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…
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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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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* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided
solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any
organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The
CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages
found at these links.
Page last reviewed: August 1, 2007
Page last modified: August 1, 2007
Content source: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health
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