On July 11, 2024, Best Workplaces for Commuters hosted the webinar, "Improving Effectiveness of Public Transportation Communication Messages and Materials Using Neuromarketing."

View Recorded Session

This webinar featured an interdisciplinary project involving Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), the USF College of Public Health, and the USF Center for Marketing and Sales Innovation at Muma College of Business.

The project, 'Improving Effectiveness of Public Transportation Communication Messages and Materials Using Neuromarketing,' used eye-tracking, eye-gaze mapping, and market research to evaluate communication materials and understand commuters’ subconscious engagement and response. This study sought to evaluate existing communication materials and understand commuter’s subconscious engagement and response. Using a community-engaged approach, we narrowed a field of 121 materials down to 15 with seven distinct calls to actions. The materials were tested, revised and retested using neuromarketing techniques. The effectiveness of the materials increased with regard to clarity of call to action, relevancy, ability to persuade and intention to change. This case study illustrates the process used, the results and recommendations. This study illustrates the importance of testing messages prior to large-scale dissemination to improve effectiveness and to use techniques that counter response bias.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) provided funding support for the project. The team recently won a Silver Award from the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA) for this work.

SPEAKERS:
Mahmooda Khaliq Pasha, Ph.D.
University of South Florida
College of Public Health

Dr. Mahmooda Khaliq Pasha is an Associate Professor and the Director for the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Social Marketing and Social Change. Her research focus is social marketing, which is the application of marketing tools and strategies to change behavior for social good. With a focus on practice and translation, she works with communities to build capacity to improve behavioral outcomes. Current community-based social marketing research include: improving access to clean water (free of lead and biological containments) in Madagascar; reducing incidence of non-communicable diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease and hypertension through policy and lifestyle changes in Latin America and the Caribbean; and changing road users’ behaviors on key risk factors for road traffic injuries/fatalities (i.e. distracted driving) in Florida. Dr. Khaliq Pasha teaches graduate level courses in social and behavioral sciences and social marketing.

Robert Hammond
University of South Florida
Assistant Professor, Muma College of Business 
Director of the Center for Marketing and Sales Innovation

Hammond is a practitioner-scholar and go-to-market expert with over 30 years of global leadership experience in enterprise strategy, product management, sales, and engineering.

He has been at the epicenter of innovation, working with iconic global companies as well as early stage start-ups around the world including General Dynamics, Motorola, Sprint, and Microsoft. Hammond is also the author of "Avoiding the Carnage: A Guidebook Through Sales Transformation."

HOST:

Julie Bond
BWC Program Manager
Center for Urban Transportation Research

MODERATOR:
Philip Winters
TDM Program Manager
Center for Urban Transportation Research