Within the South Asian community there is a high incidence of diabetes.
Diabetes can be caused by an unhealthy diet that is too rich in fats and sugar. Based on research, patients informed the NHS they didn’t understand how to eat less fat, carbs and sugar. They wanted specific guidance on how to cook healthily.
We were engaged to develop a multi-channel awareness and educational campaign.
Our approach was to create an educational campaign that suggested healthy food swaps, and twists on traditional recipes. We didn’t want to scare people with health statistics and facts about diabetes, this campaign is all about encouraging small simple steps in the right direction.
The campaign is titled ‘Your Healthy Kitchen‘ and the approach is expressed with the strap-line ‘Learn to cook great traditional food with a healthy twist’.
Working with an NHS dietician Jessica Mhesuria we created five recipe videos which would form the centrepiece of the campaign. Although the recipes are diabetes friendly, they’re also suitable for people with other long term care needs such as cardiovascular disease.
The videos were published and promoted on their social media channels and website, and were played in doctor’s waiting rooms and hospital TV screens.
We developed a rustic style brand treatment and paired this with a colour palette evocative of South Asian cuisine. A mixture of illustrations, food photography and video brings the campaign to life.
The campaign is all based on good traditional food made with a healthy spin, so we wanted the emphasis to be on the food and recipes, and less about preaching to people about changing their eating habits.
Instead our approach focussed on small changes in ingredients and methods which would give significant health benefits. Little hints and tips throughout the recipe booklet and posters enabled this, and the vibrant and accessible design was a hit with the target demographics.
An extensive digital media campaign was carried out. To measure this a Google data studio report was set up in advance to allow the campaign to be easily monitored as it progressed.
The campaign surpassed the target numbers of people that it set out to educate by 315%. It showed a minimum of 10,885 people how to cook traditional meals with a healthy twist. At least 15,661 people were made aware of the campaign.
Local radio, community and television news targeted thousands more people indirectly which encouraged enquiries for the recipe booklets and more information.
The campaign was positively received by patients and health professionals. This was measured using a survey on the campaign website. 92% thought the campaign was good or very good and an average of 86% ‘liked’ the individual recipes or ‘liked them a lot’. An average of 75% were ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to cook the recipes in the future. Many suggestions were made for further recipes that they would like to see in the future and requests for different types of cuisines.
The success of the campaign has created opportunities for extension, and we’re looking forward to working with the NHS to develop the ‘Your Healthy Kitchen’ brand with more South Asian recipes and other cuisines.
We love working on campaigns that can make a real difference to people’s lives. If you have a project that you’d like to discuss get in touch with us today.
Take a look at our NHS: Get Vaxxed campaign here.
“The team at Arch really brought ‘Your Healthy Kitchen’ to life. We went to them with a simple idea of producing a number of healthy cooking videos and they came back to us with a bright, attractive, innovative and accessible concept. The team instantly understood the brief and what we, the NHS, needed to achieve from the campaign. The style and feel of the campaign accurately reflects the culture of the south Asian community in Leicester. The guys became part of our extended team throughout the process. It was a pleasure to work with them and we have already used them for video projects since and we will certainly use them again in the future.”
Liz Mattock
Communications Officer & Campaign Lead
Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group
