The “Not So Sweet Side” Campaign
CLIENT
CalFresh Healthy Living – California Dept. of Public Health
🏅 The video campaign won Gold at the 2025 American Advertising Awards, Sacramento
⬇️ Scroll to the end to see the great stats on this campaign
THE PROBLEM
Many Californian families, especially in low-income communities, are bombarded with marketing of sugary beverages
They often lack awareness of the long-term health risks and simple, actionable tools for healthier choices
HOW WE SOLVED IT
We developed the “Not So Sweet Side” campaign which cuts through glossy beverage marketing and reveals hidden sugar risks. It also provided helpful tools for solutions and healthier alternatives.
The audience was low-income Californian families, specifically tailored to Latino, Black, and multi-cultural communities. We worked with cultural consultants to insure that messaging was relevant to each specific audience. We engaged focus groups to gauge the audiences’ experiences and opinions on the topic to inform strategy and messaging.
Assets included campaign logo & branding, video spots for broadcast & social, OOH & place-based ads, social media content , digital & web assets and user-generated content (UGC).
Video
The campaign was planned in a 2-phase approach. The videos produced in phase one focused on sugary-beverages and their hidden health risks. Three videos in three languages ran on Broadcast and as cut-downs on social.
In the second campaign phase, we produced user-generated (UGC) videos highlighting everyday “Healthy Habit Moments” and simple, positive changes. Designed to feel authentic and relatable, more like influencer content than polished ads, the videos helped audiences see themselves in the story. Three aired on broadcast in three languages, with four additional videos adapted for social media.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BEHIND the SCENES
