POINTING THE WAY
TO HEALTHY CHOICES

As San Antonio’s leading change agency, esd & associates is accustomed to introducing new behaviors. With ¡Por Vida!, Metro Health’s new initiative to identify nutritional items on local restaurant menus, we pointed the way for restaurants to identify their healthy choices and San Antonio families to find them.
esd and MetroHealth targeted two distinct audiences for this project: convince restaurants to enroll with the program, and inform restaurant consumers – particularly families – to help them seek out participating restaurants and order ¡Por Vida! certified meals.

mission: appetize

Our strategy for this effort markets the program with similar values and techniques one would use for any food promotion. Restauranteurs have to be convinced their patrons will find the food desirable and delicious. Consumers have to be convinced to try new foods or choose the healthy options. As most chefs know, it’s one part excellent cooking, and one part exquisite presentation. Equipped with solid data from Metro Health, esd explained the program with compelling content and packaged it with the same kind of graphic standards we would apply to a fine restaurant menu.

clear and bright identity

Our presentation of the program centered on a distinctive identity. The ¡Por Vida! brandmark will be used as an icon, “a graphic representation the target audience instantly associates with a particular meaning.” As the consumer peruses a menu, they need to identify ¡Por Vida! selections at a glance.

selling the restaurants, informing consumers

esd carried the menu sensibility into the other program materials, painting them with bright, clear colors, imparting freshness and enthusiasm for satisfying, delicious food. The project’s publications and media ring with an appetizing appearance that motivates participation and choice.

launched at lunch

The ¡Por Vida! program launched with a press briefing and tasting in early October. As more restaurants join, and more menu items are identified, the ¡Por Vida! identity will get a workout. That’s what we designed it to do – carry the message, create change.