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Brief
In a climate of national concern about the health of our children and teenagers, ASDA have a keen focus on using their commercial position to inform, advise and educate consumers on health and nutrition issues. To enhance and further shape their ‘Kids’ Health Strategy’, ASDA devised an online brief to create a free resource to assist teachers in national curriculum teaching of Personal, Health and Social Education (PHSE).
ASDA's Nutrition Team was involved in the website brief and execution having found through regular communication with teachers and parents that that there was a lack of topical, relevant and trustworthy health information available for younger audiences. The aim of the website was to create a completely free one-stop-shop for adults and kids, supporting the national curriculum, whilst raising the profile of health.
Strategy
Education was at the core of the brief but as the target audience is 5- to 14-year old children, the website also needed to be a fun, engaging online space for them to visit and explore topics related to food and health matters.
To achieve this, ASDA required a response that was:
- credible to the target audience groups - teachers, parents and young children
- relevant to a teaching environment and in line with the national curriculum
- engaging enough to motivate, teach and inspire children to get healthy, in an entertaining way
MadeByPi were the ideal digital agency to create and deliver ASDA’s online kids’ health strategy, based on our sound and longstanding experience of children’s activity and behaviour online, demonstrated by a 12 year relationship with Disney, as well as having a wealth of experience and expertise in developing youth-audience interactive websites for clients Disney, BBC, Codemasters and Hallmark.
Our digital expertise and deep understanding of children online has been strengthened by underpinning this with educational principles. Every element of the site is created with the intended learning outcome and learning model at the centre of the planning, coupled with innovative and interactive illustration and design resulting in a best-in-class ‘edutainment’ website.
Execution
The fulfilment of each of the project objectives was achieved by the use of colourfully illustrated and animated characters, and an engaging design. A family of 2D animated characters, the Binks, was created to guide children easily through the site and to engage them in learning about food and health in a fun and interactive way.
Mum, Dad, Gramps, Knibs (the family dog) two-year-old George and school kids Jack, Ellie and Lucy all feature throughout the site. Five-year-old Jack and seven-year-old Ellie help out with Key Stages 1 and 2 activities, whilst older sister Lucy introduces Key Stage 3.
The website makes use of clever and appealing design to target its three key audience groups – with feedback regularly assessed throughout to ensure the site is covering its objectives. The resulting site is rich in colourful graphics, interactive games, informative content, downloadable worksheets and lesson plans.
All of the site’s content is checked by independent educational consultant Brian Neish for accuracy and credibility within the relevant school curriculum. The site is also supported by the Food Standards Agency, as all content is submitted for their approval.
Results
Measuring success and achievement of the objectives has centred on user acceptance testing in schools. Testing and evaluation by children at each key stage assessed the response to the activities and their suitability for the age ranges.
Teachers were also included in this testing to determine whether the proposition fulfilled their needs. The site has been warmly welcomed by teachers.
Viki Mason, Deputy Headteacher at St Leonard’s C of E Primary School in Blackburn, Lancashire said, “It is important to teach our children where their food comes from and how to live a healthy lifestyle. The internet is a great resource to support this in schools. The Binks fills the gap extremely well by providing free child-friendly games, information and resources to help them make healthy choices now and in the future.”
Rick Bendel, Marketing Director said, “At ASDA we share a very important value, which is to help both our colleagues, their families, customers and their families ‘to be the best they can be’. The Binks is a great example of helping young children learn about food safety and nutrition in a way that is fun and creates a sense of achievement. It is not about marketing ASDA; it is about giving something back to the community”.
This commitment to community and to providing objective and educational content was recognised in the Children’s Food Campaign’s independent ‘Through the back door – an expose of educational material produced by the food industry’’ report in December 2008, their findings state that:
‘The Children’s Food Campaign recognises that when teaching older children about business or food processing, materials compiled by trade bodies or companies who can draw on their unique expertise and real life examples can be valuable. And some companies are taking a more responsible approach. For example, Asda recently launched a website called ‘The Binks’, which teaches children about nutrition and food safety, and took the step of voluntarily seeking approval from an authoritative body for the accuracy of their education materials. They based the website around the FSA’s ‘core food competencies’ (a set of core skills and knowledge about food for children and young people); and the concept and materials were commented on website was checked by both the microbiological safety department and the nutrition department of the FSA. This commitment to accuracy is a responsible approach which we support.’
Chris Hemingway, creative director for MadeByPi® said: "Our strong flash credentials and deep understanding of the kids market has put us in good stead to help ASDA to achieve its objectives. We have found the production of the site very rewarding, since it motivates, teaches and inspires kids to get healthy, whilst enjoying themselves - we’re very proud of the results and look forward to evolving the content in future too! "
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