A Collective Impact Model to Reduce Sugary Drink Consumption in New Jersey: Overview and Process Evaluation of NJ Sugarfreed

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the largest source of added sugar in the average American’s diet. In New Jersey, around 20% of adults drink one or more sugary drinks per day, and African American and Hispanic residents have higher rates of SSB consumption than their White and Asian counterparts. The NJ Sugarfreed intervention and its two sister campaigns, Sugarfreed Belleza and Natural Beauty Sugarfreed, worked throughout the state to encourage individuals and organizations to make healthier beverage choices. This manuscript provides a process evaluation of the SSB reduction campaign NJ Sugarfreed, explaining how the campaign was structured around each of the tenets of the collective impact model. Factors influencing the success of the campaign, such as partnership building, commitment of backbone organizations and individuals, and importance of relying on professional relationships are discussed. Future applications of the collective impact model, as well as other behavioral models are also discussed. This paper provides an overview of successes and lessons learned that may be useful for others seeking to use the collective impact model to change health behaviors at a large scale.