The business challenge
What needed to change
Physical inactivity is Europe's quiet epidemic. The scale of the problem:
1 in 3 EU adults do not meet WHO physical activity guidelines
45% of Europeans report never exercising or playing sport at all.
The consequences are significant: physical inactivity costs EU healthcare systems an estimated €80 billion annually.
Meeting WHO activity guidelines alone would prevent over 10,000 premature deaths each year, and returns an estimated €1.70 in economic benefit for every €1 invested.
The World Health Organization needed a behavioural-informed communication campaign that would actually move the needle. Not just raise awareness, but change behaviour among the populations most at risk.
The human problem
The behaviour behind it
Sedentary living is deeply ingrained, motivation is low, and previous health campaigns often failed to bring about lasting behaviour change among the European population.
Our behavioural diagnosis revealed that the core barrier was not a lack of information – people know they should move, but still don’t. Inactivity was concentrated in four groups, each held back by a different barrier:
Perceived capability: low confidence in their own ability to be physically active.
Perceived opportunity: the sense that time, resources and circumstances do not allow for it.
Motivation: effort is felt immediately, while the benefits remain distant.
Misconceptions around physical activity: the belief that it is intended for other, more athletic people.
Our impact
The difference we made
By designing segment-specific messaging, each targeting the dominant barrier for that group, the campaign reached the people who needed it most:
Although the specific figures from these campaigns cannot be disclosed under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement, the results significantly outperformed those of previous WHO physical activity campaigns. The approach has since been adopted by WHO and continues to be applied in its other campaigns.
650,000+ impressions across EU markets
27,000+ engagements beyond passive reach
Activated populations conventional campaigns consistently fail to reach
Repositioned physical activity as accessible across life stages and circumstances
