Suggest your 13-year-old  shut down the X-box and exercise, or drink a glass of milk instead of Mountain Dew and you’re in for a battle.

But if the same suggestions come from one of his friends, it’s an entirely different story. For young teens, peer pressure is everything.  

That was the idea behind the Super-Power Summit — a youth wellness initiative that we managed for the Midwest Dairy Council, the Iowa Department of Education’s Team Nutrition Program and Iowa State University Extension for Families and 4H.

The day-long summit feature inspiring speakers such as Charlie Wittmack, who climbed to the top of Mount Everest, and Tim Dwight, an All-American from the University of Iowa who went on to become a leading kick returner in the NFL.

The event also featured a street marketing events that engaged the downtown lunch crowd with physical activities and important messages about eating healthy.

Challenge

Engage middle school children to lead the fight against childhood obesity.

The Smart

The target audience was teens, specifically middle school students. Research showed that the most powerful influencers of early teens are other teens. So we needed to persuade middle school leaders that wellness is cool. Middle schoolers love super heroes and 2008 was a year they flocked to the Box Office to see them – Spiderman, The Dark Knight, X-Men. So we engaged teens to “Unleash the Super Powers” inside them.

The Bold

The Super-Power Summit. A statewide event to excite middle school student to “Unleash the Super-Powers inside” them through better nutrition and daily exercise. We created powerful student recruitment materials , a summit Web site and event materials, arranged for motivating speakers including Olympic track star Lolo Jones, and organized special street marketing events.

And we managed the entire event from registration to venue to menu selection and media relations.

The Result:

Enrollment exceeded the client’s expectations. Fifty-five school teams applied to attend, seven more than the budget could accommodate, and 375 people attended. We earned extensive statewide print, radio and television coverage. Teacher and student evaluations were extremely positive and the overwhelming majority of teams committed to implementing wellness strategies they learned.

The Work

Event Poster

www.superpowersummit.org