regular employees and “people like me” are once again among our top three most trusted, credible sources, according to the 2012 edelman trust barometer. they’re back in the limelight after fading away last year, somehow losing ground to CEOs. but this year, things look much as they did in 2004, when regular folk vaulted to the top of the heap of credible spokespeople.

in health communication, the regular joe or jane has continuously held a starring role. while we defer to medical professionals for information about health treatment, susannah fox of the pew internet & american life project has written that we look to people in our shoes—people like me—for emotional support and empathy, encouragement and care. this is particularly true for those who are living with a chronic condition, are acting as caregiver or have experienced a medical crisis. it’s also true for those who have gained weight, had a pregnancy or quit smoking.

dailyfeats wants to be a “positive action platform for the world.” the way they’re tackling this mildly ambitious goal is by encouraging users to take one small, positive action. CEO and co-founder veer gidwaney spoke with me about their goals, partnerships and future possibilities in the employer space.

fm: what is dailyfeats going after?
vg: the biggest social challenges we face are going to be solved because people change how they live their lives on a daily basis. we believe the biggest opportunity lies in helping people take on positive actions and celebrating those actions with them.

fm: when i use dailyfeats, what do i do? do i set up goals?
vg: no—no goals. we want to help people create new habits one small step at a time. when people use dailyfeats, they complete small actions that range from tackling their to-do list to eating more vegetables to practicing safe sex. along the way, they earn points, share with friends, and treat themselves or others to real-life rewards, motivating them to keep up the good work. at dailyfeats, we aim to make positive actions part of people’s everyday lives by helping them celebrate their “feats” and reach their potential.

fm: can you give me an example of how i’m rewarded?
vg: the team at jawbone asked to partner with us with their new device, jawbone up. we created a challenge with them, a defined set of actions a user needs to complete within a set period of time. the device authenticates that you actually completed them. and when you do, you get bonus points that have a monetary value and that are automatically integrated with your dailyfeats account.

fm: i understand you have sponsored partnerships. why?
vg: if we’re going to touch millions—to inspire millions to change—we know we need to have a strong voice. we’re competing with the couch. we know that for-profit and nonprofit organizations have the strongest voice, so we partner with them. we invite them to join our coalition for good.

for example, cigna is our exclusive health services partner this year. they sponsor certain activities you can complete daily, activities like eating more fruit, taking a walk or completing a wellness assessment. walgreens is another partner. we have an in-store text-based campaign that’s going live with them this year. it focuses on healthy kids. when you’re in the store, you’ll see placards that advertise this campaign. you can use your phone to get a list of things you can purchase and redeem a gift certificate for walgreens. people do something good for themselves and save money, it’s good for the walgreens brand, and as a society, we see better collective behavior.

fm: dailyfeats is strictly consumer-facing right now. do you have plans to enter the employer market?
vg: clearly dailyfeats could be very powerful in the employer space. the way we’re pursuing it right now is through our health plans partners. we’re exploring how they can bring us to employers.
we’ve run pilots with certain partners and in certain markets. we’ll be working with human resources and our health partners to customize activities per the employer’s focus and create challenges that can be framed around their particular health risks.

fm: your goal is very ambitious. how are you measuring your progress toward achieving it?
vg: we measure by the sheer number of positive actions people are taking.

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read more free-ranging conversations with health innovators.

david ogilvy knows great copy. after all, he founded what we now know as ogilvy + mather. i love the humility, humor and industry evident in his notes on how to write great copy.

read the remaining tips on letters of note.

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what it is: part of an ad campaign by the national peanut board

why it works: the ad is clean and uncluttered to focus your eye. the message is highly relatable. who doesn’t pine to have the energy of a two-year-old? the model’s movement draws your eye to her feet so you don’t miss the subtler product message about the energy punch peanuts deliver.

why it doesn’t: all of the ads in the campaign feature young, extremely fit women—mostly white. employers need to consider the age, race, gender and real fitness level of their employees when they select images and photos.

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this post is part of a series on health communications that stand out. if you have a worthy ad to feature in the series, email me.

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on friday at noon i’ll be talking about workplace wellness. head on over to health promotion live to register.

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i’m testing storify as a way to capture our chats. please be sure to give this approach a thumbs up/thumbs down in the comments.

hellowallet joins us on february 15 at noon for next month’s chat on tools to increase employee financial well-being. don’t miss this one or any other. check out the entire 2012 chat calendar.

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i’m no longer trying to superbetter me.

unfortunately, i’ve abandoned superbetter, the health game for making small, subtle health changes as well as managing larger, more complicated health conditions.

as those who read the first two posts on what was to be a six-part series know, i delighted in superbetter’s design and lingo. superbetter’s website is vibrant and energizing. it’s language celebrates our unrecognized power in affecting our health and is fun, creative and mysterious. my delight waned, however, as i struggled with a time-consuming setup, whose intention might escape those less familiar with behavior change.

i found myself overwhelmed by the seven steps (missions) necessary to officially begin and deflated once i completed them and realized i didn’t know what now? i had no idea what to do next on the site. i knew my “epic win” (health goal): to attend an organized exercise class on a weekly basis. i had my “ally” (my husband rob), i fingered the “bad guys” (those things that could trip me up), i listed my “power ups” (my sources of inspiration). what i didn’t know was what to do next—besides go to my classes.

good design anticipates user failure like my confusion. it also anticipates more routine user failure: erratic use. the game itself should hold one’s interest. that’s part of the promise of games for health. and that could explain the lack of communication from superbetter when i went AWOL in december. if you judge the game compelling, you won’t build more mundane retention methods into your system.

in my case, that belief backfired. i would’ve benefited from touchpoints that kept me connected, particularly in the beginning when habits hadn’t formed. my ally rob also received no guidance, which made it difficult for him to know how to play his costar role. i receive weekly emails from fitbit and daily ones from meyou health’s daily challenge—to name two products i use that build regular communication into the experience.

superbetter has lots going for it. we need more energetic, creative and yes, whimsical ways to encourage people to change their health habits or to help them withstand grueling recovery sessions. why have dense, crunchy, scolding grape nuts if you could have a donut?

but superbetter needs to work out the kinks. it can’t rely solely on a fetching website to do all the heavy lifting in terms of engagement and retention. superbetter seems to know this. they emailed all early users to let us know that the next version of superbetter is coming. i’m hoping for better.

