As the state’s lead agency for addressing childhood nutrition, the Texas Department of Agriculture has established many programs to ensure that healthy foods are available and easily accessible to kids in need throughout the state. TDA looked to AMS Pictures to increase awareness and expand participation in its Summer Food Service Program, which provides free nutritious meals to children 18 years of age and under through public and private schools, camps, municipal and country agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

A longtime TDA creative media partner, the AMS Pictures Public Interest team eagerly set about creating television and radio spots in both English and Spanish that appeal to young people. Among the biggest creative challenges was to de-stigmatize participation in the program among children who are not getting proper nutrition. This is a classic example of the kind of project that the public interest team enthusiastically embraces. It’s what media that matters is all about.

The creative solution was an imaginatively art-directed, feel-good television spot that celebrates energetic kids and summertime fun. Colorful, rapid-fire motion graphics zoom across the screen from first frame to last, all of it cut to the beat of an edgy music track embedded with messages about healthy eating. Throughout the spot, the imagery and text graphics link Friends, Food and Fun. The spot ends with a rhyming call to action: “Join the Fun…Call 211!” where callers can learn about nearby sites that offer the program. One version of the spots allows ample time at the end tag for a community to insert local contact information.

The summer following the original release of the campaign, TDA asked AMS to incorporate an added element to the spot: a call to action by Dallas Cowboys legend Deion Sanders and TDA Commissioner Todd Staples. The strategy was to engage, inform and motivate parents to take advantage of the program. Commissioner Staples and Deion also appeared on billboards announcing the program in participating communities throughout the state.