How do you convince people to be healthier?
That was the challenge presented to The Whitehouse Consultancy team when appointed by the National Obesity Forum to create and coordinate National Obesity Awareness Week in 2013. The scale of the brief was expansive - to develop the branding, messaging and content of the campaign, and to secure the participation of organisations to ensure its reach spanned the UK.
The awareness week in January 2014 exceeded any preconceptions and expectations. Central to its success was the development of a report for the National Obesity Forum that attracted national attention and more than 60 prominent media interviews for the charity on the first day of the campaign. This provided critical mass for the campaign’s other activities - including a parliamentary reception addressed by the then-Public Health Minister, and a Downing Street reception hosted by Samantha Cameron that celebrated the achievements of children and young people in winning a national schools competition to create healthy recipes and, in the case of younger entrants, picture diaries of their week’s healthy eating.
Year two of the campaign built on that success, with a unique children’s healthy eating quiz in Parliament - with teams captained by good humoured MPs - and a school sports event in the Copper Box on the Olympic Park. The latter was the stage for brand new games created by schoolchildren across the country as part of a competition and featured ‘Foot Golf’ and football played on space hoppers - the promotion of which continued to encourage more members of the public to make healthy New Year’s Resolutions and improve their health outcomes.
Underpinning the campaign across the two years was a website hosting information and directing policymakers and members of the public alike to suitable resources intended to promote healthy eating and physical activity.
The Whitehouse Consultancy team also secured high profile support for the campaign, ranging from household-named organisations such as Disney and Danone Waters, to charities such as HENRY and Heart Research UK. Supporters across the country undertook independent events to promote the week, including its promotion by half a dozen Premiership football clubs. Across the two years of the campaign, thousands of people have made healthy New Year’s Resolutions, high profile supporters including Jamie Oliver’s team and members of Team GB have supported the campaign, and activities have been taken on by groups ranging from NHS trusts to local councils, schools and community groups.
This coming New Year will see National Obesity Awareness Week rebranded as the JanUary campaign, involving the publication of recommendations on public health from the National Obesity Forum and supporters, alongside a series of events and engagement activities for supporters across the UK.
For more information about the JanUary campaign, please contact Chris Rogers, The Whitehouse Consultancy’s Head of Public Relations, on 020 7463 0690 or Chris.Rogers@whitehouseconsulting.co.uk.