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what wellness trends will we see in 2012? find out on wednesday, january 18, when jane sarasohn-kahn—health economist, consultant and blogger—joins cohealth.

tweet chat agenda

we’ll start with these lead questions and branch out from there. if you have particular questions you’d like to pose to jane, leave them in the comments.

Q1. what are the health and wellness trends you believe employers should be paying attention to?

Q2. how might the growth in the direct-to-consumer health industry alter employees’ expectations of what their employers offer?

Q3. do you expect mobile health and devices for health (e.g., fitbit, bodymedia) to alter employers’ strategies?

Q4. you write often about how social and economic factors affect our health. should employers play a role in influencing policy to address these determinants?

about cohealth

quest diagnostics is the leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services. recently, quest conducted a study to answer the question many employers and employees ask: why do we need lab tests? “as a physician,” explained harvey kaufman, M.D., one of three study authors and senior corporate medical director at quest, “i come across employees who say, ‘i’m great, i’m healthy, haven’t seen a doctor in 10 years.’ i say great, but you don’t really know what’s going on in your body. the only way to find out is to get tested.”

so, to find out what’s going on in people’s bodies, quest conducted a study that included analyzing the results of more than 50,000 first-screening participants at 15 employers between 2003 and 2010. the study, “value of laboratory tests in employer-sponsored health risk assessments for newly identifying health conditions,” discovered that:

• 59% of those at high risk for high cholesterol were newly identified
• 28% of those at high risk for diabetes were newly identified
• 89% of those at high risk for kidney disease were newly identified

all of these individuals discovered their risk through their employer’s lab-based wellness program. those not newly identified had reported in their health risk survey that they were aware of their condition. “an enormous number of people were unaware they have these risks for common chronic diseases,” commented kaufman. this was particularly true for chronic kidney disease, the study authors found.

as expected, older participants had a higher prevalence of risk for all three conditions, but the study authors were surprised to find that one in four 29-year-olds had a newly identified condition. “our 20- to 29-year-olds are unhealthier than previous generations,” said fred r. williams, quest’s director of health management strategies and another study author. “they’re heavier and less active, but they’re also more plugged in, which means they’re more likely to feel they’re empowered in their health.”

the trick is to get them active in their health—and knowledgeable about it too. quest is hoping their study will be a call to action for both employers and employees. “26 million americans have chronic kidney disease,” explained williams. “by the time people score at a high risk, they may have lost 50% of their kidney function.” quest believes that their results will underscore the cost/benefit equation for lab tests as part of an overall approach to employee wellness—and that if they can “train” younger people to routinely get annual physicals, we won’t see the same rise in risk we currently see with today’s older generation.

besides reducing the health risk to the individual, there is also the opportunity to reduce the cost of health care. fewer and lower risks mean less health services needed, something that won’t be lost on employers. quest’s emphasis on lab results over self-reporting also won’t be lost on employers who are increasingly interested in an outcomes-based approach to wellness. “it’s easier to be ‘in denial’ based on self report,” said helen darling, president and CEO of the national business group on health. “we know people underestimate weight, overestimate height and underreport on unhealthy habits. with biometric screenings—you can’t distort or make yourself look better. employers would do well to have wellness programs with an emphasis on accuracy and data.”

my two cents: employers are rapidly adopting outcomes- or results-based wellness approaches. a towers watson study (see page 15) found that 33% of respondents plan to adopt this approach where incentives are tied to results, like lowering one’s BMI or cholesterol levels. in this vein, lab tests are a useful and necessary tool. they are a more costly approach than self-reporting, but a worthwhile investment, quest says, when you consider the cost of health care for those whose diseases have gone undetected. one thing employers will need to consider is the frequency of lab tests, particularly as our understanding of when preventive health screenings are useful and when they’re not evolves.

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read the full study.

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last year i got my new year’s cards out in february, so i figure i’m doing pretty good by getting this summary out in mid-january.

the inspiration for this post was HR bartender’s the best of HRB—2011 edition and my need to consider the focus of this blog in 2012. when i reviewed the top posts for the year, i saw that they could be clumped into three broad categories: interviews with those who are doing the work (the free-ranging conversations series), commentaries on research and reports, and insights on current trends and effective communication practices. knowing that, i plan to focus on these categories in 2012 and dispense with less popular pieces, such as the wellness digest. i’ll continue highlighting my favorite reads in context’s monthly e-newsletter, so subscribe if you liked the digest.

if i’m reading the tea leaves wrong and there are areas you’d like me to focus on or continue with, let me know in the comments.

happy new year!

first quarter

how does zappos approach employee wellness?*
detecting health communication trends from pew’s generations study
how do you feel about a junk-food free workplace?

second quarter

free-ranging conversation with janet mcnichol
it’s “game on” in the world of workplace wellness

third quarter

do wellness efforts aid retention
toilet talk
educate employees about high-deductible health plans through a choose-your-own-adventure game

fourth quarter

free writing advice
can george clooney sweeten a layoff**
limeade adds a little zing to wellness

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*i didn’t repeat zappos in other quarters, though it always showed up. it’s the most popular post on the site. always.
**this post surged in popularity along with the release of the descendants.