Special Events
Keep tweens excited about the VERB Scorecard campaign by offering a variety
of special events. Your partners/vendors can host smaller scale special events
at their facilities or businesses just for VERB Scorecard holders, such as
special hours just for tweens, tween dances and other exclusive perks.
On a grander scale, community-wide special events are great opportunities for
tweens, and can increase awareness of the issues among parents and other adult
influencers. Design special events to keep tweens and parents thinking about
physical activity well after your VERB Scorecard campaign. Rotate tweens through
fun and cool activity stations, while parents can sign-up their children for
physical activity classes, teams, programs and camps at separate registration
tables staffed by your partners/vendors.
However, community-wide special events are labor intensive and should only be
undertaken if you have sufficient staff and partner support, and can assure a
good crowd by holding the event where tweens naturally convene, having programs
that serve youth transport large numbers of tweens to the event or having
sufficient promotion to draw large numbers.
Some previous campaign communities have piggy-backed their VERB Scorecard
event with an existing community event to simplify the organizing process. Be
sure that there is a natural relationship and complementary goals with any event
with which you collaborate. With this approach, the workload for your planning
team may be lighter: set up a table and/or tent, collect VERB Scorecards,
distribute small prizes and hold the grand prize drawing.
However, your planning team’s ability to draw large numbers of tweens relies
absolutely on the other event organizers’ ability to market the event and draw a
crowd. Also, a tie-in with another event could lessen the brand identity of your
campaign among your target audience (i.e., your VERB Scorecard campaign could be
perceived as The Other Event’s Scorecard campaign).
Kick-Off Events
A rousing kick-off event is a great way to launch your campaign, distribute
VERB Scorecards, create buzz among youth and generate media attention for the
campaign. Multiply the effect with several kick-off events held throughout your
community.
Grand Finale
Motivate and inspire tweens with a spectacular grand finale event designed
just for them. Tweens can redeem their completed VERB Scorecards, pick up their
small prizes and anticipate winning big in the grand prize drawing.
Make the grand prize drawing the pinnacle of the exhilarating event. Local
celebrities, athletes and radio/television personalities that are cool to the
tweens add interest to the grand prize drawing. Make sure your emcee is
experienced and comfortable on the microphone and keeping the crowd engaged.
Radio personalities and sports announcers have worked well for previous campaign
sites. Keeping this part of the event short works well for energetic tweens.
Finish with active fanfare, like letting tweens run the bases of a baseball
diamond, swim a lap, do the wave or high-five the celebrities.
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 |
