From May 2001 through September 2004, the public relations firm Porter Novelli developed a toolkit, Promoting Active Living Communities: A Guide to Marketing and Communications, for community organizing groups, elected and appointed officials and others to use to promote physical activity and environments favorable to physical activity.

Key Results

Porter Novelli accomplished the following under the grant:

• Published 2,000 copies of Promoting Active Living Communities: A Guide to Marketing and Communication. The toolkit includes:
  • A step-by-step approach to planning marketing and communication programs.
  • How to motivate, influence and persuade an audience.
  • Examples from other communication programs.
  • Developing the message and how to be strategic about framing and promoting it with the media.
  • Evaluating communication efforts.
  • Resources for more information and for involving partners.
• Developed a media campaign and disseminated a press release and audio news release in August 2004 to announce the availability of an online calculator of the cost of physical inactivity. The national media campaign resulted in:
  • Several articles in trade publications, including Biotech Week and Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week.
  • Reaching 25 million radio listeners in August 2004 through the audio news release.
• Prepared a fact sheet on the background of the calculator and a user guide, both available online.

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided two grants from May 2001 to September 2004 totaling $218,507 for the toolkit.