Rethinking a Creative Campaign Launch to Impact Behavior

Background:  Most young adult Oklahomans, ages 18–34, drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day—more than any other state, according to the CDC. Because of this, the Shape Your Future Rethink Your Drink (SYF RYD) campaign was created for Oklahoma. The messaging aims to reduce obesity rates through simple steps: increasing awareness of the sugar in sweetened beverages, and highlighting the benefits of drinking water.

Program background:  Shape Your Future (SYF) is a statewide public health initiative funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) partnering with the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The program’s goal is to encourage Oklahomans to eat better, move more and be tobacco free, as Oklahoma ranks in the bottom 10 states for rates of tobacco use and obesity.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  The SYF RYD campaign launch was executed over three days preceding the first media flight. The strategy was developed by focusing on larger markets with three specific tactics: press release, press kits and media events. The press release focused on the staggering statistics linking childhood and adult obesity to the overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and the efforts of SYF in combatting the growing obesity epidemic. To grab attention of local media, press kits were designed to look as if SYF was delivering a breakfast of donuts, branded water bottles and mixed fruit. Recipients were surprised to find the donut box filled with posters – the first showing that a 12 oz soda was equal to 3 ¼ glazed donuts. Furthermore, they were encouraged to hang the posters around the workplace. Over 70 press kits were delivered in-person, with all media (more than 300) and stakeholders (more than 50) receiving the kits electronically. Following the kit delivery, the media and public were invited to an event where they could interact with oversized banners and sugar packets to show how much sugar they were consuming in sugary drinks. Media interviews were conducted along with live postings across social channels. Additionally, the social media campaign began on the launch date. Partners across the state were encouraged to engage with the content to gain traction from an organic audience. Facebook:

• Viral Impressions: 40,126
• Organic Impressions: 16,333
• Video Views: 1,600
• Engagements: 2,321 (799.60% increase YoY)

Twitter:

• Organic Impressions: 7,989
• Engagements increased by 833.30% (total: 252)
• Impressions per tweet increased by 9.4%

Conclusions:  Overall, the RYD launch harnessed success across channels, resulting in media attention including:

• Attracted 23 participating coalition partners to the campaign (objective: 10)
• Received 3 TV stories, 3 radio stories, 2 social media stories (objective: 3 total)
• Received 21 print stories from pitching press released locally
• Received 115 RYD poster downloads (objective: 100)

Implications for research and/or practice:  Focus groups and online testing were conducted to determine a creative direction that would resonate with moms and caregivers who are primary food and beverage decisions-makers for their families. Findings showed that shocking facts about how much sugar found in sweetened beverages was a key element. Creative was then executed for statewide TV, radio, digital, and social media.