The need for a marketing campaign arose from national, state, and local data on the incidence of poverty in Kentucky, and the impact of poverty on the nutrition of children. According to the Kids Count Data Center, 26% of Kentucky’s children live at 100% poverty, and 41% live in areas of concentrated poverty.   Statewide, 73.19% of Kentucky’s students qualified for free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program, as of October, 2017.  Research has shown that children in limited-resource families are less likely to eat healthy nutritious meals, less likely to eat the daily recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and more likely to consume food away from home. In addition to the challenges of poverty, fewer children are learning about cooking from parents due to changes in family structures, workforce participation and values (Nelson et al., 2013). Awareness and project efforts that inspire behavior change are critical components to addressing the challenges that limited-income families and children in Kentucky face, especially when it comes to healthy eating and physical activity. As previously noted, low-income families struggle with a disproportionate burden of obesity and chronic disease related to inadequate nutrient intake and physical activity.  This indirect intervention utilizes multiple approaches to engage whole families in accessing, selecting, preparing and eating meals together and enjoying physical activity together.  Promoting a healthier lifestyle within the family unit has the capacity to lessen the economic burden of disease, improve quality of life, and enable all of Kentucky’s youth to fulfill their potential.  The campaign was designed to be far-reaching and impact the entire state of Kentucky to help drive awareness and address the challenges identified. Limited-resource Kentucky adults and families were reached through campaign support materials. Messages were designed for three audience segments – mothers of preschool-age children (2- to 5-year-olds); mothers of elementary school-age children (6- to 10-year-olds); and children 8- to 10-years old. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, women are still doing the majority of meal preparation (www.bls.gov). As such, moms have the power to change what food is available in the home, how food is offered and prepared. The overarching goal of the Eat Smart to Play Hard campaign is to reach NEP’s target audience with consistent and clear messaging that influences behavior and establishes positive attitudes towards healthy choices. NEP works to coordinate, complement, and collaborate to deliver consistent behavior-focused nutrition, physical activity, and obesity prevention messages, comprehensive multi-level marketing efforts, and community based and public health approaches to maximize reach and potential impact of federal nutrition education and nutrition assistance programs through the Eat Smart to Play Hard campaign. Billboard and transit advertising provides an ideal means for messages to reach limited-income families and youth from its breadth of scope, creating the number of impressions that allow for messages to be recognized, remembered and behaviors to be influenced. These messages have also been accompanied by supporting marketing media outreach to generate additional interest, awareness and knowledge of these campaign efforts.

 The campaign has provided offshoots that continue to be innovative in its approach. For example, agents in the counties identified the need to bring “Wally Cat” to life as youth saw the billboards and bus wraps. This need was addressed by NEP to produce a toolkit for agents that feature Wally Cat and a variety of youth activities that include healthy recipes, food science, gardening and physical activity. Below is an excerpt from an email received about the campaign that speaks to the ripple effect:

    “My name is Katy and I work for the YMCA of Greater Louisville. I am currently teaching a class called Healthy Weight and Your Child; a program for children ages 7-13 who have been diagnosed with obesity and their parents. Through education, healthy eating and physical activity we work to help families achieve a healthy weight and wellness through lifestyle and behavior modifications. A couple of days ago, I passed one of the Snack Like a Superhero, Eat Smart to Play Hard Billboards and was so excited to see this type of advertising in our community. I took a quick picture and brought it to class with me last night, as we were covering the topic of food advertising in our session. The children and parents thought this was such a great idea, and most had never seen any type of large scale advertising for fruits and veggies! We followed with an activity where they created their own advertisements for fruits, veggies and other healthy food options. The reason I am reaching out is to Thank You for this campaign! After looking into this a little more, it looks like this has been out for a couple of years now, but I’m so happy to finally have seen this in our community. We need more advertising and campaigns like this, and this is such a large step in the right direction. Thank you!” The campaign has included several methods of educational delivery – including the use of ChopChop magazine and its content to help deliver the “Eat Smart to Play Hard” message as well as materials provided to the counties to help share the awareness and message (this includes PSAs, news releases, banners and signage, recipe cards and Facebook posts created to share on the county level).