Keys to Success

Though VERB Scorecard campaigns are as different as the communities in which they are implemented, several factors are key to success in any location.
 

Stay True to the "Tween-Centered" Spirit of VERB.

VERB is something fun and exciting, not educational, preachy or boring. The VERB campaign is about exploring and discovering and is not an “anti" campaign. The VERB Logo Terms and Conditions for Non-Profits on the VERB Scorecard Campaign CD-ROM is a must read for your entire planning group, and is extremely helpful for understanding the essence of the VERB brand.

Keep the VERB Scorecard Campaign for Tweens

When younger children are part of events, the events lose appeal to tweens. It is better to let younger children look forward to participating in VERB Scorecard activities when they get older, and catch the physical activity bug by watching older children be enthusiastic about the VERB campaign.

Integrate the 4 P's of Marketing into the Campaign Design

The VERB campaign uses a social marketing framework that applies sophisticated marketing techniques to address a public health issue. Why would your community group want or need to use this framework as you plan your VERB Scorecard campaign? The effectiveness of your campaign depends on how well you know your audience, and using a social marketing framework to guide your planning group keeps your campaign consumer-focused and consumer-driven.

1. Product

The product is physical activity, and to market the product successfully, it must offer the consumer benefits that they truly want and provide solutions to their important problems.

A community-based VERB Scorecard campaign positions the product, physical activity, as providing the benefits that tweens truly want: having fun, being with friends, being cool and trying new skills. The long-term health benefits of physical activity are not the benefits that tweens want at this stage of their lives, and are not motivating to them.

2. Price

More than just dollars and cents, price includes the psychological and social costs that the consumer exchanges for the product benefits. What is it that tweens have to give up in order to be physically active?

Embarrassment and the fear of being teased or ridiculed are major costs of physical activity for some tweens. Successful VERB Scorecard campaigns reduce this barrier by providing a variety of activity opportunities, both noncompetitive and those offering friendly competition.

Tweens must be willing to exchange time that could be spent doing something else – playing video games, talking on the cell phone or just chillin’ – for time to be physically active. Successful VERB Scorecard campaigns increase the value of physical activity by offering prizes and emphasizing fun, friends and the cool factor.

3. Place

Place refers to the locations where tweens get the product – locations where they can be physically active. And, place refers to everything about the locations: when they are open, when they are not; how tweens get there and whether parking is available; how welcoming, attractive, comfortable – and safe tweens think they are.

Successful VERB Scorecard campaigns offer events, deals and activities in a variety of places. Carefully consider the transportation needs of the tween audience, and/or consider going where the tweens already are.

4. Promotion

Consistent, persistent, targeted communication is key to getting and keeping tweens involved in the VERB Scorecard campaign. Successful campaigns strategically use a variety of channels: advertising, public relations, printed materials, promotional items, signage, special events, video showings, displays and local celebrity involvement. They also clearly define the audience intended to be reached with each promotional message, and place the targeted messages where the intended audience will be exposed to it.

Go where the tweens already are: place your promotional messages and materials in the media that tweens consume, and in the locations where tweens convene. If tweens in your community don’t read the local newspaper, your tween-directed advertisement published there won’t reach them. You may more effectively and efficiently reach the tween audience by working with the manager of the local tween hang-out to promote the campaign on the premises.

Promotion to reach parents of tweens, potential community partners and other important stakeholders is a necessary part of your campaign. While you may not reach tweens with an advertisement in your local paper, you may reach the adult audience through this medium. Successful campaigns use a variety of promotion channels to strategically reach the adult influencer audience. Remember the first key to success: keep messages and information directed toward parents and adults separate from your tween communication.

Design the Campaign Elements and Promotion to Appeal to Tween Needs and Motivators

Impacting tween lives requires that we understand them and the lives they lead everyday. Straddling the fence between childhood and choice, tweens are branching out, looking to activity opportunities, both non-competitive and those offering friendly competition.

Fun opens the tween world, but is defined in many different ways. Highly affected by peers, tweens face pressures and often worry about how they will fit in and interact with others. (Tweens is a marketing term. Children this age do not call themselves tweens, nor respond to communication that calls them tweens.)

Acceptance

Create opportunities for tweens to be with their friends of all skills and abilities. Reduce the embarrassment factor by offering some noncompetitive options. Make up games that put skills in a new context.

Belonging

Aim for inclusive exclusivity – kids will feel in the know about the special identity and connectedness around their very own tween brand and their exclusive VERB Scorecard prize, promotions and events.

Mastery of New Skills

Provide activities with skill-building opportunities, giving kids confidence and self-satisfaction.

Fun

Let tweens feel like the possibilities to be active are endless in this world.

Freedom and Independence

Feature choice and flexibility in your VERB Scorecard campaign special events, great deals and physical activity opportunities.