Spreading the Message

[mburnett70]

Hi Dallas and Melissa,

When I read the book, everything made sense to me, so much so that at some point all I could really think about was how to get this, the correct information, out in the public domain more completely.

I'm sure it frustrates you to see and hear all of the obviously wrong approaches to living healthily being perpetuated in the media. Case in point, what actually got me over here to write this, Jennifer Hudson. She just told tens of thousands people that they could pretty much eat any food item they wanted and not worry about a thing. No need to truly change what you put in your mouth, just eat less of it, pay your monthly dues, and hope that after a few months go by you won't put it all back on and more. How much longer will this lie go on?

I think what you've created here has incredible potential to change not only individual lives one by one, but could also transform the conventional wisdom in our society altogether. That is what needs to happen, wouldn't you agree?

Your message needs to be exponentially amplified for all the world to see and hear, to wash away all of the misinformation and make it clear once and for all that systemic inflammation is indeed the cause of almost all human illness and that much of that systemic inflammation is a result of what one puts in their body. This concept needs to become so well understood that it is viewed as smoking is today. Everybody knows the truth. Nobody is trying to say it's good for you anymore. The people that still do it know it's hurting them but choose to do it anyway (that is another problem altogether...self-loathing stemming from some sort of abuse I would hypothesize). How can this be done? Well here are the ideas I've come up with so far:

Start young...this information needs to be delivered in the classroom at a very young age. Show pictures of bad bacteria in the gut, broken intestinal walls, invaders getting in, making other cells work too hard and not carrying out their functions properly. Tell them that this causes illness, that it's not just from being sneezed on or not wearing enough clothes on a cold day. The science is on your side. If any school board denies you, make that fact very public. School board controversies tend to get national attention (see Kansas...on that note, I view many parallels to the intelligent design debate here...again you have the science on your side, the other side tradition and myth).

Directly promote to athletes/trainers/coaches...every athlete wants to be more energized and powerful, every trainer wants a healthier body to work on, every coach wants a more well-oiled machine. If you can convince this group that reducing systemic inflammation by changing food intake will help them run faster, jump higher, have more endurance, and have a longer career, they will be all over it. I recommend approaching Arian Foster of the Texans. Though he's a full vegan and probably won't do paleo, I'm sure you would have his ear regarding systemic inflammation. If you can get people like that on your side, and if teams start making wholesale changes that result in higher performance (and more winning seasons and ticket/TV revenue), you'll have made a huge inroad into changing this particular society. Of course, there would an inherent hypocrisy when it comes to concession sales (hot dogs, pretzels, fake cheese nachos), but one bridge at a time.

One 3x5 brochure that says it all...put these everywhere, mostly in places where people wait and loiter about...doctor/dentist office, tire stores, car rental lobbies, airports, hospital lobbies, the "things to do" rack in hotel lobbies, car washes, laundromats, college mailroom bulletin boards, anywhere the nutritionally uninformed sit, wait, or slowly pass. Start a nationwide grass roots effort and have people print out a few hundred and distribute them every few months.

Commercial spots on Spotify and Pandora...at this very moment I'm listening to Spotify and I'm too cheap to pay the 10 bucks a month for premium. I am certainly not alone. It's a huge audience of generally sedentary people who really need to know that the reason they are overweight is not simply because they never exercise, it's because of that bag of Smartfood and half-eaten pop tart next to the monitor.

Create a sex connection...one known component of inflammation is nitric oxide, which has a direct effect on blood flow to certain tissues. If you tell someone that their eating habits are affecting their performance, they will probably lift their eyes from their iPhone and start listening very intently.

My philosophy on this is still a work in progress of course, but I'm beginning to lean toward thinking that nothing in this society will be right until we get a handle on our health situation. When you think about it, this truly is the hub of all human activity. Without a healthful spirit and drive, people are listless and dull and settle for mediocrity much more quickly. Couple that with weak education and the fact that far too many people rely on faith alone to guide them through life and you have, well you have what we actually have. That seems to me a reasonable starting point to explain many of our societal issues. It takes energy to become enlightened, and that energy truly does start with food.

[Laststraw]

I think the message needs to be shared with the USDA and with the National School Lunch Program directors in school districts as well, it would be a great way to start more awareness. The amount of cr*p in the food they feed the kids is awful. Schools offer a fresh salad bar with many healthy options per the USDA guidelines - most of it goes in the trash. Its hard to ensure every kid has a "healthy" plate of offerings when they come in with a bag of Flaming Cheetos too.

[mburnett70]

a few more ideas over the weekend...

-Whoever is the better public speaker (Dallas or Melissa or both of you) should get involved in the TED talk series. Your studio audience would be highly intelligent and motivated to deliver your message to their equally intelligent and motivated colleagues. This might result in your message getting directly into the education system, which is where it needs to be.

-Sponsorships on NPR and Pacifica radio...get your site mentioned nationally.

-Create a presence in the iPhone and Android app stores. Write an app that simply reads aloud a synopsis of the program and contains all images/videos that describe systemic inflammation (what actually happens in the body physiologically/histologically). Many more people access content from the app stores than they do from ebooks (screen-based or audio). It's simply easier. Most people look for free apps as well. They don't usually think free when they think ebooks from Amazon or audiobooks from Audible.

-hold up signs at sporting events directing people to your site. Crazy and trite, but it works.

-deliver message through instructors at health clubs and yoga/reiki studios.

-though this might cut into your book-sales bottom line a bit (a lot actually), if you really want your message to get out there, if you really want the CW to change, you might consider making an audiobook free to registered users of your site. They get the message (easily, no reading effort, which if we're honest with ourselves is the true reason most are generally uninformed) and you get valuable marketing data.

-start a YouTube channel containing all of those images/videos from your app, TED talk videos, and seminar videos that you may have created so far.

-stickers (window, bumper) with 2D barcodes. As people walk through a parking lot or through common areas (in schools, businesses, lobbies, etc), they can simply scan your code and instantly be transported to your site. Put the 2D barcodes on all of your literature and business cards as well. Might as well put these on the signs held up at sporting events too so everybody around them can scan it in.

Looking forward to your thoughts on these matters.

Mike

[Renee Lee]

While I'm sure that M&D appreciate the advice, I'm not sure this is the correct platform for it...

[Melissa Urban]

Thank you so much for taking the time to send us your marketing thoughts. We love hearing creative views like this from our readers! We'd LOVE to be involved with TED Talks, and we've considered some of these avenues in the past. We will, of course, keep you posted if anything like this pans out!

Best,

Melissa