U.S.-Based Programs

Use the links below to learn more about each U.S.-Based Program.

Calories In: Consumer Research and Message Development
One sure way to control your weight is to control what you eat. However, that is easier said than done. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked AED to lead a consumer research effort to learn what might motivate key audience segments to make a more concerted effort to manage their "energy intake." Using CDC data, AED identified two target segments who are interested in losing weight, but differ in their self-efficacy (Confident Competents and At-Risk Uncertains). Focus groups with these audiences showed that American adults know a lot about strategies for portion size, volumetrics and reducing consumption of sweetened beverages, but lack the time and skills to use that knowledge. AED will develop practical tools to help households manage their calorie intake. CDC plans to expand the project to reach two new audiences, such as providers and state health programs.

HEALTHY: A Middle School Diabetes Prevention Program
Experts agree that preventing childhood obesity and its associated chronic diseases requires a comprehensive and sustained effort, and schools hold promise for mounting such efforts. AED was hired to provide social marketing and consumer research support to a national prevention study funded by the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). AED's task: frame the healthier eating and physical activity behaviors so they are cooler and more attractive to the target 6th-8th graders, most of them African American or Latino. AED created an edgy HEALTHY brand, which has captured the students' attention and interest. In-school promotional materials reflect an edgy urban sensibility and AED is engaging the young people in producing user-generated media and activities. From 2006-2009, the diabetes prevention intervention trial will run in 42 schools in seven communities across the United States. The evaluation will track clinical changes and reduction in risk factors as a result of the school-based structural and environmental changes, and AED's promotion efforts.

Contact
Rajni Sood Laurent

Marketing Healthier Food to Young People
For a report to Congress, CDC wanted to know more about how the food industry effectively markets to children. CDC tapped AED to help it develop recommendations for how best to market healthier foods to tweens. AED is conducting qualitative research--including in-home observations and ride-alongs--with families of 8-12 year-olds to understand how they make decisions related to meal selection and preparation, availability of snacks and eating out of the home. To augment the research findings, AED is convening an expert panel, including food and entertainment marketers, academics and consumer researchers.

Contact
Junette McWilliams

Media-Smart Youth - Eat, Think, and Be Active!
In our media-saturated society, young people need help to understand the role that media play in shaping their values about nutrition and physical activity, and to build skills that encourage critical thinking and healthy lifestyle choices. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National lnstitute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) asked AED to create a media literacy program for 11-13 year olds in after-school environments. Media-Smart Youth is an interactive, science-based program for community-based organizations and after-school programs that combines youth-development principles and practices with government recommendations about nutrition and physical activity. AED recently completed the development of a train-the-trainers guide for communities to use to train program facilitators and is currently working on revising the program to integrate newer media and to keep the program fresh in our constantly changing media environment.

Contact
Elyse Cohen
Rachel Nania

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Technical Assistance Center
The Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Technical Assistance Center, Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides on-site training and technical assistance to Head Start programs that serve migrant and seasonal farmworker families and their children, from birth through age five, across the United States. The project's goals are to improve the quality of services to low-income children and their families and in turn promote social competence and school readiness in young children. Head Start programs get a wide range of support, in areas such as management, early childhood development, nutrition education (including prevention of obesity), menu planning and analysis, oral health and health services, transportation of young children, appropriate facilities, developmentally and linguistically appropriate services, working with young children with disabilities and building family and community partnerships.

Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Tweens: An Innovative Product Development Approach
Effective marketing starts with the product before it considers messaging or promotion. So CDC moved beyond messages and communication, and asked AED the question: how can we create or improve a product or service that would encourage young people to eat more fruit and vegetables? AED enlisted world-renowned product design firm, IDEO, to help devise an answer. With AED and CDC, IDEO is leading an innovative product development process that engages tweens, parents, growers and food suppliers. This process will present CDC with a design framework, some simple prototypes to test and recommendations for potential commercial partnerships.

Contact
Rajni Sood Laurent

We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition)
We Can! is unique among existing youth obesity-prevention initiatives in its focus on programs and activities for parents and families as a primary group for influencing youth audiences. Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), We Can! provides activities that encourage improved nutritional choices, increased physical activity, and reduced "screen time" in youth ages 8-13. Materials developed by AED include a parent handbook in English and Spanish, a community mobilization tool kit, a six-session parent curriculum for use by community agencies, posters, print ads, radio spots, b-roll footage, and a program fact sheet. AED helps manage community-site relationships, identifies beneficial partnerships, and provides a consumer website, listservs, e-newsletter, teleconferences, and media outreach. The fast-growing campaign includes more than 1,150 registered community sites in all 50 states, and 11 other countries. We Can! has been joined by nearly 40 national and corporate partners.

Contact
Donna Grande

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