Outdoor industry promotes its second annual health and wellbeing campaign

Over the coming weeks, Out of Home (OOH) signs across Australia feature a healthy eating campaign, Better than you remember, donated by the members of the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) and delivered in partnership with Health and Wellbeing Queensland and Nutrition Australia.

This pro bono campaign, developed by Health and Wellbeing Queensland, is the second campaign run in partnership with the government to encourage healthy eating. The annual campaign is part of the OMA’s world-first National Health and Wellbeing Policy, aiming to meet community expectations and support government efforts to tackle overweight and obesity in Australia.

OMA CEO, Charmaine Moldrich, said: “The Outdoor advertising industry is proud to launch its second health and wellbeing campaign as part of our commitment to encourage healthy lifestyles. We aim to support Health and Wellbeing Queensland’s mission to ‘make healthy happen’ with this campaign.

“We know that Out of Home advertising is a powerful channel that influences positive behaviour. Our research has proven these outcomes, particularly regarding lifestyle changes. 

“The post-campaign study^ of the first health and wellbeing campaign we ran in January 2021, Add an extra handful of veggies, showed that 86 per cent of parents who saw the ad said they were encouraged to include veggies in their meals or snacks. While 80 per cent said, they were encouraged to make healthier choices for their children’s meals. We ran Add an extra handful of veggies last year in partnership with the Australian Government Department of Health.”

This campaign, Better than you remember, encourages Australians to rediscover and think differently about how they consume vegetables. The campaign’s website boostyourhealthy.com.au shows how delicious veggies are and offers tips, resources, and recipes.  

Health and Wellbeing Queensland Chief Executive, Dr Robyn Littlewood, said she was delighted to see the work with the Outdoor Media Association and Nutrition Australia come to life on signs in Brisbane, regional Queensland, and across all other states in Australia.

“We know every town and city across Australia is experiencing different food supply chain issues, so we’re encouraging people to make the most of what is available by trying different ways to cook the available vegetables.  If you can’t get your favourite vegetables, substitute them for something you haven’t tried before.

“Vegetables play an essential role in our overall health and wellbeing, they provide fibre and essential nutrients, and a vegetable-rich diet is both suitable for a healthy gut, and it can help prevent and manage obesity and chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“We’re committed to addressing health issues and promoting the importance of veggies in everyone’s diet, which is why it’s so rewarding to be working with the Outdoor industry to achieve this goal,” said Dr Littlewood.

Lucinda Hancock, Nutrition Australia Vic Division CEO, said: “We love seeing veggies on billboards and believe more promotion like this is needed. Eating a rainbow of coloured vegetables can ensure people consume various important nutrients. We are thrilled to be involved in this year’s campaign and provide tips and recipes to make healthy eating tasty and accessible. This campaign is topical as you can boost your immune system by upping your veggie intake. A great annual initiative by the OMA and their members.”

“We do hope to see similar positive survey results for this second health campaign. Staying healthy and looking after yourself is more important than ever,” concluded Moldrich.

Participating OMA members include: Australian Outdoor Sign Company (AOSCo), BIG Outdoor, Bishopp Outdoor Advertising, EiMedia, goa, JCDecaux, JOLT Charge, Motion, oOh!media, Outdoor Systems, Paradise Outdoor Advertising, QMS Media, Scentre Group BrandSpace, Shopper, Think Outdoor, Tonic Media Network, TorchMedia, Total Outdoor Media (TOM), and Val Morgan Outdoor (VMO).

The value of the Better than you remember campaign is estimated at over $3M* and will be on the market for four weeks, from Sunday 30 January to Saturday 26 February 2022. Visit www.boostyourhealthy.com.au and www.healthyoutdoor.org for more information.