attempt to go through this slide, but the issues that I have been discussing with your Committee are those that can be addressed by research.
My hope is that we do. The veterans deserve our help. They deserve happiness, but we have got to start dealing with their issues and not ours. It is not yet time for the PSA. It is time for research.
Thank you.
[The statement of Dr. Goodstein, and the attached slides, appear in the Appendix.]
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
Dr. Sutton.
STATEMENT OF SHARYN M. SUTTON, PH.D.
Dr. SUTTON. Thank you. I thank the Subcommittee today for inviting me to share my experience and thoughts on social marketing, particularly related to outreach to the veterans.
While I have not worked directly with the VA, I have had the privilege to design and direct a number of national outreach campaigns in the government. I have also worked for 25 years as a strategic planning consultant for a number of government agencies as well as national foundations, nonprofits, and the private sector.
And I would like to agree with my colleague that talking about an outreach campaign sounds easier than it really is.
While I do not represent any organization today, my views reflect 25 years of experience in trying to conduct effective outreach within a government setting.
In preparation, I reviewed the testimony from May 22nd that was examining the effectiveness of the Veterans Benefits Administration outreach effort. And I hope that what I have to offer will continue that discussion.
I would like to highlight three points from my written testimony that I submitted to the Committee.
First, it is crucial that a strategic plan serve as a foundation for any outreach effort. The plan must be grounded in an understanding of the VA's mission and priorities. It should include research-based audience profiles and specify outreach strategies for integrated marketing communication.
So while there is a role for broadcast and outdoor public service advertising, there is an important role for paid media to get the message out there. However, this must be within the context of integrated marketing communication in order to actually break through and communicate effectively.
The strategic plan must also provide measurable objectives for success. It is all too easy to create attractive media campaigns that appear to fulfill outreach mandates without delivering desired outcomes.
Second, the role of audience research to plan, develop, and evaluate integrated outreach efforts cannot be overemphasized. The VA should access or collect data on marketing questions such as audience perceptions, lifestyles, and media habits.
The VA must also have the ability to conduct ongoing, timely tracking surveys that measure changes in targeted behaviors and not merely audience awareness. Such data are essential to evaluate the success of outreach campaigns based upon outcomes and not just campaign outputs like media time and material distribution.
Third, an integrated outreach campaign should leverage the available State and local infrastructure such as the veterans agencies and the county veteran service officers. They are invaluable to delivering the VA's outreach.
Development of campaign messages and materials are best created at the national level while funding should be given to State and local partners for campaign dissemination and implementation as well as for interpersonal communication.
In the private sector, organizations like Intel, Bank of America, and AARP, readily and routinely access technology that allows them to efficiently take national messages and customize them for the needs of local communities. There is no reason why the same technology cannot be put to use for social reasons.
In addition, given the effectiveness of local and direct outreach, efforts should be made to use and share available data to reach and communicate with the veterans, one on one.
In summary, strategic planning, audience research, and strengthened local implementation are essential elements for success. There is significant evidence that marketing-based approaches can help government agencies achieve their policy objectives for better programs and outreach.
Given its demonstrated contribution, the important question becomes how to better integrate the marketing discipline within a government context. Public/private partnerships along with positive Congressional support, such as today's hearing, are very important steps.
Thank you, and I am happy to answer any questions.
[The statement of Dr. Sutton appears in the Appendix.]
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
I would like to start out asking some questions, first with Ms. Williamson. I am very impressed and thankful for the initiative you have taken with the IAVA to address the critical needs to destigmatize mental healthcare and get young veterans into the Vet Centers and the VA Medical Centers.
The Ad Council has made some memorable and effective ads like those that you have mentioned in your testimony, but they typically seem to reach a well-defined, traditional audience.
What kind of challenges have you had in defining the priorities of your audience?
Ms. WILLIAMSON. I think we have actually been very lucky with this campaign, that the Ad Council has been so open to really researching what veterans today need not only, you know, by reaching out to our membership—we are, you know, the first and largest Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' group, so we brought a lot to the table on that front—but also doing focus groups and interviews nationwide to really identify not only where are the gaps in services, certainly we talked about that, but also what kind of messaging is going to be effective.
You know, you do not necessarily want to hear mental healthcare in an advertisement. That is actually probably kind of intimidating to a lot of people. So on a lot of those fronts, I think Ad Council can do a really good job of making sure to do their research.
