Entry Category
Single Entry – TV/Digital Video Advertising in a social marketing program
Name of Intervention/ Program
Be Well
Background and Situation Analysis
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored both the importance of and public interest in accessible preventative health. In response, public officials in Washington aimed to build on this momentum by launching a new brand that encouraged behaviors to support the physical and mental well-being of residents across Washington state. In 2024, our agency was contracted to develop and roll out such an effort. This is how Be Well WA came to be; a social marketing campaign designed to equitably improve the health of Washington residents through promoting simple, accessible, and actionable behaviors. This initiative was anchored in four key pillars that together define what it means to “Be Well” in Washington: emotional well-being, social connection, movement, and nourishment. The brand was envisioned not just as a standalone campaign, but as a long-term platform; a recognizable endorser brand that could serve as a trusted, statewide source for preventative health information and resources for years to come. Be Well’s brand and campaign development was grounded in rolling, long-term research focused on understanding the views and opinions on healthy eating and active living among Washingtonians. To ensure cultural and linguistic relevance, this research was conducted in the 17 most represented languages across Washington. Participants could complete a 30-minute survey via written form or phone call with an in-language moderator. Primary research was supplemented by extensive secondary research on wellness culture, media consumption, and behavioral health trends. Key research insights that shaped the brand and campaign include: •The wellness industry is saturated, and people receive a lot of information about wellness from many sources. Simplifying the path to healthy living for all was key to the ethos of the Be Well WA brand. •The vast majority of survey participants reported healthy eating was “very important” to them but said it could be challenging due to time constraints, affordability, difficulty resisting temptations, and cultural norms. The brand needed to ensure actions in the Nourishment pillar took these challenges into account. •Social media, browsing the internet, family, and friends were top sources for information on healthy eating and diet, making these key outreach channels for the campaign strategy. •Motivators to having an active lifestyle mirror the perceived benefits, with many citing improved physical and mental health as main motivators. This interconnection drives home the importance of housing the four pillars under one brand. •“Time” was a ubiquitous barrier for people to engage in preventative health behaviors. Making wellness accessible and bite-size was essential. From the outset, equity was central to the brand promise: “Simple Wellbeing for Everyone.” The brand was designed to resonate across socioeconomic levels, life stages, and cultural contexts. Visual and messaging guidelines emphasized inclusivity, non-commercial tone, and encouragement, not perfection. Following the campaign launch, the team conducted a statewide survey to assess brand awareness, advertising recall, and baseline behavior tracking across the four wellness pillars. This ongoing evaluation ensures the campaign not only reaches residents but drives meaningful, measurable shifts in behavior, laying the foundation for a long-term movement for health and happiness in Washington.
Priority Audiences(s)
Based on the primary research, the team identified the priority audiences as Washington residents who were open to improving their well-being but faced barriers such as limited time, financial constraints, and an overwhelming amount of noise created by the wellness industry. The campaign prioritized communities historically underserved by traditional wellness messaging, including: •Multilingual populations •Lower-income households •Parents and caregivers •Individuals balancing multiple jobs or responsibilities. Secondary audiences included public agencies and community-based organizations positioned to adapt and amplify Be Well messaging and engage the primary audience through trusted, community-centered channels.
Behavioral Objectives
Be Well WA was developed as a long-term initiative to inspire and support preventive health behaviors among Washington residents. The team defined the following framework for the campaign: Purpose: Improve the health of Washington residents. Goal: Establish visibility of the Be Well brand to promote preventative health behaviors among Washington residents Campaign Objectives: Define what it means to “Be Well” in Washington and encourage ongoing engagement with four core pillars: emotional well-being, social connection, movement, and nourishment. The primary behavioral objective was to motivate residents to take simple, attainable actions across these four areas, demonstrating that well-being is within reach for everyone, regardless of income, time, or life stage. By offering a diverse set of actions under each pillar, the campaign aimed to lower the perceived effort and increase the perceived attainability of health-positive behaviors. Supporting objectives included: •Launch the brand and build awareness and recall of Be Well WA and its role as a trusted resource for well-being. •Drive traffic to the to BeWellWA.org website where residents could explore actionable steps tailored to each pillar. •Encourage behaviors related to each of the four Be Well WA pillars promote positive associations that would support longer-term engagement and adoption of preventive behaviors. •Engage partners to help promote the Be Well brand to help spur social diffusion about Be Well and its behaviors. Ultimately, the campaign’s behavior change strategy was rooted in building a social norm: making wellness feel simple, normal, and doable, one small step at a time.
