Social & behaviour change communication · Since 2012

Behaviour change campaigns that actually work, in the field and online.

ICM Communication designs campaigns for health, education and development, grounded in formative research, community trust and field evidence. From the first focus group to the final evaluation.

Portrait of an Ethiopian woman from an ICM campaign
Video still: farmers in a field during an ICM nutrition programme film
Video still: a woman speaking to camera in an ICM public service announcement
2012Working in Ethiopia since
20+UN, NGO and government partners
16TV & radio PSAs in 4 languages for one national campaign
End-to-endResearch, creative, production, media, evaluation
What we believe

Understand the audience before you send the message.

The community health worker who forwards a message is still more trusted than the best-produced advert. Understanding that trust is what makes campaigns work.

Most campaigns that fail make the same mistake: the message goes out before anyone has studied the people it is for. Digital channels make that mistake faster and more expensive. We bring the discipline of formative research to every channel, from radio and print to WhatsApp and Facebook.

Research first

Needs assessment, focus groups and pretesting before any creative is final.

The trust layer

We map who people actually listen to, then design content that travels through them.

Field to digital

Field experience across the country, applied to the channels people use today.

Evidence over noise

We measure behaviour change, not just reach, and report honestly on both.

Services

Every part of a campaign, under one roof.

Use us for the whole campaign or for the stage you need.

01

Formative research

Needs assessments, audience insight, focus groups and message pretesting.

02

Strategy

Audience, goals, outcomes, timeline and channel choices, agreed before production starts.

03

Creative development

Concepts and messages tested with the people they are for, in their own languages.

04

Production

Film, radio, print, outdoor, illustrated guides, flip charts, social media and digital content.

05

Media planning

Cost-efficient placements across TV, radio, outdoor and social, including earned media.

06

Digital campaigns

Facebook, Telegram and messaging campaigns designed around community trust networks.

07

Implementation & training

Launches, press, and training for the people who deliver the message on the ground.

08

Monitoring & evaluation

Intercept surveys, focus groups, online surveys and regular progress reporting.

Selected work

Campaigns built with the people they serve.

A selection of projects for UN agencies, government and international NGOs.

Hygiene promotion handbook coverTraining of trainers guide for hygiene promotion
UNICEF · Education & WASH

Branded multimedia hygiene promotion in primary schools

Built on UNICEF's handwashing formative research, the brand was brainstormed with creative people, including children, then developed and pretested. We produced multimedia packages and trained school mini-media and club coordinators, directors and health and education focal persons to run interactive behaviour change sessions in their schools.

Marie Stopes BlueStar billboardFamily planning campaign poster
Marie Stopes International Ethiopia · Family planning

Demand creation campaign

Strengthened the MSIE and BlueStar clinic brands with young people aged 15–29, mainly women, with unmet family planning needs. Culture-sensitive messaging, backed by research and the MSIE team, presented the clinics as the first place to go and addressed common misconceptions about family planning.

Illustrated flip chart for sanitation behaviour changeSanitation counselling materials
AECOM · Lowland WASH

Behaviour change materials to end open defecation

Before writing a word, we revisited the secondary research, consulted the field teams and spoke with the intended audience. The result: materials developed fully in local languages, fitted to each community's context and culture, with the right channels for each.

Video still from the Back to School public service announcement
Ministry of Education & UNICEF · Education

Back to school: a nationwide campaign

With millions of children out of school, and girls held back by early marriage and household work, we produced 16 TV and radio PSAs in four languages calling on parents, communities and local leaders to send every child to school. The spots aired on national TV and radio.

Participant's manual for integrated nutrition trainingNutrition learning module disc
UNICEF · Nutrition & social protection

Integrated nutrition and social cash transfer (PSNP4)

Communication support for the nutrition and social cash transfer components of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme: facilitator and participant manuals, illustrated counselling cards, a nutrition learning module and documentary films from the field.

Menstrual hygiene management flip bookSchool mini-media programme materials
UNICEF · Adolescent health

Menstrual hygiene and safe water management

In three months we produced radio and TV PSAs in Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrigna, illustrated storybooks, flip cards for safe-space counselling, and a facilitator's guide for school mini-media covering menstrual hygiene, safe water and handwashing.

Thematic content guidebook for media practitionersGuidebook series for radio producers
UNICEF · Media capacity

Thematic content guidebooks for media practitioners

Radio producers and educational media centres lacked up-to-date resources for social change programming. We compiled practical guidebooks on health, nutrition, hygiene, education and child protection to help them make programmes that inform and inspire.

Poster against child marriage and FGMRoll-up banners for a gender equality event
Gender equality · Child protection

Ending child marriage and FGM

Event identity, roll-up banners, posters and programmes for national events on ending child marriage and female genital mutilation, and on transforming the lives of rural women.

Partners & clients

Trusted by UN agencies, government and international NGOs.

UNICEFMinistry of EducationUNAIDSUNDPUNFPAUNHCRWFPWHOFAOILOAfrican UnionEuropean UnionKOICAAECOMMarie Stopes InternationalPathfinder InternationalJhpiegoJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthSNVZOAIndustrial Parks Development CorporationBringing Change Through Video
One team, since 2012

Part of a group that makes things in Addis Ababa.

ICM's sister companies print, make and train in-house, so campaigns move from idea to finished material without delay.

Start a project

Planning a campaign? Talk to us before the brief is final.

Tell us about the behaviour you want to change and who you need to reach. We'll reply within two working days.

Email info@impactcm.com
Emailinfo@impactcm.com
Phone / WhatsApp+251 911 836 582
OfficeBole, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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