Promoting Fitness Among College Students:

Managing a Healthy Lifestyle

Campaign Report

Laura Wake-Ramos
The Pennsylvania State University

CAS 302





Dec 11th, 2012
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PROBLEM STATEMENT AND ANALYSIS
Daily exercise is an essential habit to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A
study taken place at Ohio State University found that 52% of students were
physically inactive or exercised irregularly (USA Today). The steepest
decline in the number of people who are involved in physical activity
occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, so it is crucial that we
reach those college student who are not yet regular exercisers,
emphasized Janet Buckworth, assistant professor of sport and exercise
sciences at Ohio State University. Regular exercise has physiological and
psychological benefits that include easier weight control, lowered risk of
high blood pressure, improved sleep, stronger bones, greater muscle
mass, and improved quality of life (Welch).
In order to expect a healthy future, adolescents in college should
build exercise into their schedule (Stokes). The Surgeon General
recommends that adults be moderately physically active for a minimum
of 30 minutes per day, at least five days per week. Studies have shown
that walking 15 minutes per day, 5 days per week has proven to increase
life expectancy.
Results of studies have shown that sports participants were more
likely to report intrinsic motives, such as enjoyment or challenge for
physical activity, whereas motivations for fitness exercisers were more
extrinsic and focused on appearance, weight, and stress management
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(Welch). The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that
people use lifestyle forms of physical activity, such as hiking, walking, or
gardening, as the main methods of exercise since there may be a
relationship between intrinsic motivation and exercise adherence
(Welch). These forms of exercise are more enjoyable and intrinsically
motivating.

The goal of the campaign is to reinforce daily exercise among college
students.

Assuming that the majority of students know the consequences of
inactivity, the campaign will motivate students to schedule time to
exercise within the busy college life of studying, extracurricular activities,
clubs, and socializing.

FORMATIVE RESEARCH
Formative research revealed the students attitudes on regular
exercise. Fifty percent of 3
rd
year Architecture students believe that
exercise is very important, yet 74% believe they exercise too little. The
main factors that prevent 3
rd
year architecture students in maintaining
their exercise routine are studio deadlines, homework/studying, too
tired, and commitment for extracurricular activities. Additionally, 72% of
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students would prefer to exercise with friends or a team with common
interests, versus 28% that would prefer to exercise alone.
These responses conclude that students understand the important
of health by exercise, and have an interest in maintaining a physical
activity routine. However, time is the deal-breaking factor in the effort.
One student claims If I get enough time to exercise, I usually end up using
it to catch up on sleep.
The results of Formative research was the defining factors of the
campaign, in regards of:
1. Campaign goals
The campaign goals supported that the campaign should be
to reinforce daily exercise, rather than create, convert, or
maintain. There is an existing understanding of the benefits of
exercise, and an intention to exercise regularly or more.
2. Target audience
The purpose of targeting 3
rd
year architecture intends to
represent a sample of college students. These students in a
rigorous program have almost identical academic schedules.
Ideally, organizing a campaign among students with similar
academic schedules would be easier, and students would be
able to exercise together.
3. Message design
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Message design was the most important factor developed
from Formative research. The campaign was administered
during a deadline week, when students are focused on printing
multiple large boards. Additionally, students already understand
the importance of exercise, the campaign had to be sensitive to
not insult their intelligence on exercise, or assume the lowest
physical fitness. The campaigns novel focus could target on
how physical activity will improve the students as students.
Message design will focus on how regular physical activity
reduces stress, improves concentration, and is enjoyable with
friends.
4. Plans for evaluation
A post-campaign online survey will be posted for students to
answer a series of questions to measure the students reactions
and the success of the campaign. An online survey was
successful for Formative, because about 1/3 of the class
responded.

THEORY AND MESSAGES
Certain theories that played an important role in choice of
channels, audience analysis, and message design:
1. Habit
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Habit determines behavior. Students maintain an exercise
routine, or continue to be physical inactive by habit. The
conclusions of Ouellete & Wood (1998) created strategies for
changing habits, which have been implemented into the
campaign.
First factor is to formulate a new intention. This factor
emphasizes to introduce novel information. By introducing novel
information to the students, by sharing uncommon facts on the
benefits of exercise, may motivate students to become more
active. An example of these facts are studies have shown that
consistent physical activity among individuals decreases tension,
reduces fatigue, improves alertness/concentration, enhances
cognitive function, improves sleep, and stabilizes mood,
Studies have shown that individuals are more likely to commit to
a routine with an exercise buddy, Five minutes of aerobic
exercise can begin to stimulate these anti-stress effect, and
Students who exercise regularly have an average of 0.4 higher
GPAs (on a 4.0 scale) than students who dont exercise.
Second factor is to leverage disruption of habit patterns. This
means, there must be a good reason to break habitual patterns.
In message design, time delivery of messages must be thought
through accordingly. Before the actual campaign week, there
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would be an advertising week, which would allow students a
week to become acquainted with the project before it is
implemented during a crucial project deadline week.
Third factor in strategizing change habit is self-control. This
factor emphasizes that its hard to have just willpower, because
this requires work, which requires energy. The messages for the
campaign should motivate and encourage that physical activity
is enjoyable, not work or an invaluable use of time. Messages
should emphasize enjoyment. Another aspect that this factor
contributed to was to use word-of-mouth. Personally
approaching individuals or smaller groups about the campaign
will help spread a positive message, so others will become more
interested.
Fourth factor is implementing intentions. This factor identifies
an ifthen situation, so if messages are presented
persuasively, students will begin to think if I exercise regularly,
then and have their own habit motivator, whether that is
better student, enjoyment, or health.
Fifth factor is remembering to do the action. For this
particular campaign to reinforce daily exercise, its important for
remind students to make the commitment daily. The campaign
would benefit in using different media to reach to all the
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students. The campaign utilizes a variety of media, such as email
notifications, Facebook Group, and a printed poster in studio.
The sixth factor is perceived behavioral control, as in a way to
provide evidence of success or failure. If students are
recognized for their success, then this would motivate them to
continue the activity. The campaign should reward those who
participates and became active. Friendly competition would
also be a motivator.
2. Metaphors
Metaphors are a way to create a shared understanding. The
theory of metaphors, suggests that effective metaphors can
persuade via problem definition, causal relationships, moral
evaluation, or possible solutions. If a metaphor is used effectively,
the basic concept can build the idea.
There are a few known strategies in developing an effective
metaphor. Metaphors are most effective when they have a familiar
base, with a novel idea and complex relationship. Effective
metaphors are used early in the message as organizational devices.
These ideas were adapted into the campaign in the
introduction email sent on the first day of advertisement week. The
introduction email opens with a short narrative describing the next
couple weeks of studio deadlines. The goal was to create a shared
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understanding, and create a metaphorical reason why there is this
campaign. There were some metaphors used in this narrative, for
example the term work-mode coma describes how students work
and work for hours of lost time in the night. A narrative introduction
was a more powerful tool than diving into the specifics of the
campaign.

