As a brand that engages young fans, we are powerful influencers: Gaurav Banerjee

Disney Star's ‘Let's Get Healthy’ project, which promotes healthy living across its Disney channels, is centred on developing interesting narratives and programming to entertain consumers while also reinforcing the idea of living a healthy lifestyle. They have partnered with brands to create programmes such as Disney Delicious with IKEA, Delicious Minis, Let's Get Healthy with Gary, and many more. 

As part of Healthy Living, the network has set nutritional rules to ensure that its brands promote healthful foods and beverages to children while also conducting responsible food marketing to adults. All food and beverage products advertised, sponsored, or promoted on Disney Channel, Hungama, Disney Junior, Super Hungama, and Disney International HD in India, as well as Disney-owned online destinations geared towards families and children, will be required to meet Disney's nutrition guidelines.

In a conversation with exchange4media, Gaurav Banerjee, Head- Content, Disney+ Hotstar & HSM Entertainment Network, shed more light on the initiative and the entertainment network's endeavours to promote healthy living.

What does healthy living mean for Disney Star?

In India, we launched this initiative under the umbrella of ‘Let’s Get Healthy’ in 2020, and through our kids-targeted destinations, we have been consistently working towards building this initiative across multiple touchpoints, hoping to inspire kids and families to embrace a healthy lifestyle. The health of kids is critically important, and we are pleased to be playing our part in encouraging smart eating and exercise. We have introduced initiatives across our platforms that showcase fun, easy ways to incorporate healthy living practices into the fabric of everyday life.

In addition to engaging initiatives that convey the message of Healthy Living, we have also taken the commitment further by only associating our kids’ brands and characters with a more nutritionally balanced range of foods through advertisements and sponsorships.

Why would an entertainment organization venture into the health space? 

As a brand that engages our young fans through stories and characters, we are powerful influencers and are in a unique position to shape their thoughts and their world. It’s an immense responsibility and we take it very seriously. This presented us with an opportunity to step into a role that empowers kids and families to make healthier choices. We aim to nurture a generation that is more health-conscious about the decisions they make, and we believe that we can guide them down that path, starting from an early age.  

We have identified – nutrition, hygiene and physical activity - as focal points that we want to emphasize. Over the past few years, we have advocated these through various iterations of Let’s Get Healthy in India – our successful on-ground initiative called Stay Fit with Mickey and Minnie, animated shorts with Jojo, cooking based shows like Delicious, Delicious Minis, Let’s Get Healthy with Gary and bit-sized quick paced formats like Healthy Hacks across our television and digital platforms.

 Which has been your most successful Healthy Living campaign and why?

In India, we have been curating a wide array of initiatives to promote this initiative and take great pride in presenting the communication through a fun, narrative setting that doesn’t interfere with the viewer experience but effectively delivers the message. We embarked on this journey with Mickey and Minnie, launching this initiative with Star Fit with Mickey and Minnie which has also become one of our most successful campaigns, reaching out to 3 million kids in schools and generating 100+ Mn views across social media platforms. In the nutrition space, we observed fans wholeheartedly embracing Disney Delicious which has garnered about 10 million views on social media.

What are the various touchpoints that you have identified to communicate the message of Healthy Living?

Storytelling has always been at the heart of what we do, and we ensure that we weave in wholesome, entertaining and enriching messages within a fun, engaging narrative – whether it’s through on-ground or content initiatives spanning long-form or short-form content.

For India specifically, we believed the most effective approach for dissemination was through our strong network of kids’ channels – which today holds a leading position with a 30% network share* along with our social media platforms which have a reach extending to a fan base of 10 Mn+. 

Since the nutritional guidelines were implemented in October 2021, what are the implications and industry sentiments like? 

Globally, these efforts have garnered critical acclaim and recognition from parents, nutrition experts, federal regulators, and the advertising community worldwide. In India as well, the industry sentiments have been extremely positive, and we observe an increasing number of brands introducing healthier alternatives and joining us in our endeavour to promote a healthy lifestyle. In the past three years, we have collaborated with like-minded brands that were enthusiastic about collaborating with us as we embarked on this journey, and we are confident that this initiative will continue to gather momentum as we progress.  

What kind of advertising impact have you seen after implementing these guidelines? 

We have been working with a wide range of healthy products, as they benefit from an added boost and validation through advertising on our platforms. Also, our position as the leading network in the genre attracts brand categories beyond food and beverages that view us as a preferred brand to collaborate with and to connect with kids and families. Consumer Durables has been a consistent category along with FMCG, Health and Wellness, E-commerce, fashion and lifestyle and consumer electronics who continue to advertise with us.

Brands understand that the kids’ genre presents an opportunity not only to reach kids but also parents due to significant co-viewing. Moreover, they understand that kids nowadays exert an increasing influence on family decisions and are more discerning and knowledgeable in their choices – hence the advertising overall, hasn’t been as impacted.

Did some brands stop advertising with Disney Star after implementing these guidelines?

It’s interesting to note that while we couldn’t continue our association with certain brands’ there have been a lot of brands who have been in dialogue with us to see how they can modify their product composition to work with our guidelines.  

What are your plans to amplify the initiative? 

Let’s Get Healthy will remain a significant initiative, and this is only the beginning for us. During special occasions like National Nutrition Week, our endeavour is to combine the fun found in Disney’s stories and characters with the enriching message of adopting better and healthier lifestyle choices.