Nedra Kline Weinreich

Nedra Kline Weinreich helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing, transmedia storytelling and entertainment education strategies at Weinreich Communications. She is the author of Hands-On Social Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Change for Good and is a faculty member at the UCLA School of Public Health. Nedra started the Transmedia for Good Network and writes about social marketing and storytelling at the Spare Change blog.

What Nedra will be doing at DIY DAYS

Can Transmedia Storytelling Save the World?

Stories can be powerful forces in how we understand the world and how we should live our lives. We can tap into that potential to create positive health and social change by designing stories to educate and engage people on an issue, and ultimately persuading them to take action. By combining the proven behavior change principles from public health’s entertainment education approach with the immersive and participatory nature of transmedia storytelling, we can create world-changing experiences.

DIY DAYS asks Nedra

What are you currently working on that you’re excited about?

I have several health-related transmedia projects in different stages of development. The furthest along is a transmedia story (Club) designed to teach teens about health care literacy and built around a series of video episodes, blogs, status updates, faux websites and other media for a teen-only social network (t2x.me) created through a partnership with UCLA and Health Net. We are gearing up to roll the episodes out on the site for members and as real-time experiences for high school health classes.

Something else I’m excited is about is a documentary-centered project designed to build a movement around the issue of the American Indian health crisis called What’s in the Heart. The documentary is in production right now, and I’m developing the transmedia elements that will enrich and extend the stories portrayed in the film, as well as tying in the audience participation and social action pieces with the narrative.

What are some of your favorite sites and / or mobile apps and brief why?

I don’t have specific favorite sites. My professional interests range widely, from public health to marketing to transmedia storytelling to research methodology to mobile and social technologies, so I rely heavily on my eclectic Twitter community to point me to the best info in all of these areas. I follow many blogs, but my favorites change often depending on what I’m working on at any given time.

What are you currently watching, reading or playing?

I just finished the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath, which is a great follow-up to my previous favorite book also by them, Made to Stick. Switch talks about the various strategies you can use to create social change through a combination of design, emotional and logical appeals.

For More on Nedra and her work visit

Twitter:@nedra
Site:http://www.social-marketing.com
Blog:http://blog.social-marketing.com
Transmedia for Good Network: http://www.facebook.com/groups/transmediaforgood