Getting Families Active...What's The Hook?

Free Stuff??  Everybody loves free stuff.  Want to get one of your kids to pick up their room, take out the trash or water the flowers?  Bribe them with free stuff right?  Want to get an adult back into your store, over to your event booth, give them free stuff.  Entice them with the golden carrot of "If you do this you get this wonderful prize".  Sign up now, fill out this form, log on to win and "Like" us on one of our many social media tentacles. All we want in return is for Mr. Consumer is to give us all your information so we can try to sell you something later.  Giving them free stuff may get them in your door, to your facebook to like you... but will it change the habits and lifestyle of the American Family?

Consumer brands, HMO's, Leagues, Teams and Media Companies are all jumping on the "Wellness" band wagon.  Even the First Lady is getting into the"business" of getting kids to Move.  Let's face it if less kids are active and not participating in youth sports early on, where does the athlete talent pool come from in the future? More importantly families are less likely to become viewers and consumers.  Some believe leagues should be concerned (To a certain extent) of the talent pool shrinking.  Realistically, leagues may be more worried about which sports kids choose to play and watch if any at all as reality TV is replacing reality sports programming for kids.  Twenty years ago it was Punt, Pass and Kick competition out in front of kids as a healthy competition...now it's "NFL Play 60" focused on let's just get them outside playing!  The interesting and perhaps sad reality is if Snooki was promoting riding a unicycle everyday for 90 minutes, we as parents we will be wondering why our kids have suddenly showed an interest in joining the circus?

The challenge for properties and brands is the messaging around the programming and how do you grab families attention in what is becoming a crowded wellness space.   It's one thing to run PSA's on the importance of eating healthy and being active.  It's another to actually get families to participate and make it become part of the fabric of the family dynamic.  In addition, it takes robust resources to activate around the messaging with lots of heavy lifting and coordination. The hook is and will always be programing that can empower families and kids to take ownership where they eventually will be rewarded with accomplishing a participation goal. 

Our four kids for years have come home with their reading charts for a free Pizza Hut pizza if they read 75 or so books.  That's a lot of pressure for both kids and parents. Amazingly the kids have bought into the challenge simply because they have to make a commitment to the time and put in the effort.  They feel empowered and have ownership to the program. That's the hook.  Not to mention they also want that free pizza!  Guess what, reward based programs work.

For over twenty years I have worked on and created several youth sports development and wellness programs for companies such as the NFL and Disney. What I have learned along the way is that no matter the program, the promise of wonderful prizes, celebrity endorsements, concerts and trips is that if you can connect the dots along the way between your media message, grassroots activation in schools and understanding what motivates and activates kids to feel empowered, you can get them to do almost anything. Oh yea, lots of free stuff doesn't hurt either...hopefully just not from Snooki!