Bumble Bee Wellness for Life
“We want to show women with heart disease that it can be easy to engage in a heart healthy lifestyle,” said Mary McGowan, Chief Executive Officer for WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. “Bumble Bee® BeeWell for Life® gave us a chance to do that.”
For nearly a decade Bumble Bee Seafoods teamed up with charities across the country to provide funding and tips on leading a healthful lifestyle as part of its Bumble Bee® BeeWell For Life® programs.
“The partnership with BeeWell for Life® provided another educational opportunity for women living with or at risk for heart disease and a way for WomenHeart to raise funds to support our lifesaving mission,” Mary said.
BeeWell for Life® focused on meeting consumers where they often are: online. Participants earned points for completing challenges (like walking two miles in a day), reading articles on nutrition, trying new recipes or tracking their physical activity. Bumble Bee® then made donations to different charities, like WomenHeart, based on the number of points participants earned. The more points earned, the bigger the donation Bumble Bee® made.
“We were trying to promote a lifestyle of health and wellness in our online community,” Christopher Hartig, the digital marketing manager at Bumble Bee®, said.
WomenHeart is the first and still only national organization solely devoted to supporting women living with heart disease – the leading cause of death in women. WomenHeart is one of the national nonprofit organizations that received donations through BeeWell for Life®.
Through the partnership, WomenHeart encouraged women living with heart disease and those at risk to participate in the activities presented online to help them lead heart-healthy lifestyles. For each activity completed, Bumble Bee® donated to WomenHeart.
“It was an innovative tool to engage patients and the public,” Mary said, “We think our community really benefited from this approach.”
The nutritional information still available on Bumble Bee’s website is focused on practical tips to practice a more healthful lifestyle — like how to build a better salad or what to pack for lunch the next day. In addition to being posted on the website, more than 70,000 people get regular “BeeMail” email notices featuring fitness and nutrition tips.
“Getting rewards for interacting with the website shows people we care about them reading the content,” Stephanie Clark, a dietitian for Bumble Bee® said.
Bumble Bee® hopes the program will help consumers make small changes to their diets and activity plans, that can make a big difference in their lives overall. The goal isn’t to promote Bumble Bee® or even tuna, but to promote smart, nutritious decisions.
“This is about encouraging a healthy lifestyle,” Chris said, “Not our product line.”
If you’d like to read more about how organizations are getting involved in the community check out these other great reads from Together Counts!