VERB Newsletter

VERB The Latest Word
February 2004/March 2004 Issue
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This is the eighth installment in a series of VERB newsletters providing the latest and greatest on how the VERB campaign is getting kids off the couch and into life. Read on…

VERB Scoop

(USA Today & CBS Early Show logos) VERB results hit a home run with national media! On Tuesday, February 17, USA Today launched the groundbreaking results of the first year of the VERB campaign with a lead brief in the Life section. Following the top daily newspaper article, Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC Director, announced the impressive findings on the top rated morning program CBS Early Show with a four-minute live segment. The article and interview reached more than 10 million people.

(CNN logo) More than 130 television stations nationwide ran information about the VERB results, including top cable network CNN and two of the three top NBC stations nationwide – WMAQ in Chicago and KNBC in Los Angeles. Articles also ran on the Associated Press, Reuters, and UPI wire services reaching more than 2,700 newspapers nationwide.

On Wednesday, February 18, results coverage was extremely impressive. We conducted 22 live and taped television interviews; top placements included CBS in Washington, DC; NBC in Los Angeles; ABC in Denver, Colorado; and FOX in St. Louis, Missouri.

To date, VERB placements have generated more than 69.5 million publicity impressions. We expect additional coverage in publications such as Scholastic, Good Housekeeping, and Child Magazine.

VERB O-Meter

IMPACT TO DATE: 17,479,624

Contests: 4,891
Sweepstakes: 49,296
Added Value: 623,500
Tours/Events: 2,889,770
Online: 13,912,167

VERB has touched over 17 million children and parents to date.

VERB Outreach

Houston: The Asian American and African American markets hosted their second VERB Partner Summit in Houston on February 18. Local community organizations and media attended. Community influencers Sherea Mckenzie (Executive Director of the Mayor’s Joint CityCounty Commission on Children), Shannon Bishop (Director of Cooperative for After-School Enrichment of Harris County Dept. of Education) and Rogene Gee Calvert (Chief of Staff from Council Member Quan’s Office) are just a few leaders that were present to speak about the importance of physical activity.

Miami: On March 7, VERB participated in one of Miami’s annual festivals, Sun Day on the Mile. Several local community-based organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club, the Coral Gables Youth Program and the Miami-Dade Police Department, helped create a VERB Activity Fair. Kids participated in fun activities while their parents received information about the importance of their children being physically active. About 5,000 Hispanic families interacted with VERB over the course of the entire day.

Los Angeles: VERB participated in the Jam Session during the NBA All-Stars Weekend in Los Angeles. For four days, tweens got to test their basketball skills at the VERB Challenge while their parents received important information about keeping their kids physically active. All in all, it was a huge success. Hoop it up, y’all!

Miami & Houston: To help generate excitement about the impressive evaluation results announcing that VERB is working, Hispanic kids from the Cossaboom YMCA (Houston) and International Jose Marti YMCA (Miami) gathered to celebrate by hosting a VERB Activity Fair. Kids had the chance to participate in a variety of activities including soccer, dodgeball, jump rope and basketball.

VERB Connections

January and February radio placements exceeded expectations! The radio news release, which included a sound bite from Dr. Janet Collins offering ideas on how parents can motivate their children to become physically active, aired on 2,300 stations nationwide, reaching nearly 18 million households. The ad was aired on the syndicated radio networks USA Radio, Family Life Radio and Voice of America.

Overall VERB publicity is rapidly increasing each month. To date, we have generated more than 716 million publicity impressions and reached more than 40 million households through broadcast placements. General top placements of the month included the Chicago Tribune (Circ.: 1,016,471), Dallas Morning News (Circ.: 596,616) and the San Jose Mercury News (Circ.: 276,787).

For one week, beginning the end of January, six kids each day were awarded autographed trading cards and footballs by entering the NFL sweepstakes on VERBnow.com. The sweepstakes generated a 20% increase in registrations for My VERB Recorder!

During February and March, kids who record their activities on VERBnow.com will have the chance to win cool prizes as part of an NHL sweepstakes. Over the 21-day sweepstakes, VERB and the NHL will award prizes to one lucky winner each day. Prizes include NHL jerseys, hats, and autographed pucks.

The VERB and NHL partnership goes beyond the Web! All-Star goalie Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars will appeared at a press conference and an NHL Street Hockey skills clinic on March 2, 2004.

(VERB Recorder logo) The number of kids visiting VERBnow.com continues to grow! As of mid February, more than 70,000 kids have registered to keep track of their activities on My VERB Recorder — a number that exceeds the original goal by about 40%.