Description of Strategy/Intervention
Primary research with members of the priority audience uncovered several key barriers to engaging in health-positive behaviors: •Time constraints: Many residents, especially parents and people working multiple jobs, reported that they simply didn’t have the time to prioritize wellness. •Affordability concerns: Wellness was often seen as something expensive or unattainable. •Information overload: Residents felt confused by the volume of contradictory or commercialized wellness content in media and online spaces. •Cultural norms: Expectations around food, family, and rest sometimes conflicted with desired wellness behaviors. The research also revealed strong motivators and perceived benefits, which informed the message strategy: •Residents overwhelmingly agreed that healthy eating and movement were important to them. •Improved mental and physical health were strong motivators across all groups. •People were more likely to engage in behaviors when they felt supported, encouraged, and not judged. •Small, simple steps, rather than aspirational goals, made behavior change feel more realistic and approachable. These barriers and motivators were leveraged to raise awareness of Be Well and spur behavior change through a combination of communication, convenience, social diffusion, and social norming strategies. Communication: The campaign deployed a multichannel communications strategy that prioritized reach and resonance among historically underserved audiences. Channels were chosen to reflect trusted sources of health information identified during the research phase, namely social media, internet searches, and personal networks like friends and family. The campaign sought to build affinity and credibility by avoiding prescriptive or commercialized cues often found in wellness marketing. Instead, it emphasized encouragement over perfection, inclusivity over exclusivity, and practical action over idealized goals. Creative development was also guided by an intergenerational lens, highlighting how well-being isn’t just individual, but collective, impacting families, caregivers, and communities at large. Convenience: The Be Well WA campaign was designed to introduce the brand while encouraging people to take simple actions to support their well-being. It emphasized variety, flexibility, and accessibility; building on existing habits and showing that wellness can look different for everyone. The campaign’s tagline, “Find Your Apple,” played off the familiar “apple a day” phrase to reinforce the idea that each person can define wellness on their own terms, and Be Well WA is here to help. The brand promise, “Simple Wellbeing for Everyone,” anchored all messaging and creative work, reinforcing the idea that well-being isn’t a luxury, it’s a basic need that should be accessible to all Washingtonians. Social Norms: Working to address the barriers uncovered during the research stage, the campaign normalized wellness as part of everyday life, not something to add to a to-do list, but something people are already doing or can do in bite-size ways. Messaging emphasized the simplicity and flexibility of well-being actions and encouraged users to choose the steps that felt right for them, meeting people where they are, not where they “should” be. This messaging framework reinforced Be Well’s brand promise with three key principles: •Well-being is within reach: you don’t need to buy anything or be perfect. •You’re not alone: many of us struggle to prioritize wellness, and that’s okay. •Small actions count: five minutes of movement, one moment of calm, one healthy swap can make a difference. Social Diffusion: Well WA was not positioned as a one-time campaign, but as a long-term endorser brand; a trusted, equity-centered umbrella under which state agencies, public health partners, community organizations and the private sector could align their efforts to promote preventive behaviors. These partnerships fed social diffusion for the campaign with a variety of organizations talking with their audiences about what it means to Be Well.