I think in terms of like ad placement and those elements, I think we are lucky in that public service announcements tend to get run in places where people are aware of those issues. So, for example, around military towns, we can expect a high level of interest in the campaign. And I think we will do more work on that front going toward as we get closer to the launch.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
Dr. Goodstein, your five steps to building an effective outreach plan seem pretty self-explanatory, but I am concerned about the implementation.
The government operates at a different pace with different concerns and priorities than the private sector. We need complex oversight and bureaucracy to get things done and that usually takes some time which is definitely not on our side.
In developing this plan, what should be the measures of success and how would you ensure that the VA's efforts are effective?
Mr. GOODSTEIN. Thank you. I think the five steps, awareness, comprehension, image, attitude, and behavior, you do not have to do them all at one time. In fact, they rarely happen all at one time, nor will all of them occur through advertising.
And I think the idea is to set up and understand for a particular veterans' group with particular problems where are they currently. If they are unaware that the VA has those issues, then we need to make them aware. Advertising is a good way to do that. But we need to change image. Advertising is a good way to do that.
But as far as enacting behaviors, attitudes and behaviors, that is more one-to-one. We have got to get them in to have the initial conversations and coordinate and integrate a sales strategy in the private sector by the one-on-one meeting strategy with these people and behavior to make that happen.
I also think it is the case that when we look at it that way that peer-to-peer communications is going to matter a lot. Using social networks of people who have been successful, telling customer success stories, and integrating what my colleague, Dr. Sutton, as well, the measures have to reflect what the goals are.
So if we are looking to change behavior and get people with the need into the VA hospitals for mental health, then measuring awareness of a campaign is an incorrect measure. Measuring exposure is an incorrect measure. You have to measure what the goals are at each step.
And even though this is public sector versus private sector, you cannot ignore any of the steps. People are not going to see Gary Sinise, for instance, in a public service announcement and say, great, lay me down on the sofa and let me talk to you about my issues.
I think you have to go through those stages more quickly or less quickly, but the idea of integrating communications allows you to go through that whole process.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
And, Ms. O’Herrin, you spoke about the box of VA brochures in your written statement in your closet at your parents' house and also about the need for VA to use new media to reach younger veterans.
E-mail has a greater potential to get the word out quickly, but it also can turn into a box of unread brochures. In the end, it comes down to making sure veterans know that the VA is there to help.
How do you reinforce that in younger veterans and in women?
Ms. O'HERRIN. Well, I think that now that we are in the information age that the VA definitely needs to implement e-mail. I am really, really surprised that there is no implementation of e-mail. There is no line to fill out for veterans when they separate to write down their e-mail address so the VA can conduct them that way. It is strictly a snail mail campaign.
And that to me is something that I understand that e-mail in boxes can clog up very easily. I mean, I have hundreds in my spam folder. But with the data collection capacities that the VA has, it is very easy for them. I think it would be easy to implement a strategy to pluck categories from the different data to specifically tailor e-mails to a veteran. A veteran could choose which benefits they want to receive more information on.
For example, I graduated college. I am not particularly interested in receiving education benefit information in the State of Wisconsin any longer. But if I could tailor my requests and kind of take myself off a mailing list or add myself to a mailing list, I think that that would make the e-mails much more relevant to me and it would not become a box of pamphlets gathering dust underneath my parents' bed.
I think it would be a much better system. And when you have an e-mail system—for example, I understand the VA is implementing a calling campaign to reach out to veterans and I think that that is a very personal touch to let them know somebody cares whether or not they are getting their healthcare.
But I also know that the only way of getting a hold of me is through my cell phone. And I do not pick up my cell phone ever if I do not recognize the number. And I think that that is the case with a lot of veterans and I foresee some problems with that. And I think that when it is an e-mail information technique, that it would be reaching a more receptive audience.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
Ms. Brown-Waite?
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Thank you very much.
Ms. O’Herrin, first of all, thank you very much for your service spending three tours in Iraq. I think every Member of this panel admires and respects your service, so thank you very much for that, first of all.
And you answered a question that I asked just last night and that is are the e-mails of those who are ending their tours in OIF or Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), is either DoD and/or VA capturing those e-mail addresses. I think it is very important that when you fill out the forms, that be part of it so that people can communicate and get the latest information.
I just asked that question last night and thank you very much. The response was they did not think it was there and you just confirmed it.
I believe that the VA should concentrate on their customer, the customer being the returning veteran. From your experience, what do you think transitioning men and women who have served think or what are their perceptions of the VA?
