The American Heart Association recently launched a My Life Check website with a section called Life’s Simple 7.
The accompanying videos are viewable on their website and on YouTube.
AHA covered their basics with excellent casting, great picture quality, and visually interesting settings for their videos. The videos are best described as friendly lectures. The talent are all very warm and friendly, and they speak at the appropriate health literacy level. I think they could have used more b-roll of the talent doing the steps they describe and facing the challenging situations that they steps are meant to overcome. The stock footage can be a bit cheesy and some cutaways are more distracting than helpful, especially when competing with the verbal and written information simultaneously. I do really like that the medical animations are very simple and very clear.
I think the videos do a good job of conveying the intended information but each step could have probably been broken up into smaller videos. Something like:
1. Introduction with description personal challenge (aka: set up conflict)
2. Showing how the talent worked to overcome the challenge
3. Explaining why the step is important for the viewer
These video are tied into the health assessments for each section: control cholesterol, manage blood pressure, reduce blood sugar, stop smoking, lose weight, get active and eat better. So, I would assume the viewer is motivated to change or at least in the contemplation stage.
From the http://mylifecheck.heart.org/ website:
My Life Check was designed by the American Heart Association with the goal of improved health by educating the public on how best to live. These measures have one unique thing in common: any person can make these changes, the steps are not expensive to take and even modest improvements to your health will make a big difference. Start with one or two. This simple, seven step list has been developed to deliver on the hope we all have–to live a long, productive healthy life.
