Media Campaign Strategies to Build Capacity for Policy Change

RENEW LA County is developing and implementing a targeted social marketing and public education campaign to promote healthy eating, reduce sugar-loaded beverage consumption, and increase community support for creating healthier food environments. This multi-pronged campaign, led by local public affairs firm The Rogers Group, will educate the public on the amount of sugar and salt in common foods and beverages, and alert them to the health dangers of high consumption. Behaviors and creative concepts were tested by a research firm in focus groups in communities targeted for policy change and with high rates of childhood obesity. The campaign will include social media, outdoor advertising and a website, www.ChooseHealthLA.com, focused on the promotion of healthier choices. To supplement the campaign, a “Healthy Toolkit” of educational materials will be provided to the media, policymakers, educators and parents. Local spokespeople, including funded partners of RENEW LA County, will be deployed to spread the message and importance of a comprehensive approach to policy, systems and environment change in order to make the healthy choice the easy choice. This campaign is a primer for policy change surrounding health-in-all policies at the local level. This presentation will outline the importance of community education as the foundation for a strategic and fully-integrated media campaign in order to shape social norms and build capacity for policy change.