Public Health England launches ‘One You’ brand to rival success of ‘Change4Life’

Public Health England has launched its first brand since introducing Change4Life eight years ago, with ‘One You’ aiming to help middle aged adults avoid future diseases caused by modern life.

It is the government health body’s first ever nationwide campaign to address preventable disease in adults. It will run for seven weeks and be supported by TV, digital, OOH, PR and social media activity. It will also be amplified by nationwide partner support.

The £6m campaign was launched after research showed that everyday habits and behaviours, such as eating too much unhealthy food, drinking more than is recommended, smoking and not being active enough, are responsible for around 40% of all deaths in England, and cost the NHS more than £11bn a year.

Currently 15 million Britons are living with a long-term health condition, yet studies show living healthily in middle age can double your chances of being healthy when you are 70. As a result, ‘One You’ aims to encourage adults to take control of their health.

Public Health England’s marketing director Sheila Mitchell told Marketing Week that the launch was “the most significant” in the last eight years. “Our last brand vehicle was Change4Life. When we looked at the market as a whole, we saw a gap for middle aged people in terms of a positive brand that spoke to them.

“Change4Life works well against its heartland audience of mums and dads of children aged 11 or under. With One You we want to try and stretch that positivity into adult behaviours. It’s a new brand voice and will be the Change4Life for adults.”

Mitchell added that the objective for the next six weeks was to land the brand, arguing that “the tone” of the messaging will be key.

“It’s then how we give it some longevity so it wraps around other messages like Stoptober. I hope at that point we’ll have a brand platform as strong as Change4Life,” she said.

Personalising health advice

An important part of the campaign will provide personalised recommendations on how people can improve their health. An online health quiz, called ‘How Are You’, will direct people to tools and advice to help them take action where it’s most needed based on answers to focused health-related questions.

According to figures supplied by the body, over half (56%) of 40-to-60-year-olds taking the quiz said they were likely to change their lifestyle to improve their health because of the feedback it gave them.

Mitchell said that PHE is becoming much more digitally-focused, pointing to the ‘Sugar Smart’ app it launched earlier this year.

“Gone are the days of packs – we absolutely have digital at the heart of our marketing strategy. The quiz is a marketing tool to engage people in their health and get them talking. The early data that is coming in shows that people are sharing their scores and different parts of the tool in their thousands,” she said.

“We will offer a way for people to keep engaged by introducing them to other activities, apps and offers. The quiz is part of an ongoing customer journey that we want to achieve. It’s a progression from a burst of campaign to try and keep ongoing dialogue,” added Ian Williams, campaign lead at Public Health England.

Taking brand partnerships into real life

The campaign also includes new public and commercial partnerships, including Asda, Amazon, Slimming World, BBC Get Inspired and the Ministry of Defence. For example, Asda will sell more than 100,000 blood pressure monitors and perform in-store checks, which Mitchell said is a “great way to take a brand off the TV and into real-life”.

She explained: “One of our principles is that we don’t just launch a marketing campaign, it’s about the different partners we can take with us and use the brand. We have 152 local authorities taking on the brand. There will be One You Cornwall, for example, which will make it local. We’re creating a brand platform that lots of different people can then use for their adult services.”

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