VERB Newsletter

VERB The Latest Word
April 2003 Issue
PDF Download (PDF - 200K)

VERB The Latest Word (VISUAL: VERB logo) April 2003

(VISUAL: Department of Health and Human Services logo and CDC logo)

This is the third 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

• The VERB campaign has been selected as a finalist for the 2003 Kid Power Awards! The Kid Power Awards have been established to honor, recognize and promote the most innovative Kids Marketing Campaigns. The winners will set the standards of excellence for children’s marketing! As a finalist, the VERB campaign has been recognized for its strategy, creativity, originality, implementation, cost effectiveness, and overall excellence. Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honorable Mention awards will be announced at the Awards Dinner Banquet on May 7, 2003. Stay tuned!
  (VISUAL: Kid Power Awards logo)
• A loyal Fit Family Fit Kids (FFFK) follower was so deeply touched by the March installment in Family Circle that she donated a special gift to featured tween D’andre Sanders. The installment highlighted D’andre’s physical and emotional improvement and mentioned that he had fallen in love with the alto saxophone. It also explained that D’andre did not have a saxophone at home. After having read the piece, the reader (a “Fellow Musician” from Murphysboro, Illinois) sent in her very own saxophone for D’andre! The action of this dedicated follower confirms that the FFFK program is engaging influencers and inspiring them to become involved with today’s youth. (VISUAL: Fit Family Fit Kids logo)
• Miami tweens were in awe when Florida Governor Jeb Bush joined them during the VERB Treasure Hunt at the Sunset Mall on Saturday, March 8. More than 70 children from the YMCA, Regis House, and the Miami Beach Police Athletic League participated in the exciting and fun VERB hunt, yet the Governor’s appearance made the day even more memorable!

VERB O-Meter

(VISUAL: Pyramid of blocks topping off with contests and beginning with online) Impact to Date 4,897,076

VERB has touched over 4 million children and parents to date

Contests - 3,271
Tours - 311,470
Sweepstakes - 31,731
Added Value - 623,500
Online - 3,927,104

VERB Outreach

• Columbus, OH: Parent media tour; Treasure Hunt at the Columbus Easton Town Center included children from the Boys & Girls Club, Inner City Games, and the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department.
• Green Bay, WI: Treasure Hunt at the Washington Commons Mall with children from the YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Boys & Girls Club; VERB appearance at the World of Wheels Auto Show festival at Veterans Memorial Arena; and a parent media tour.
• Houston, TX: VERB appearance at the Houston Raceway; Celebration of the national YMCA Healthy Kids Day April 5.
• Kansas City, MO: Paint the Town; Kansas City Zoo- Interactive, life–size game boards were installed throughout the zoo inviting children to get physically active in March and April.
• Los Angeles, CA: Treasure Hunt at the Media City Center included children from the YMCA of Burbank, Hands for Hope, and Woodcraft Rangers; Celebration of the national YMCA Healthy Kids Day on April 5.
• Miami, FL: Treasure Hunt at the Sunset Mall in Miami, Celebration of the national YMCA Healthy Kids Day on April 5.

VERB Connections

• As tweens looked forward to the first day of spring, VERB reached 88% of tweens an average of ten times in March, encouraging them to spring into action! By reaching 62% of moms an average of two and a half times during the month, VERB lead the spring season and inspired parents to get their children active.
• The VERB ads on Nick.com have worked extra hard recently to generate a click-through rate to VERBnow.com that is more than twice the industry standard!
• In April, tweens will find plenty of ways to get active through VERBnow.com. They will learn different pitches using the interactive “Pitcher This” game, print out tips to help improve their softball game, and produce customized music mixes, which they will send to their friends– who will create a dance to groove with the mix-via VERB MixMail.
• Generating more than 39 million media impressions, VERB accounted for 106 broadcast and print placements for the month of March. Key media placements included Teen People, CBS Marketwatch, CNNMoney.com and the Houston Chronicle. Time for Kids online mentioned the VERB program and quoted local Miami ambassador Jayne Greenberg. The article generated 12 million impressions at an advertising equivalency of $3,000.

