Foundry512 is tackling public health challenges in a new way with its recently announced health division.
The Foundry512 team created the division with the primary goal of assisting CMOs, public health leaders, and Marcom directors to reach diverse audiences and help democratize health and wellness by promoting educational content.
The division showed its full potential during the Resiliency Campaign, which fought against Covid-19 misinformation and promoted positive public health behaviors. After several meetings with several top public health leaders, a recurring problem presented itself.
Foundry512 found that misinformation was spreading further and prevented the truth surrounding the pandemic from reaching the population. This led CMOs and Marcom directors at research, treatment facilities, and care provider networks to knock on the doors of advertising and marketing agencies to solve their problems.
For a solution, Foundry512 utilized its unique marketing methodology based on world-leading behavioral scientist Dr. Alfred McAlister’s peer modeling approach.
The Resiliency Campaign project was a way to apply and spread this marketing approach to other public health leaders and advertising and marketing agencies who would later create their own health campaigns.
Dr. McAlister leads the newly created health division, bringing his decades of experience and expertise to the role. McAlister was the one who originally pioneered the successful peer-modeled approach, which uses behavior journalism and psychology to help promote public health behaviors among young adults.
Dr. Alfred L. McAlister
Dr. McAlister is a Texas native and UTHealth graduate, receiving his Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences from Stanford. He is an expert in vaccination, tobacco use, binge drinking, nutrition, and sugary drink intake reduction, physical activity and nature exposure increase, safe gun ownership and use, promoting cancer screening, and other health behaviors.
His work in communications has garnered national and international acclaim and led him to receive grants and awards from the National Institute of Health and Carnegie Corporation. He also has 163 authored publications, with an impressive 32,209 total reads and 7,200 citations used.
Dr. Alfred McAlister’s peer-modeling method has helped national and international public health challenges, including the Texas Tobacco Prevention Pilot Initiative, which saw a remarkable decrease in overall tobacco use and death. He now joins the Foundry512 health division to help stop the spread of misinformation, and promote public health initiatives to a diverse audience.
“With my decades of experience, and theory- and evidence-based scientific approach, I can help formulate and lead campaigns on many vital topics with a goal of both increasing awareness and changing behavior,” said Dr. Alfred McAlister, head of Foundry512 health division. “It is exciting for me to contribute my work at this young and highly creative firm.”
Thanks to Foundry512 and Dr. McAlister’s combined efforts to perfect their methodology, the health division has found early success, with their work becoming the foundational framework for all other public health campaigns. They have also been awarded a published academic paper covering their peer modeling approach and success.
“We’re super excited to be taking the next step in the health and wellness space. Our decade of experience delivering cutting-edge marketing campaigns and digital experiences has led to significant results for state and local governments,” said Aaron Henry, President of Foundry512. “Our methodology published in academic research serves as a blueprint for public health and Marcom leaders across the country. Now, we aim to scale our model to help those on the frontlines with new campaigns already starting in Q1 of 2023.”
With Dr. Alfred McAlister at the helm, Foundry512’s health division will continue working with a mission to save lives.