As The Hub's groundbreaking 'Be a Star' breastfeeding campaign continues to gather momentum, the agency and PCTs up and down the country are celebrating its first anniversary.

Initially developed in collaboration with Central Lancashire PCT working closely with a local peer support social enterprise, the campaign has since been adopted by 18 other PCTs.

Taking a highly progressive approach to repositioning breastfeeding whilst tackling adverse social norms and a prevalent bottle-feeding culture, the campaign has captured the imagination of the social marketing community as much as its carefully segmented audiences.


In addition to being showcased at the NHCMMC conference (Atlanta, Georgia) and the World Social Marketing Conference (Brighton, UK) it has been chosen by the National Social Marketing Centre for presentation at the launch of its Case Study resource on April 23rd in London, UK.

"The response to 'Be A Star' has been overwhelming," said Helen Johnson, Managing Director at The Hub. "It is a fantastic project that directly reflects everything that The Hub is about: audience insight, partnership working, rebranding behaviours, health inequalities and rigorous social marketing principles."

Through ongoing research over the course of the past 12 months with the primary audience, influencers and stakeholders, the campaign has continued to develop and break new ground. This growing body of insight has been used to develop specific interventions for grandparents and partners of young mothers to enable and support their decision to breastfeed, as well as material targeted at key points on the customer journey, both ante- and post-natally.



With stakeholder engagement being central to the success of a project that cuts across public, private, third and voluntary sectors, The Hub has also developed further interventions to gain maximum buy-in from this crucial audience.



With a host of other PCTs beginning to engage with the campaign and further development to the private sector, employers and the wider community, 2009 promises to be another busy year for 'Be A Star'.



"The potential of this campaign to make a difference in the lives of mums and babies across the country is far from exhausted," continued Helen. "Our priority now is to continue the research further and further along the customer journey—not just throughout the ante-natal stage, but right back into the pre-contemplation phase, prior to conception. If Be A Star can be used as a mechanism for normalising breastfeeding before future parents are even considering conceiving or even having sex, then we have a very strong platform to begin shifting norms in the medium and long term."