A social marketing campaign affiliated with the CATCH

---

A social marketing campaign affiliated with the CATCH Middle School Program

Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………3 “get ur H2O” Components………………………………………………….4 Water Bottles ………………….……………………………………….4 Premium Water Bottle Filling Stations…………………………….5 Hydration Stations………………………………………..…………..6 Posters…………………………………………………………………..7 Getting Started at your School…………………………………………….8 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………….9 Appendix…………………………………………………………………….10

2

The “get ur H2O” campaign What is “get ur H2O”? “get ur H2O” is a social marketing campaign affiliated with the CATCH Middle School program. CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) is an evidence-based, coordinated school health program designed to promote physical activity and healthy food choices among elementary and middle school students in central Texas. The “get ur H2O” campaign is designed to increase middle school students’ consumption of tap water and decrease their consumption of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs). The campaign does this by making water sources more accessible and attractive throughout school.

How did “get ur H2O” start? Focus groups were conducted with middle school students. Students were asked questions about the benefits of drinking water and what they would like changed about the water fountains at their school. Feedback from students: 

Drinking water helps you stay active, be/grow stronger, run faster, play more, stay healthy & hydrated



Make the temperature of the water cooler and fix broken fountains

Based on student feedback, the four components of the campaign were developed: 

Teacher and student water bottles



Premium water bottle filling stations



Hydration stations



Posters 3

Water Bottles The “get ur H2O” campaign encourages students to drink 60 ounces of water every day. In order to increase consumption of tap water, teachers and students were given a refillable water bottle to use at school.

Teacher water bottles 

Distributed to garner staff support for “get ur H2O”



Healthy role models: students who observed their teachers drinking water might be motivated to drink more water themselves

Student water bottles 

Earned by students in class by correctly answering a trivia question. (See appendix for complete list of questions.)



Designed with words describing water, including “hydrate,” “cool,” and “free”



Included a pledge to drink 60 oz. of water every day



Provided a space for students to write their names on the bottle

4

Premium Water Bottle Filling Station In order to increase students’ consumption of tap water at school, the “get ur H2O” campaign purchased 2 water fountain upgrades per campus. Deciding which fountain to upgrade was left up to school leaders. Logistics such as traffic, supervision and safety were considered. The school district’s Maintenance Department installed the fountains.

Features of the upgraded water fountains: 

Sensored fountains that refill water bottles 3x faster than regular fountains!



Filtered, cold water



Number of water bottles saved from landfills is displayed

Students have faster access to filtered, cold tap water! All they have to do is simply put their water bottle up to the fountain and let the fountain do the work! Students are encouraged to use their “get ur H2O” water bottle, but any water bottle can be filled.

5

Hydration Stations

The “get ur H2O” campaign also provided campuses with hydration stations in order to provide students with tap water during lunch. Each school cafeteria received 4, 3-gallon water dispensers and a mobile cart. Each district’s food service department agreed to fill the dispensers and wash them daily. The students were encouraged to fill up their “get ur H2O” water bottle during lunch in order to reach the goal of 60 ounces of water every day!

6

Posters The campaign was promoted via posters placed near the water fountains. Three different posters were created for the “get ur H2O” campaign: 

“Drink more for less.” Compares the amount of calories and sugar in 20 ounces of energy drink, sports drink, soda, and water, highlighting water as the clear choice since it has 0 calories and 0g sugar!



“Drink water. Play harder.” Combines the messages of the “get ur 60” and “get ur H2O” campaigns on one poster, reminding students to get 60 minutes of physical activity and drink 60 ounces of water every day.



“Fill up. Drink up!” Reminds students to get their 60 ounces of water every day by filling up their water bottles.

CATCH Champions were encouraged to put one poster up at a time around campus, and replace with a new one each month thereafter. 7

Getting Started at your School I.

Talk to your Principal and Assistant Principle for support.

II.

Talk to food service, maintenance department and school district leaders about premium water filling station and hydration station.

III.

Secure funds and purchase water bottles (teacher and student), water filling stations, and hydration stations.

IV.

Distribute teacher water bottles to staff at a faculty meeting. Here you can discuss the logistics of student water bottle distribution.

V.

Distribute student water bottles. Examples of distribution methods: a. When a student correctly answers a trivia question. b. When a student is caught being active. c. Teachers – encourage students to drink water during class!

VI.

Promote the campaign via posters and morning announcements.

VII.

Maintain hydration stations year-long, and replace water fountain filters when necessary.

8

Acknowledgements The following people are acknowledged for their valuable contributions to the “get ur H2O” campaign:

CATCH Middle School Team:

Investigators/Staff

• Brooks Ballard, MPH • Sherman Chow, MPH, Partners MA • Austin ISD • Megan Conklin, MPH • Del Valle ISD • Peter Cribb, M.Ed • Pflugerville ISD • Joanne Delk, MS • Round Rock ISD • Kacey Hanson, MPH • Michael & Susan • Deanna Hoelscher, PhD, Dell Foundation RD • Action for • Steve Kelder, PhD, MPH Healthy Kids • Vanessa Martucci • Tiffni Menendez, MPH • Keryn Pasch, PhD • Michelle Smith (AHK) • Andrew Springer, DrPH

Special thank you to the Food Service Departments and Maintenance Departments at AISD, RRISD, PISD and DVISD

9

Appendix

List of water trivia questions

For additional information or questions: Contact Megan Conklin at 512-482-6181.

10