DC Central Kitchen

Our inaugural client was DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program, which delivers fresh and frozen produce, as well as healthy snacks, to corner stores in D.C.’s low-income communities and food apartheid areas at wholesale prices. After conducting field research by visiting corner stores and engaging with the client throughout the semester, agency members created dynamic content for various storytelling platforms to increase awareness and participation in the program within the targeted communities.

“I thought DC Central Kitchen would be an ideal first client for SOC3 for a number of reasons. Food apartheid is a serious issue in Washington, DC, and DC Central Kitchen has been a leader in this area, especially with their Healthy Corners program. They also provided great research for us to make sure our storytelling deliverables would resonate with the target audiences we were trying to reach. The team we worked with were accessible and enthusiastic as well, which made working with them a pleasure.”

— Professor Pallavi Kumar

In the wonderful experiment that is SOC3, the cohort was able to infuse the deliverables with their unique GenZ worldview – a perspective that is often lacking in other agencies.  In their final presentations to the client, teams deployed their storytelling skills to provide innovative creative communications strategies that appealed to audiences at large. Their projects culminated in a proposed redesign and restructuring of the Healthy Corners app, two targeted advertising campaigns a Humans of D.C. Central Kitchen storytelling campaign, and a novel pre-packaged healthy snack box for children. 

Continue reading to learn more about our work with D.C. Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program.

Healthy Corners App - Marialejandra Ariza-Florez, Bobo Liang, Caroline Cascio, and Nora Glynn

Through conducting research, interviews, and ideation, the team worked hard to enhance the Healthy Corners app. After completing field research, they honed in on some key insights to help shape their recommendations. First, they learned that customers were not aware of all the benefits of downloading the app and that there were not aware of the in-store promotions found in the app. The team also found that there were some accessibility issues within the app. Afterward, the team wanted to focus on ways to improve the effectiveness of the app. Their objectives of the Healthy Corners app were to enhance the user experience and visual appeal of the app and create a rewards program to increase customer retention and satisfaction of the Healthy Corners program. Their recommendations included several recommendations to help enhance the app including the addition of a recipe page, a Spanish version, and a “Carrot Credits” Rewards Program with added benefits.

Maximize Your Motherhood Flier - Jessica Bates, Seki Berg, and Alice Collins

The Maximize Your Motherhood flier was created by the SOC3 team to raise awareness on how to save money through SNAP/ WIC benefits. After conducting extensive research and interviews, the team was able to formulate their own informative flier. The other objective of the flier was to increase Healthy Corner app downloads, by including a QR code of it on the flier. The flier, targeted at mothers, aimed to distribute cost-saving information at Healthy Corner stores as well as local schools. It also included information about free or reduced-cost WiFI, which is incredibly useful information for households. Lastly, they incorporated a scratch-off element to the flier with a discount code to increase engagement.

Healthy Corners Advertising Campaign - Talon Hyatt, Siarrah H. Myers, Sophie Myers, and Katherine Wurst

The ad team conducted their field research with an eye toward understanding the “pain points” of the target audience. This team designed a strategy to reach out to low-income adults and families within a 1.5-mile radius of the stores with the Healthy Corners program. Campaign #1 featured transit shelter displays focusing on proximity, simplicity, and family. Campaign #2 featured print advertising for community publications.

Humans of D.C. Central Kitchen Campaign - Sarah Mattalian, Andrew Torres-Blanco, Maria Tedesco, and Cady Tran

This team went into the field to talk to stakeholders of the program. Using those insights, they leaned into a strategy of humanizing the organization and creating an emotional appeal. The final deliverable included a narrative piece about the people involved in the Healthy Corners program. The inspiration came from the Instagram account @humansofny a site that connects emotionally with its audience making it a perfect template to follow.

Snackables Project - Elizabeth Posada, Samantha Margot, and Zach Hill

The Snackables project aimed to provide kids in D.C., especially those who face food insecurity, with healthier snacking options. After completing field research, the team concluded that most kids will choose processed foods and that SNAP was often used to buy fresh foods. They also observed that many kids had complaints about the packaging of their food. Using these insights, the team created a prototype product with branding to launch “Snackables.” The packaging was appealing to the target audience of kids by mixing healthy, savory, and sweet items in an appealing package. The team created an innovative video to showcase why their prototype product would resonate with their key target audience of kids.

Conclusion

Since presenting our projects to D.C. Central Kitchen, the organization and program have gone on to adopt many of our ideas, including redesigning the Healthy Corners app. Through our working relationship, we gained critical work experience, which required adaptability, creativity, and collaboration. Concurrently, we developed integrated communication strategies that have aided Healthy Corners in continuing to provide nutritious, culturally appropriate, and affordable foods to low-income communities across the District. This is the essence of SOC3’s #ChangeUnited mantra.

Testimonial

“DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program works with a network of over 50 corner stores in food apartheid areas of the District to provide healthy food options at affordable prices. We were excited to work with Professor Kumar and the inaugural SOC3 cohort to explore fresh perspectives on how to tell the Healthy Corners story and drive awareness to our newly relaunched Healthy Corners app. All five groups shared insightful observations garnered through their research, and we have already begun to incorporate some of the cohort’s recommendations including a restructuring of the Healthy Corners app recipe page based on the SOC3 students’ presentation. 

For other nonprofits looking for a fresh, GenZ perspective on their comms strategy, we couldn’t recommend working with SOC3 more!”

— Melissa Gold, Director of Communications & Marketing