Marketing Strategies, Inc. has been selected from candidates across the nation to develop a website in conjunction with East Tennessee State University and Penn State University.

The East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Skin Cancer Prevention Laboratory (SCPL) in the College of Public Health is a nationally recognized research laboratory that develops educational interventions for skin cancer risk factors in adolescents and young adults. The laboratory, along with the Prevention Research Center at Penn State University, has been awarded a major research grant from the National Cancer Institute (1 R01 CA134891-01A2) to evaluate the effectiveness of a skin cancer prevention intervention delivered via the Internet to a representative sample of high school females.

The website, developed by Marketing Strategies, Inc., is based on a skin cancer prevention intervention, previously delivered in booklet form, which has proven successful at reducing skin cancer risk behavior in young adults. “This is an intervention that concentrates on the appearance-damaging aspect of tanning rather than the long-term health consequences. Over 15 years of research has revealed that focusing on topics like appearance, which are of great interest to teens leads to greater impact in changing the health behavior of adolescents and young adults,” explained Dr. Joel Hillhouse of East Tennessee State University. 

“Marketing Strategies, Inc. was chosen based on their history of strong website development, their experience in medical marketing, and their success in marketing to a specific demographic—in this case, teens and young adults. For this project we really needed a dynamic team who was not only capable of delivering the technical aspects of the website, but one who also had the ability to translate graphics and text into a design that speaks to teenagers. Marketing Strategies has proven to be the perfect fit,” continued Hillhouse.

The website is slated to begin it’s first intervention period this month with a group of several hundred high school students and will continue to be updated based on the feedback received from the participants in the study. “We are excited to see the site evolve over the next few years into something for the public and ultimately to be a part of developing a tool that will help save the lives of teens by educating them on the risks of skin cancer,” said Sarah George, APR of Marketing Strategies.  George, a Senior PR Consultant at Marketing Strategies, oversees the online marketing produced by the agency.

Marketing Strategies, Inc. is a full-service advertising and PR agency that has been recognized nationwide for its award-winning ad campaigns and PR activities. They have been named “One of the Southeast’s Ten Most Reliable Web Design Firms,” for four consecutive years and most recently received the nation’s most prestigious public relations award, the Herbruck-Fritsche Award.

For more information on Marketing Strategies, Inc. visit them online at www.marketingstrategiesinc.com or call (843) 692-9662.