“Join the Movement” Living BillboardsRecommendations to Support Statewide Advertising Campaign

Introduction

This guide is designed to help local health departments (LHD) generate public awareness and media attention around the new Champions for Change advertising campaign called “Join the Movement.” These ideas may be scaled to meet the unique needs and capabilities of each LHD. Working together, our collective efforts will help to raise campaign awareness through traditional and social media channels, and rally Californians around the campaign’s call to Join the Movement.

Promotional Concept

Based on the advertising campaign’s creative execution, the promotional concept is to create and capture a simple yet powerful “living billboard” in a public space that displays how real Champions (e.g. policymakers, community leaders, physicians, farmers, parents) are joining the movement for healthy change. Celebrating Champions in communities across California, this activity will provide photo assets for media distribution.

Basic Steps of the Promotion

1) Identify Champions for Change in your community to participate 2) Stage billboard reenactment prior to or during local events/activities 3) Distribute images through news media and social media

Q&A

1) What is a living billboard?

The living billboard is a reenactment of the outdoor campaign using real Champions from your local community. Groups of Champions will hold signs just like the individuals in the billboard. What makes the living billboards interesting and newsworthy are the collection of Champions who join together to create the living billboard. Imagine a group of Champion physicians, nurses and staff from a local clinic standing together declaring with their signs that they are joining the movement, or a farmer and his workers standing amidst their crop to announce that they are part of the movement. Importantly, the billboards should reflect the people in your community that make up the frontlines in the fight against childhood obesity. The billboard itself will only take a few minutes to create, but the images and stories of the Champions will live on through news and social media, as we will describe later in this guide.

2) Who should we invite to participate?

As noted, your billboard(s) should reflect the local community and the people and places that best represent nutrition education and obesity prevention efforts in your county. Select individuals who have a compelling story to tell about how and why they have embraced the movement. Individuals you may want to consider include:

Champion moms, dads, youth and grandparents School administrators and educators Local elected officials and community leaders Growers and farmers Healthcare providers Grocers and retailers Worksites and employers

3) How should we stage the billboard?

Below are two ideas on how you can stage your living billboard(s), but we also invite you to be creative and conduct the activity in a way that is best for your community.

a. On location with Champions… One way to stage the billboard is by going to a location where Champions work or volunteer, this is particularly a good idea for Champions grouped by occupation or program (farmers, teachers, etc.). As an example for teachers, you could stage the billboard on the school’s front steps with the school’s name visible in the background.

b. A relevant community location where obesity prevention activities occur...Champion Moms, Dads and Grandparents can be assembled in a neighborhood park where families enjoy physical activity or at a local farmers’ market where they could be joined by the vendors who provide them fresh fruits and vegetables.

You should create your living billboard in a public space that symbolizes community and/or healthy changes. Other ideas for locations include:

Front lawn or steps of a county or state building Community garden Corner grocery store Local farm Health fair in the community Public square and/or park Weekly farmers’ market

It’s important that you choose locations and configurations that tell a story about what’s happening in your community. Also, for technical purposes, well-lit and/or outdoor locations will produce better images than indoor settings.

4) What will I need for the living billboard?

Creating the living billboard is the fun part! Like the image on the billboard, your living billboard participants should hold white poster boards or foam core with the sentence “We’re joining the movement for healthy changes” with the words stretched across several pieces of poster board (like in the images on page 1). Consider having each word on its own poster board for groups larger than 10 people. Champions should write messages about their personal efforts on the back side of the poster boards similar to the messages from the campaign’s television spot. These may include messages like “I’m cooking healthier meals” or “We’re physically active every day.” The personal messages should be large enough to read in a photo. If members of your group are bilingual or Spanish-dominant, you could also write your message in Spanish, such as “Nos unimos al movimiento para hacer cambios saludables.”

5) How do we capture the living billboard?

The concept is meant to be grassroots, so there’s no need to hire a professional photographer. In fact, you should be able to use a smartphone or digital camera to capture print-ready photos of your living billboard. As previously noted, be sure your billboard is staged outdoors in a sunny area or indoors in good lighting (natural light is preferable to artificial). Prior to your reenactment prepare a shot list to make sure you get a variety of candid and portrait images for use in various media channels. Suggested photos include:

Participants writing their messages on poster board Participants assembling into the living billboard Portraits of living billboard (take many to ensure that you have one that will work)

o Include shots of the main “Join the Movement” message and shots of the group showing the side of the poster boards with their personal messages

Since these images will be used for a number of public facing opportunities, have anyone planning to appear in the photo sign a waiver (available on SharePoint).

Download the photos and select the best ones for publication. Prepare informative captions for each that properly identifies everyone in the photo and explains the significance of the billboard.

6) What should we do with assets from the living billboard?

The assets from the living billboard including photos taken can be packaged for distribution through local news media as well as social media channels. You may also include them in county newsletters or on county websites, and provide them to partners for use in their communication channels.

a. News Media Send an email pitch to your local media outlets letting them know about the living billboard. If requested, you can then send them available images taken of your living billboard and those Champions involved in creating it. NOTE: Never send an unsolicited image to a news outlet.

b. Social Media Post various images to the Champions for Change Facebook page (Facebook.com/CaChampionsForChange). Select the image that best tells the story of your billboard image and write a brief caption. When you post this image you will need to tag CaChampionsForChange. Tagging is done by clicking on the image and then entering @CaChampionsForChange in the popup box. Feel free to share a number of images from your living billboard reenactments.

Remember to include a call to action when posting images to your social media channel. Examples include:

What is one healthy change you are committed to making? Who is a Champion for Change in your life? How does this person inspire you? Have you been empowered to make healthy change? Create your billboard, take

a picture of you holding it, post it to your Facebook page and tag us!

Also share the images with the Champions for Change featured in the living billboard and encourage them to post it on their personal social media channels (Facebook and Twitter). They could also do that from the reenactment as a fun way to promote their participation.

7) What makes the living billboard newsworthy?

The power of the living billboard is contained in the stories of the individuals declaring their participation in the movement, and/or the surprise of seeing unexpected individuals joining together to create the billboard. As an example, your billboard might include Champion Moms whose actions have made a significant difference in the community. For this group, promotion of the living billboard also serves as recognition for their efforts. Another community’s billboard might feature city leaders on the steps of city hall, which residents may be surprised and delighted to see. Overall, what makes the billboard activities important is that Californians are publicly joining the movement for healthy changes, which helps to encourage and reinforce healthy behaviors among all Californians.