Non-profit ParticipACTION exists to get Canadians to sit less and move more. Studies show 83% of the nation believes physical inactivity is more serious an issue than alcohol and tobacco, yet 8 in 10 adults don’t meet minimum activity requirements for health. The gap between perception and action needed to be corrected to shift this Canadian health crisis.

The norm for health advocacy communications was simple active tips, but 41% of Canadians would rather be doing something else. ParticipACTION had to motivate, not just provide information to shift the norms where physical activity is accepted and expected in Canada.

Creating societal change takes time. In our launch year, the objective was to establish a platform that clearly motivates people toward physical activity, generating above-norm breakthrough and lifts in online engagement, which would lead to continued investment.

To shift behaviour, we needed to understand what was preventing Canadians from being active: 57% claimed to need to psych themselves up to be active. In the pursuit of a better life, Canadians prioritize many desires at the expense of the basics. Necessities, like being active, become things to ‘add on’ to an already busy life once other things are done. People needed to see activity as a means to reach more motivating life goals to make the effort.

What’s in it for me? Activity was most associated with weight loss. But the real benefits extend far beyond that: There are health, relationship, brain and community benefits. Ready to poop better? Activity can help.

That insight led to our creative idea: Everything gets better when you get active. A platform that would reframe activity as the way to reach all the priorities and goals they seek in life.

As a nationally funded organization, our target was all Canadian adults. Research enabled us to understand the most appealing ‘life benefits’ to ensure the mass campaign had appeal (e.g., Energy, Sleep and Happy benefits) with an understanding of how to then sub-segment to ensure region, gender, age and abilities were accounted for.

Most important, research also revealed that to achieve behaviour change, people needed to understand the science and be given tools to live it. An integrated platform allowed us to parcel out the stages of information to reach our behavioural outcome.

• What: Present the reframe of the active proposition.

• Why: Scientifically prove what the body needs and how activity plays a role.

• How: Present scientifically validated simple approaches to activity, ensuring activities are adapted for abilities, income and age disparities (to minimize intrinsic and extrinsic barriers).

Our range of “Betters” (e.g., Love Better, Focus Better, Sleep Better, Happy Better) needed mass national distribution. Retargeted ‘Betters’ followed up, appealing to the nation’s differing interests and abilities based on pre-campaign research.

• What: Awareness of the range of benefits built awareness in mass media (television and digital). Daily living spaces like transit, OOH and mobile surrounded work, school and pleasure to showcase benefits contextually matching surroundings.

• Why: Relevance-targeted digital and social based on pre-testing interests were served to drive click-throughs to a completely redesigned ParticipACTION website. Written by health education experts, each promoted “Better” showed the physiological needs and role of activity in reaching these goals.

• How: The renovated website and additional retargeted social stories shared simple ways (adapted for accessibility) to introduce daily activity into a busy life to reach goals. Canadians were encouraged to sign up for “Get Started” emails to continue the motivation.

ParticipACTION’s launch got Canadians feeling “Everything gets better when you get active”.

• 72% of Canadians found this campaign motivating, significantly above average

• Almost half found it to be educational, relevant and interesting

The redesigned website drove engagement, particularly with Millennials (the core of Canadian families today):

• +21% overall page views

• +36% page depth

• +65% time spent

• 4 point decrease in bounce rate

• +5% sessions per user (+26% for millennials)

Canadians didn’t just want to get active – they wanted to stay active.

• 15% lift in sign-ups for “Get Started” emails

• Almost 60% of Canadians indicated they’ve done something as a result of seeing ads, primarily trying to increase their own activity levels, with over half claiming to Energy, Happy and Sleep Better.