In January 2009 the Department of Health launched Change4Life- England's first ever national social marketing campaign. Aiming of reducing obesity, the campaign looked to change the behaviours and circumstances that lead people to gain weight through urging members of the public to 'eat well, move more and live longer'. The campaign aimed to drive listeners towards an online questionnaire named 'How are the kids?'. A key consideration regarded the tone of the campaign as it was imperative that listeners could engage with the campaign, rather than feel alienated by it.

Using beyond the spot to mobilise listeners and drive behavioural change

A cross-network, beyond the spot campaign was created running across 86 stations. The first four weeks of the campaign focussed on raising awareness, featuring messages of child obesity through a series of pre-recorded trails and live presenter reads. Listeners were encouraged to go online and fill in the 'How Are The Kids?' survey to be in with a chance of winning healthy prizes for the family. The second stage involved translating the core behaviours the programme hoped to instil in the listeners through real tips on healthy eating and how to get healthy.

Overall radio proved to be highly effective in terms of changing attitudes and positively altering behaviour, both crucial for the initial stages of the campaign. The activity had a clear effect on the behaviour of the commercial radio listeners, of whom a significant number said that following the campaign had started eating healthy food and doing more exercise. A further 18% of people stated that they would look to change their behaviours during the next month and would look to be doing 60 mins of activity, snack checking and eating proportionally 'me sized' meals.

"The Change4Life radio partnership was an important way of showcasing local stories so people could see friends and neighbours getting involved. It encouraged families to share their own stories of success and show how people 'like me' are making changes to their behaviour." The Change4Life team