Welcome to OmegaTown, also known as Newport, Rhode Island. This past summer, Reckitt Benckiser set up camp in the seaside fishing community to put omega-3s to the test. Its goal? Find out if the majority of people (82%) who believe they can get all the omega-3s they need through diet are right.
And what better place than in a fishing and seafood-driven town like Newport?
RB, the maker of MegaRed omega-3 supplements, built a mobile headquarters—the OmegaTown truck—and took it to the New England town, offering free blood tests and consultations with a nutritionist, along with education and activities.
As part of the effort, RB featured its newest omega-3 product Total Body + Refresh, giving out samples on-site and putting it in social media videos being shared as part of the campaign, said Brian Dolan, brand marketing director for vitamins, minerals and supplements at RB.
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The videos, which RB has begun to share on social media and with retailers, are set up as interviews of residents of the town, including a fisherwoman, a chef and a teacher. Each one first talks about his or her diet and healthy omega-3 intake. However, in the second part of each video, their blood test results are revealed: None of them was close to the considered optimum level.
Jess, who is a deckhand on a fishing boat and eats a lot of fish, guesses that her omega-3s are “probably off the charts.” However, she’s surprised and “a little embarrassed” to find they're actually much lower than she expected.
“We hope the videos resonate with the rest of America, and they realize ‘Gosh, if these guys don’t have enough, I probably don’t either,'” Dolan said.
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RB plans to explore the idea of setting up OmegaTowns across America, as well as creating online tools and support materials to mimic the experience.
“When I saw the videos, the shock of those people made it feel authentic to me. We don’t want to just push advertising at people, and I felt like we had curated some really interesting stories,” Dolan said. “It allows us to evolve an equity that we want to stand for more than just bunch of products at the shelf.”