Ms. O'HERRIN. I worked in college at my student veterans organization, so I dealt with veterans from every branch, every kind of background you could ever imagine. So I spent a lot of time in conversation with other veterans thinking about how they view the VA. I have had a lot of these conversations.
And I think by and large, everyone knows that the VA provides services. They know where the VA building is located. They know how to get the VA Web site. They know that the information is there. But I do not know that they necessarily feel that it is approachable. I do not think that there is anything especially appealing about the VA's services. They are just there.
And I think oftentimes most veterans wait until there is a very significant problem before they seek out like, do I even have healthcare. It takes coming down with, you know, appendicitis or something like that before they actually investigate if they have VA services available to them.
And I think that if these things are conveyed in different manner, through ad campaigns, through e-mail campaigns that it would be less of veterans waiting until there is an actual problem before they seek out help. I think if there is a more proactive method that veterans would feel that the VA is significantly more approachable.
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. So is it safe to say it is not a lack of trust of the VA, but rather stale information? Would that be a fair thing to say?
Ms. O'HERRIN. I guess it depends on the issue. For example, I think with PTSD, I understand that—I have a lot of comrades that would not go to the VA for post traumatic stress disorder because they were still in the National Guard. And so they knew that if they were seen for certain things that it would get put on their record.
So I do not know if it is a lack of trust. It is a problem in the system where they were not seeking treatment from the VA even though there was that help available because they did not want it to reflect poorly on them.
So I guess it depends on the issue. I do not think that it is necessarily a lack of trust across the board. I think it is that it is just not necessarily that appealing, but I do not think it is a lack of trust in all issues, no.
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Okay. So it is stale, not really appealing to the current veteran?
Ms. O'HERRIN. Right. I think most people—
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Would that be a fair thing to say?
Ms. O'HERRIN. Yes, ma'am. I think that most people, they know that the services are there, but they are not seeking them out for whatever reason. And I think it is our job to figure out why that is.
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. About how much time would you say that veterans on average, the new generation of veterans, spend using the internet? Just give me a ballpark figure.
Ms. O'HERRIN. I am going to be totally honest here. When I was in college, I think I spent like six hours a day on the internet at least, at least, I mean, if not more. Now, that is a college environment. It is not like I had a full-time job that kept me off the computer. But I would say anywhere between one hour to six hours a day on the internet in all honesty.
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Okay. Ms. Williamson, I have one, and my time is running out here, but I have just one question where you talk about the VA home loan program and the VA backed mortgages are not going into foreclosure at the same rate as subprime loans are.
Certainly this is to VA's credit because they did not change their underwriting standards, which is very important. As you know, there is a timing problem here and I have introduced legislation that actually extends the VA's adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) and Hybrid ARM under title 38. Hopefully that bill will pass and get that language out there.
When you do the ads through the Ad Council, are they coordinated with the VA? Now that the VA is going to be doing ads, do you plan on coordinating?
Ms. WILLIAMSON. Thank you.
I’ll answer the two parts there. First of all, on the home loan part, I think you are absolutely right. There are several legislative fixes that the home loan system needs, not the least of which I think is the ability for the VA to be able to refinance loans that are bad right now. As I understand, that is still a problem.
On the coordination with the VA front, IAVA has met with the VA actually specifically about our campaign three times now in the last two months. So we have taken that first step.
We still have about six months before the campaign begins and I want to make sure that the VA is ready for an increase in demand and to make sure that we have coordinated so that the campaign directs you to the best possible resources.
In terms of the substance of the campaign, that is something that IAVA is working with Ad Council and the ad company that is producing the ads. They are separate from VA.
Ms. BROWN-WAITE. Okay. Thank you.
And I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you.
Mr. Walz?
Mr. WALZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you to all of you for coming here to help us understand this issue and work through it. I can say that I think you had some of the most lucid testimony we have heard here in a long time and I very much appreciate that.
An important issue. It is also one that is part of a bigger, the 30,000 foot vision here, and I think Ms. O’Herrin summed it up right. It is this seamless transition issue. The DoD is one silo and VA is another silo and this is an issue people have been working on.
And I will have to say to Secretary Peake, and I know we are going to have Assistant Secretary Mondello up here, these are people who are totally committed to getting this right. And there is a real proactive approach to getting this.
So all of you being here today to help us understand this is part of the solution. So I very much appreciate that.