VERB on the Move

(VISUAL: Dotted lines connecting each paragraph)

VERB Action Day hit the Los Angeles Coliseum on April 12. We reached tweens from more than100 schools and organizations throughout Los Angeles County who came out to the day-long event to find their VERB. Local community-based organizations provided field activities to show kids how to get active right in their own neighborhoods. These tweens tried everything from Euro-Bungee to rock climbing with lots in between. Local athletes demonstrated how to get active, including the Los Angeles Gunslingers football team, LA Kings Hockey players, and WNBA LA Sparks. Tweens tried out martial arts moves, the latest hip hop dance steps and even grooved to the live stage performances of Solange, John Gregory, and Samantha Jade. These tweens found out just how many VERBs are out there!

VERB rules school! In Wilmington, California, the principal dedicated Wilmington Middle School as VERB school during VERB assemblies. Students and teachers together celebrated VERB at their school!

Nearly 7,000 Asian and Asian Pacific Islander American children have been participating in the “What’s Your VERB Creative Expression” program. At Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese language schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston, students were given the opportunity to express their favorite VERB through the visual arts. Each participating school that sent in at least one valid entry was entered into a random drawing to receive school physical activity equipment. The first awards ceremony took place March 28 at LA’s Dodger Stadium, prior to a preseason game between the Dodgers and the Anaheim Angels. About 3,000 students and their parents attended the ceremony, where the three winning schools were announced. The next awards ceremony will take place May 4 at Houston’s Funplex – we’ll keep you updated!

 

VERB Chatter

As a follow up from last month, we are pleased to announce the finalists of the “Most VERBable Player Award.” As you know, we received more than 600 grant entries and selected six winners, large and small, to share in the $65,000 grant money. (VISUAL: Map of US with stars highlighting region where winning school is)

• Geneva Elementary School in Nebraska will receive special equipment that adjusts the height of their basketball hoops so that younger as well as older students can play basketball.
• Students at Kasson-Mantorville Middle School in Minnesota will receive a 13-station outdoor obstacle course, which combines running and individual exercises at each station. Seventh and eighth graders from the school’s fitness team submitted the grant entry.
• An eighth-grade student at Saint Joseph’s School in New Windsor, New York, will receive an orienteering kit for his school. The kit includes compasses and markers as well as a specially designed map of the school's grounds so that the students can hike around the Hudson Valley area.
• Poston Road Elementary School in Martinsville, Indiana, will receive gymnastics equipment including mats and rainbow barrels, compliments of a third grader’s entry.
• Marshall Elementary School in Arkansas will receive outdoor playground equipment including a basketball court surface, hoops and balls, soccer goals and balls, a swing set and tetherball equipment. The sixth-grade class entered the grant on behalf of its school.
• Students of Chuckey Elementary School in Tennessee were thrilled to hear that they won a grant. The school will receive pedometers, an instructional kit and reward tokens. The PE teacher has been trying to secure these pedometers to start an overall wellness program at the school not only for students but for teachers as well.

All of the winners are extremely excited and grateful for the difference that these grants will make in their schools and communities!

Fast Forward

• Watch out for the new TV spot featuring professional tennis player James Blake in Swing! (VISUAL: Picture of James Blake)
• Wild & Crazy Kids hits Greenville, South Carolina on Tuesday, April 18 and winds up in Washington, DC, on May 7.
• In April on VERBnow.com, professional athletes Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly will help kick off the soccer season with an interactive game and a printable tip sheet to help tweens learn about different types of kicks.
• Keep your ears open for VERBs “Longest Day of Play” promotion, which will launch on Radio Disney during the week of May 26. The promotion counts down to the longest day of the year, June 21, the Summer Solstice, and encourages tweens to make the most out of a full day of play. More details to come...
• Come summer 2003, MTV Made will begin its nine-market activity day demonstrations just as the second season premieres in late June. Playing an intricate role in the program execution, the YMCA is thrilled to partner with VERB to bring the Made activity day to local YMCA tween members. MTV is coordinating local celebrity talent and Made show personalities to come interact with the tweens during the activity day.

This publication is produced by the Publicis Groupe.

 

Documents on this page are available in Portable Document Format (PDF). Learn about viewing and printing PDFs with Acrobat Reader.