Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121727

Faye L. Wong, MPH, RD, Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, K10, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, 770-488-5037, fwong2@cdc.gov

The CDC's VERB Campaign has measured evidence of its effectiveness. In the second year evaluation of the campaign, 72% of US children aged 9-13 years are aware of VERB and among them, 96% understand the campaign's messages. A positive effect on physical activity was found across the entire population of children targeted by the campaign. In fact, the more often children saw VERB campaign messages, the more physically active they were. Free-time physical activity levels during the previous week and on the day before the survey were higher among children who saw the campaign than those who did not see it. And, although children typically become less physically active as they get older, this decline in physical activity did not occur among children who saw VERB campaign messages in 2004. The 17 million target-age children who saw VERB messages maintained the same levels of physical activity in 2004 that they had in 2002. In contrast, the physical activity levels of the 4 million target-age children who did not see VERB messages dropped substantially from 2002 to 2004.

The speaker will discuss creation of the VERB campaign brand and building its equity among tweens (kids aged 9-13 years), the advertising and messaging creative concepts for each campaign phase, and the surround strategy which brings the campaign to life through mobile tours, in-market events, sponsorships, on-the-ground marketing, public relations, and, national and community partnerships. Examples of advertising and marketing products will be shown.

Learning Objectives: