We introduced a radical idea: the world’s first Sugar Rehab Clinic, a story that news outlets all over the country were eager to cover. We opened the clinic in the heart of Amsterdam - for everyone to enter, at no cost. To start your rehab, the first step as a consumer is to acknowledge your unhealthy habits. So we designed an interactive body scan (with XBOX Kinekt technology) where visitors could experience the negative effects that sugar has on their bodies. We also taught visitors over 50 alternative names for sugar that manufacturers use to conceal sugar in products. People left the clinic with useful ways to avoid sugar in their daily lives.

Day 1: For maximal launch impact we arranged an exclusive news item with RTL’s morning TV news program. Directly afterwards, the story about the opening of the Clinic was released to all news media outlets.

Day 2: We launched a petition calling on the Minister of Health to force manufacturers to reduce the amount of sugar they put in our foods.

Day 3: We launched a press release about how sugar affects children.

Day 4: We invited all stakeholders; manufacturers, scientist and the government, to talk about the steps we need to take together to reduce the sugar consumption in the Netherlands.

The message spread like wildfire, covered by all national news outlets in all media. Online video ads and social media brought the idea to an even larger audience.

The story had a combined reach of 18 million, of which 47% was generated by PR with a value of €2.8 million.

The media attention was supportive of the idea, strengthening our message and serving as an effective wake up call for all Dutch people. Due to all the media attention and even political pressure, a number of major players in the food industry stepped up to the challenge and started collaborations with the Diabetes Foundation to develop solutions for a healthier future.