Implementation
Be Well WA was built around a foundational insight: people value health and many already have what they need to support their well-being; they just need help seeing that it’s within reach. In a world where wellness is often marketed as expensive, exclusive, or aspirational, this campaign aimed to reposition well-being as inclusive and accessible for everyone. The campaign strategy was rooted in behavioral science and social marketing principles, aiming to reduce barriers and motivate action by emphasizing small, achievable steps across four wellness pillars. These pillars were selected to reflect core drivers of health that are relevant across demographics, cultures, and life stages. The campaign strategy followed a four points framework: •The Problem: Residents feel overwhelmed, disconnected, and unsure how to take care of themselves amid the demands of everyday life. •The Advantage: Be Well WA offers a simple, inclusive way to take action, without judgment or pressure. •The Strategy: Normalize well-being as something everyone deserves and can access through small steps. •The Insight: People don’t need to “do more” to be well, they need support recognizing and sustaining what already works. Main Message: Well-being is within reach for anyone. Be Well WA helps Washington residents improve their well-being with simple actions, regardless of life stage, financial constraints, time limitations, or abilities. Campaign Dissemination Strategy: Campaign materials and messaging were distributed through two primary avenues: •Paid and earned communications that reached priority audience groups via platforms and sources they already trust. •Partnerships with community-based organizations, equipping them with tools to authentically amplify the campaign in their local contexts. Tactics: To reach diverse audiences effectively, all materials were developed with cultural relevance and language access in mind. The campaign launched in Spring 2024 in English and Spanish, with a strong focus on brand alignment, inclusivity, and accessibility across all channels. The transcreation strategy built on insights from in-language research and ensured that tone and content resonated across languages and communities. The following strategies and tactics supported deployment: •Brand Guidelines: Developed to maintain visual and message consistency across all campaign materials and to support future content development under the Be Well WA banner. •Partner Toolkit: Shared via the DOH website, the toolkit offered background on the campaign and ways for public health partners and CBOs to get involved. •Campaign Website: A bilingual website offered pillar-specific content, downloadable resources, and partner engagement materials. The mobile-optimized design ensured accessibility for smartphone-first users. •Brand Launch Video PSA: Produced in English and Spanish, the video introduced the brand and pillars, positioning wellness as a daily, achievable practice. It ran alongside a broader digital launch campaign. •Organic Social Media: Content helped build familiarity with the brand and drove click-throughs to the website. •Media Relations: Brand launch press conferences were held in Seattle and Spokane with campaign partners and public health officials, generating local earned media coverage. •Strategic Partnerships: Be Well WA collaborated with high-visibility partners across the state: -The Seattle Seahawks ran in-stadium ads during games. -The Seattle Storm developed Be Well videos featuring players. -Special Olympics Washington and other organizations participated in launch events. -The Apple Cup featured on-site Be Well WA materials and branded activities. •Paid media buy included: -Television ads. -Digital video pre-roll and OTT placements. -Social media ads across Facebook and Instagram (static, GIF, and video formats).
Evaluation Methods and Results
All primary campaign goals were achieved, with strong early indicators that Be Well WA successfully introduced a new health brand that promoted simple wellness behaviors among Washington residents. Brand recognition, ad recall, and behaviors related to the four pillars were evaluated through a post-campaign survey conducted in August 2024. •Objective: Launch the brand and build awareness. •Result: Initial brand awareness was zero. Post-campaign, 46% of survey respondents reported being at least “a little familiar” with Be Well WA and correctly understood it as an initiative that encourages and promotes overall health and wellness. •Objective: Drive traffic to the campaign website. •Result: The campaign drove 68,000+ visitors to the website in July and August, five times more than in the months following the campaign, demonstrating strong engagement during the launch window. •Objective: Encourage behaviors related to each of the four Be Well WA pillars. •Result: Approximately two in three survey respondents reported participating in at least one activity in each of the four wellness pillars. Between August 16 and August 30, 2024: -62% engaged in movement activities often or very often. -69% ate fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, or culturally nourishing foods often or very often. -63% talked with family or friends often or very often. -48% made an effort to improve their emotional well-being often or very often. •Objective: Engage partners to help promote the Be Well brand. •Result: More than 10 organizations partnered with Be Well WA to promote the brand. This included major sports teams, non-profits and local governments.
Entry Letter: I