IMPLEMENTATION
The campaign was a series of messages and physical activity
events. The entire campaign was two weeks long. The first week was
advertising week, which was the week of introducing the campaign to
the students, and creating the main mediums of communication to
students. Adding students to the Facebook Group and inviting them to
the Events, and designing a poster to put hung in studio for the week.
Over the length of 7 days, the campaign was spread thru the mediums of
Facebook, email, and word-of-mouth. The communication was a means
of preparation and awareness, so that students would not be surprised
during the campaign-deadline week.
The following week was campaign week. The campaign, named
Get Up and Get Moving! was broken into 6 days, each with a different
physical activity. Each of these activities were different, to gain the most
interest among students. Day #1 called Walk it Out was a 15 minutes
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group walk after studio 5:30. The walk was described as a retreat from
studio. Day #2 was Stretch and Refresh! was an activity to stretch and
reduce stress in studio. There were two sessions held in the Stuckeman
Family Building. Stretch and Refresh incorporated stress relieving
breathing exercises, and fliexibility. Day #3 was Step it Up! This was an
all-day, independent event, when students were to mark if they were
successful in climbing the stairs. Day #4 was Power Hour! This was an all-
day event, which could be carried out independently or in a group.
Students were to do 10 reps of a chosen activity on the hour, at least 6
times through out the day. Friday Funday was the last day of activities,
where was an outdoor game. Students were to vote on which activity
they wanted to play on the Facebook page through-out the week. Also
on Friday Funday, was a Closing Ceremony which was how students
were reward. Get Up and Get Moving recognized those who
participated in an event this week, and those who participated in every
event this week. Finally, the survey was implemented as an Event, so that
studio wouldnt. The last event was a Reactions survey which was open
for all students, even those who didnt participate actively doing.

EVALUATION
Overall, the Get Up and Get Moving campaign could be regarded
as a success. In the afternoon the introduction email was sent, numerous
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people stated they were looking forward to the campaign week and
being involved in the activities.
In all, 23 individual students out of 58 students participated in at
least one Get Up and Get Moving activity. The most popular activity was
Stretch and Refresh, with 13 participants. On average, at least 10 students
participated in each event through out the week.
The Reactions survey was an important method in evaluating the
campaign success. Students agree that their physical activity was on
target of an average week. This means their physical activity did not
decrease this week. Students were asked to select what was their first
emotional reactions to the introduction email. Most students selected
happy and interested, while only two selected annoyed. This means that
the messages were successful in motivating, and not turning away
students. Students were also asked a similar question, to select their
emotional reaction towards Get Up and Get Moving at the end of the
campaign. 100% of the students answered Happy. One students
commented Happy it happened, sad that there isnt a permanent
physical activity group in studio.
A majority of the students in the reactions survey believe that if Get
Up and Get Moving were to last 20 days instead of 5 days, they were
definitely see an increase in their physical activity. The main reason why
students didnt participate in an activity was due to a scheduled
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obligation, and the main reason why students did participate was
because they felt ready for a break at the time. The voted favorite
activity was Stretch and Refresh.
If Get Up and Get Moving were to last longer than 5 days, there
could be more Stretch and Refresh sessions, as well as Friday Funday
sessions, because they were voted to be of most interest.

PROCESS ANALYSIS
If I were to do the campaign again, I would try to organize the
campaign to have it last longer. For future CAS 302 students, I would
advise to start thinking about your campaign right away. Its a major
focus and major grade in CAS, so I would recommend to take your idea
seriously otherwise the semester will be very difficult.

SUMMARY
The Get Up and Get Moving! campaign is to reinforce daily exercise
among college students. The series of activity and communication are
organized in hopes to raise awareness of the consequence of physical
inactivity. The campaign is a series of different activities, so that at least
one of the activities would interest students.