Creating New Partnerships: What Happened When the Nfl's Fuel up to Play 60 Partnered with a Stealthy Social Media Teen Wellness Campaign

Background: The high school age group seems difficult to reach with public health messages, resistant to anything authoritarian. It is also a group that craves all things new and trendy, including the latest in communications methods such as social media. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) set out in 2006 to develop a new way of “talking” to teens about the benefits of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and of adequate physical activity, tapping into the expertise of the Advertising program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

Program background: NDHHS and UNL launched an innovative wellness campaign for teens in high schools, both public and private, across the state, called “Whatcha doin’?”.  Each year since, the team works to update the campaign, infusing the fundamental campaign strategy with the latest in advertising and communications techniques. This approach recognizes the fickle nature of the easily bored teen demographic. The campaign utilizes a “stealth” approach executed by a team of “buzz agents” in each school. The team provides buzz agents with materials and training to execute the campaign in their high school during an academic year.  A key element of the program is “random” events that reinforce the notion that fruits, veggies and physical activity are easily incorporated into a cool fun lifestyle, and in a way that each individual can choose. Social media such as viral videos, Facebook and Twitter have gradually been incorporated. This year, the Whatcha doin’? team added elements of the NFL’s Fuel Up to Play 60 program. The NFL’s “plays” corresponded nicely to the “random activities” of the Whatcha doin’? campaign. Concepts for “plays” that were consistent with the NFL’s goals and that were consistent with the established campaign were developed. Each participating high schools was given a list of these “plays” to choose from. Whatcha doin’? staff then helped the schools write the grant application to the NFL.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Every school that applied for the NFL grant through Whatcha doin’? was successful, awarded $4,000 to implement an approved “play.” This 100% success rate added a new element to the campaign in each school. Evaluation data has been collected and analyzed annually for the Whatcha doin’? campaign since its launch, providing evidence of success in increasing awareness among teens of the benefits of consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and of physical activity. This spring, the same surveys will be administered, and will be compared to the past years to look for evidence of the impact of the NFL grants.

Conclusions: Schools were able to take advantage of the NFL’s program when the Whatcha doin’? team created a limited number of options consistent with an established campaign, and assisted in writing the grants. The effect of the grants will be measured with surveys to be completed in April 2012.

Implications for research and/or practice: Practitioners can develop a solid public health campaign for teens that is still flexible enough to allow incorporation of new media and new funding sources.