Best Bones Forever!: Creating emotional ties through branding

INTRODUCTION: Branding is an important strategy for engaging tweens and was successful in CDC's VERB campaign. Best Bones Forever! (BBF!), HHS' Office on Women's Health's (OWH) campaign for girls 9-14, uses branding to 1) position calcium and vitamin D consumption and physical activity as fun, cool, and friendship-based and 2) create emotional ties—including feelings of strength, belonging, and coolness—to the behaviors. METHODS: OWH conducted focus groups and surveys to develop and test creative concepts and create a brand that resonates with girls by positioning building strong bones as consistent with what they value: friendship and fun. The campaign name plays on ‘best friends forever,' messaging encourages getting active with friends, and the campaign's look and feel is edgy. Using these elements, BBF! strives to make bone-health behaviors fun, easy, and popular with a brand identity that is carried through materials, partners, websites, and events. RESULTS: A survey conducted at a 2010 BBF! event measured the strength of the emotional ties girls have with the brand, including perception of quality and loyalty, after interacting with the campaign. Questions included whether BBF! made girls think of their friends and whether they considered it “fun and silly.” The results showed that nearly 100% of girls (n = 64) indicated they had a favorable view of the campaign, would tell friends about it, and wanted to learn more. DISCUSSION: BBF! successfully creates emotional ties through a brand that uses positive emotional appeals to offer benefits (friendship and fun) in exchange for target behaviors.