VERB Newsletter

VERB The Latest Word
October/November 2003 Issue
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This is the seventh 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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared October 25 as the National VERB™ Extra Hour For Extra Action Day to encourage children to take the hour gained from the fall time change to get up, get out and get moving. In an effort to get active, kids nationwide attempted to break the Guinness World Record™ for most people dribbling basketballs! Kids in Chicago slam dunked their way into the record books with 525 people bouncing basketballs for 5 minutes –beating the old record of 431 people. VERB also held events in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia. Event celebrities included tween-pop sensation JUMP5, Greg Raposo, LMNT, Stevie Brock and Nikki Clearly. Other celebrities included Olympic Gold Medalist in Gymnastics Kerri Strug and the WNBA Indiana Fever’s Coquese Washington.

VERB launched an in-school program-promoting Extra Hour For Extra Action. With the help of a marketing partner, VERB will reach over 1.5 million kids. VERB™ Extra Hour For Extra Action launched October 27th and asks for incremental hours of physical activity for four weeks. Participating schools are eligible for one of 50 grants for $1,000 for their physical education programs. The marketing agency will judge and award the grants to the winning schools. The program also launched in community-based organizations. Nearly 5,000 kits were mailed out to various groups. Community Based Organization's are also eligible for 20 grants of $500 each to be awarded at the program's completion.

VERB O-Meter

Impact to Date 11,549,098

CONTESTS
4,620

SWEEPSTAKES
49,296

ADDED VALUE
623,500

TOURS/EVENTS
2,857,271

ONLINE
8,014,411

VERB has touched more than 11 million children and parents to date.

VERB Connections

VERB hits the Wall Street Journal! In the September 2 issue of the Wall Street Journal, VERB received a mention in the hard copy and online versions of the newspaper. The article generated more than 6.5 million media impressions and an advertising equivalency of more than $62,000.

VERB garnered more than 50 media placements within two days when it released the Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey results in the August 21 edition of CDC’s Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report (MMWR). Among those placements, top hits included the morning edition on National Public Radio (NPR), television coverage on the top rated stations WNYW-TV (FOX) in New York and KNBC-TV (NBC) in Los Angeles, and print placements in the Houston Chronicle (circ: 981,315) and the Philadelphia Inquirer (circ: 768,237).

With nearly 200 VERB publicity placements throughout October, more than 12 million people heard, read, or saw something about VERB and the importance of physical activity. Key television placements covered several top media markets including Chicago, Houston, Los Angles and Seattle. Key print placements included the New York Times (circulation: 1,130,740) and Chicago Tribune (circulation: 693,659). Top Internet placements included the JUMP5 official Web site (Visitors: 4,000), New York Times (Visitors: 2,147,500) and Scholastic News Online (Visitors: 437,500).

To date, publicity for the VERB campaign has generated more than 630 million print impressions and 25 million broadcast impressions, reaching more than 655 million people and generating thousands of placements.

VERB Outreach

Los Angeles: “VERB Celebrating Active Children,” a new event at the 2003 Harvest Moon Festival, held on September 21, attracted more than 10,000 attendees with tweens trying out more than 50 different physical activities including human foosball, giant boxing, rock climbing, golf and water slides! Over 30,000 prizes were distributed to participating tweens. Celebrity performances also took place on stage including a closing show by Chinese pop singer Mavis.

In tribute to the success of the event, the California State Assembly recognized VERB with a certificate for its efforts in serving the Asian American community.

Huntington Park, California: In early October, Hispanic/Latino kids and their families got a taste of VERB at the “Sabor de Mexico Lindo” (“Taste of Beautiful Mexico”) event in Huntington Park, California. Roughly 10,000 kids entered the VERB Activity Zone where they participated in several activities including soccer, dance, and martial arts. Upcoming boy-band Bate que Bate provided the fun entertainment and encouraged kids to keep on VERB-ing. ¡Ponte las pilas!