VERB on the Move

(Channel One logo)
As Phase II comes to a close, so does one of the most successful activation programs VERB has seen to date. VERB partnered with the in-school TV network, Channel One, to activate 45,000 tweens from 60 different schools in the weekly, pedometer contest known as Make Every Move Count. Channel One created and ran promotional spots in support of the contest, using Krystal Greene, a Channel One anchor, as the spokesperson and reaching 3,200,000 students. Out of the thousands of entries received, 10 schools were selected each month to participate in the challenge from October through March. Each month the 10 selected schools received kits filled with pedometers, tracking posters, school banners and teacher and student guides. The participating schools hailed from as far west as the Centennial Middle School in Spokane, Washington, to as far east as the Ingomar Middle School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Each of the winning schools "stepped" more than 2 miles per day by playing soccer, basketball and Frisbee, as well as jumping rope, climbing indoor walls and training seeing eye dogs. One school even created an after-school walking club to increase its total tally of steps. By week's end during each month, the school with the most steps won a VERB Action Pack, which contained $1500 worth of athletic equipment; within each school, the class with the highest number of steps won $10 gift certificates to local sporting goods stores. Also, the participating and winning schools detailed their progress in two updates per month throughout the course of the contest. Lastly, the contest generated a good deal of local publicity on TV and in the newspapers. By consistently activating 45,000 students and creating a buzz about the Make Every Move Count contest, the program was an amazing success for VERB!

(Time For Kids logo)
VERB partnered with Time For Kids to create a custom publication for 2,200,000 students in grades four through six. The publication consisted of a Tracker, tips and games on getting active as well as a sweepstakes. The grand prize winner of the sweepstakes was awarded a bike and safety gear, a donation of $2,000 worth of sporting equipment to her school, and her picture online as a VERB All Star. There were 15 first-prize winners who received bikes and protective gear, and ten second-prize winners of gift certificates to sporting goods stores. Accompanying the custom publication was a teacher's guide on VERB, to use in their classrooms. By continuing to activate tweens and influencing the Influencers, the Time For Kids publication was a successful addition to the Phase II media plan.

Fast Forward

Stay tuned…

This February, Nickelodeon aired the custom-created VERB PSA featuring the tap dancing skills of Lisa from Nickelodeon's sketch-comedy series All That. The PSA was on-air for 3 weeks.

Be sure to catch the final VERB Movie Night, at 8 p.m. March 24, on the Disney Channel. The movie, "Going to The Mat," is an inspirational tale of a blind wrestler who overcomes his disability and helps lead his team to the championships. Look out for the VERB tickers, which will run during active-oriented scenes and direct tweens to get active.

Stay tuned for the third Disney PSA featuring Raven Symone, star of the hit show “That's So Raven.” The spot, which has the same eccentric feel of the show, highlights the vital role that physical activity plays in providing Raven with enough energy to perform each week.

The two winners of the VERB “Move It to Groove It” contest with YM have been announced! Contestants submitted an essay to YM explaining their future plans or their current activities that motivate others to get active, and competed for the chance to win a video dance party at their school. VERB and YM will be visiting the schools of the two lucky winners this March and will get kids moving and grooving! Be sure to check out next month’s newsletter to see photos from the event.

The Fit Family Fit Kids program has been so successful that it is also going to be executed in the Hispanic community. The Telemundo television network and VISTA magazine are helping to bring the Spanish program, Niños Activos, Familias Sanas, to life this spring. Keep on the lookout and ponte las pilas!

This publication is produced by the Publicis Groupe. (Image: Publicis Groupe logo)

VERB Chatter

The Fit Family Fit Kids program with Gruner and Jahr will conclude this March. For the past 6 months, we have followed the lives of 4 families: The Kenyons, The Newmans, The Terans and The Comeauxes.

A fitness expert was hired to work with each family and we have tracked their progress with respect to getting more active. It's amazing how much more activity they have included in their lives. The families have also learned that being active is fun!

(Photos of the 4 families)

The program to date has been very successful from a Web-traffic perspective as well. In only 4 months, we achieved the same level of Web traffic as was achieved in more than seven months in phase I. The average time spent with the Web site has increased 50%, from 1:50 to 3:00! Can't wait to see how the next 2 months go!

In addition, we will distribute two news stories nationwide covering the success of these families. We will distribute the first one in April and the second one in June to coincide with the kick-off of summer.

 

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