Government of Canada and the Nutritional Facts Education Campaign

Background:  Health Canada's Marketing and Communications Services Directorate is the departmental focal point for strategic advice, planning and implementation of social marketing, Health Canada's Internet, public opinion research and evaluation, and the policy lead for corporate consultation. The Social Marketing Unit develops social marketing campaigns, in collaboration with Departmental issue experts to help change attitudes and behaviours to raise awareness and increase knowledge of specific health issues and motivate Canadians to adopt healthier behaviours; develops strategic alliances to help bolster social marketing campaigns; and Manages all Health Canada advertising agencies.

Program background: 

Health Canada marketing has effectively reached millions of Canadians with healthy food messaging in grocery stores, restaurants and pharmacies across the country, thanks to an innovative partnership strategy. Launched in October 2010, Health Canada’s Nutrition Facts Education Campaign helps Canadians to make more informed food choices.  A partnership with the primary food association within Canada – Food & Consumer Products Canada – allowed Health Canada to subsequently partner with 34 leading food companies including Kraft, Kellogg’s, General Mills and McDonald’s.   

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Over 150 million products in Canada have the % Daily Value indicated on the package.  In addition, it is anticipated that the successes of the campaign will continue to increase as the participating companies and stakeholders continue to offer the % Daily Value on the products available on the Canadian market.  An extensive evaluation of the campaign will be conducted in late spring 2011.

Conclusions: This fresh approach to collaboration enabled Health Canada’s campaign to secure invaluable on-package advertising as well as leverage a 4:1 media buy. This partnership approach was extended to health-related non-governmental organizations and retailers for the campaign. 

Implications for research and/or practice: If selected, this presentation will share Health Canada’s best practices regarding partnership development, and will outline how to secure, implement and manage partnerships with leading associations, multinational companies and major non-governmental organizations.