VERB on the Move

The YM Move It to Groove It! contest kicked off in September, getting tween girls excited about dancing. The contest features hip choreographers Robin Dunn, Kerry Wee, and Jorge Santos showing off their hot move-of-the- month in the pages of YM and online on the YM Move It! mini-site. In the first month of the contest, the Move It! mini-site was visited by 43,693 of YM’s readers. On average, YM readers are spending 22 minutes online interacting with the site!

Beginning in September, VERB hit schools with the “Make Every Move Count” program, supported by Channel One. A call-to-action spot got kids excited about the program and explained the rules of the contest. Channel One received more than 7,300 entries from students eager to participate. The entries received represented 152 schools in 40 states! That’s 83% of the student-targeted population in the country interested in getting active!!

VERB hits the Big Apple! On Tuesday, November 10, and Wednesday, November 11, the VERB team headed to New York to give editors of parent and tween publications an update on the campaign. Janet Collins shared with the editors valuable information on childhood obesity, physical activity and resources for where and how children can get active.

Fast Forward

Stay tuned to the new PSA featuring the crazy, outrageous cast of Nickelodeon’s U-PICK LIVE airing this December. This is the first of two custom VERB PSAs being produced by Nickelodeon in Phase 2.

Get active with Seventeen! In the January issue of Seventeen, VERB is featuring the Ultimate Game – Ultimate Frisbee! The rules of the game are explained in the magazine via a VERB branded advertorial. Come December, Seventeen readers will also be able to access the rules of Ultimate Frisbee on VERBnow.com.

Play ball with Nickelodeon! The December/January issue of Nickelodeon Magazine will feature a full page VERB branded advertorial dedicated to the game of PIG BALL, an activity that combines football and basketball. Nickelodeon readers will also be able to learn more about PIG BALL on VERBnow.com this December.

VERB will rock the house this December at Jingle Ball, two live concerts being sponsored by YM. In an effort to further the success of the VERB “Move It to Groove It!” contest, entry sheets and contest info will be distributed at the pre-concert bash at Jingle Ball New York on December 11, and Jingle Ball Los Angeles on December 5. The pre-concert event will include star studded live performances, meet and greets with artists and DJ’s, ticket giveaways to the sold out show and much more!

VERB Chatter

VERBnow.com has a whole new look. Launched in September, the redesigned site now includes even more ideas for tweens to get active. They can discover new moves with the help of video instructions for VERBs like biking, skateboarding, dancing, and more. And the addition of an Activity Finder gives tweens access to information about cool ways to get active in their area.

The site also features the new My VERB Recorder page, which provides even more inspiration to get active. Here, tweens can record their daily physical activities for a chance to win prizes and the Do Stuff Sweepstakes. Every time tweens record what they do, they get another chance to win. To date, more than 23,000 tweens have registered and started recording their physical activities on My VERB Recorder. To see what else is new, visit VERBnow.com.

The Fit Family Fit Kids program kicked off again this October with four new families and four fitness experts. The Web site launched October 1st and generated 10,000 hits on its first day. A great start to the second year of the program!

The new Kim Possible PSA launched on the Disney Channel in late September. This is Kim’s second VERB PSA and the first of three that Disney is producing in Phase 2. Kim truly conveys the essence of VERB in the 30-second animated spot by performing a variety of activities, from cheerleading to soccer to skateboarding – she's all VERB!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next Disney PSA, featuring Miranda from the Lizzie McGuire show, which is set to air in late November.

VERB’s Ozzy and Drix PSA aired during the Kids’ WB! Saturday morning block in mid-October. The PSA ran during the episode “Hector's Cell” in which the character Hector encounters changes in his body from not exercising, eating right, etc. The PSA uses the Ozzy & Drix characters (the white blood cell cop and his counterpart, respectively, who live inside Hector) to encourage Hector's body to get active. We are thrilled with how the PSA captures the spirit and strategy of Phase 2 – activation and demonstration of how fun play is!

Check out Nick.com* for unique VERB e-cards featuring a choice of three active themed shots. The e-cards can be accessed on Nick.com’s Web lab page and will be posted through the remainder of Phase 2.

Look out for a special holiday edition of the VERB Newsletter next month, highlighting VERB’s Phase Two television, print and radio creative.

This publication is produced by the Publicis Groupe.

 

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