As you probably know, in 2011, Comcast-NBCU merged their media empires. What you may not know though is that they’re putting a keen focus on the importance of healthy eating habits in children. We were thrilled to hear about this as the Ad Council and USDA have been working together for years to motivate adults and encourage proper nutrition habits for their children and families through our Nutrition Education campaign. We saw a unique opportunity to make an even bigger impact for our campaign.
With that, we joined forces with Comcast-NBCU to create new, enlightening and motivational public service announcements to air across The Style Network, their cable network targeted towards women – and more specifically moms that provide food for their families.
The strategy behind the messages was to make a healthy lifestyle a catalyst for great opportunities in a child’s life. When a child eats a well balanced diet it can help them reach their full potential. It also was important to convey that eating healthy is easier than most people think.
We produced two, original co-branded :30 PSAs – “Food Plate” and “Memories.” “Food Plate” is an animated spot showing how easy it is to substitute unhealthy foods with fruits, vegetables and other nutritional choices. “Memories” features Style Network talent - Giuliana Rancic, Jeannie Mai and Kimora Lee Simmons – talking about their healthy eating habits as children. The PSAs started airing on The Style Network as well as Comcast Spotlight in November 2011 and will run throughout 2012.
The partnership was really rewarding to work on because it allowed us to be strategic and creative in explaining the importance of healthy eating. In order to convey that it's easy we needed to communicate it simply. I found it very beneficial to have one PSA focus on the actual food and the other PSA focus on the experience and memories that are associated with eating healthy. In combining those two strategies, we provided a more believable message - and showed the ease and also excitement of eating healthy.
And, because of their commitment to increasing the availability of children’s programming and providing more children focused PSAs, we were able to increase awareness on crucial issues such as nutrition education and child obesity prevention. These PSAs will ultimately inspire change and improve children’s lives. And, that is always a good thing!