Ms. O’Herrin, I especially like your—you are definitely an AFN aficionado, myself too. I still practice Opsec every day on my car from a year of that in 2003, 2004. So you are right.
And I am interested in this issue of awareness versus effectiveness, which I think is very important. And I know Dr. Goodstein was getting at that part, we are all in this. We all want to go. We want to put the resources forward. We have got a great institution that hopefully, as Ms. Williamson talked about, is prepared for the influx. But let us make sure that it is actually targeted right.
And I am interested across the spectrum. Obviously we have got different generations of veterans. We are trying to reach all of them. Obviously this newest generation is much more of a challenge.
And I was going to ask a question. As we heard, I think it would shock many younger veterans and it should shock many people here that you are receiving no e-mail communications on the VA side. That part, of course, somewhat troubles me.
There was an article today in my local newspaper about the Kosovo veterans who are returning and one of the comments they made was, Facebook was their life line. That was the first thing they said when they came back. Not asked about anything else. Oh, it is great to be home, but I am telling you without Facebook, I would have been lost.
So it is not jumping on the newest fad. It is not us looking for quick ways because Dr. Goodstein is going to say the research will point us there, but I am concerned that we have not embraced it enough. And I get to thinking and I think you have comments in your written testimony on the VA Web site.
How would you describe the VA Web site, Ms. O’Herrin, in your opinion?
Ms. O'HERRIN. It is very informative. There are links to every possible benefit you could possibly imagine and there is no shortage of information whatsoever. But a lot of times, people are eligible for conflicting benefits. They are not entirely sure which one overrides the other. It is not extremely user friendly. The information is there, but it is not in layman's terms. It is in dense language.
Mr. WALZ. So for people of your generation, our incoming veterans, its effectiveness again, awareness that it is there and information, but its effectiveness in working, you would say is probably not as good as it could be?
Ms. O'HERRIN. Sure. And I think this is where veterans service organization, I think, are trying to carry the ball is they are trying to break it down into layman's terms. They are trying to make it understandable for your average returning veteran.
And so they are taking the official language and breaking it down. And that can get a little dangerous sometimes because then it is not coming from an official source, but that is what is happening. It is being condensed by other groups who are translating it into normal layman's terms.
Mr. WALZ. Okay. Very good.
Dr. Goodstein, I want to get back to you. And I could not agree with you more. We need to get this right. We need to do the research ahead of time. Dr. Sutton was very clear to talk to us about that.
In a campaign like this and what we are trying to do in terms of outreach and make sure that there is that seamlessness there to the VA, what kind of time line are you talking about that it would take to do this, to plan, prepare, implement, and then measure results?
Mr. GOODSTEIN. I am going to answer two questions, one that was not asked and one that was because I am going to follow-up on Ms. O’Herrin's comment.
I agree. I do analyses of a lot of companies' Web sites. I would have to say that the VA's Web site is ineffective as well. And I just want to point out the reason is it is all about the VA and what the VA does and offers.
What it is not about is the VA's customers. So instead of talking about who are we and what do we offer you, there should be a place to come in on the initial site and say who are you and what are the issues you are having.
So instead of seeing the 5,000 things that the VA does, okay, like a buffet, what you do is you put in who are you and what are your issues and you only see the meal that is appropriate for you. And the best Web sites in the world look at it more like that. Okay?
As far as the research time line, to do the kind of research we are talking about, qualitative to find out what the issues are, who these people are, what their motivations are, and then following up with quantitative surveys to see how many people have those issues, what their media habits are, et cetera, to get all that in.
I do not think you are delaying the delivery of a campaign by more than probably four to six months if you do the research right. It is just a matter of starting it now and it may also be the case that a lot of research already exists, especially on the qualitative side.
It sounds like there has been interviews, there has been focus groups. Taking those and then quantifying who are these people and how do you reach them.
Mr. WALZ. I very much appreciate that because I think the ironic thing of this whole discussion is there is probably no more focused group on what it takes to reach out a message than people who sit here, and the number of times they will see their faces on TV or on Web sites between now and November. And, yet, we are having problems getting this part of it right. They know what it takes. We know what it takes and we know exactly what you are talking about on doing that. Now we need to implement that.
So I thank you.
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Space?
Mr. SPACE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have no questions or comments. I would simply like to thank the panel for its preparation and candid testimony.
And in so thanking you, I yield back.
Mr.
Sign Up for Committee Updates
Stay connected with the Committee