title: VERB - a social marketing campaign to increase physical activity among youth.
abstract: The VERB campaign is a multiethnic media campaign with a goal to increase and maintain physical activity among tweens, or children aged nine to 13 years. Parents, especially mothers aged 29 to 46, and other sources of influence on tweens (e.g., teachers, youth program leaders) are the secondary audiences of the VERB initiative. VERB applies sophisticated commercial marketing techniques to address the public health problem of sedentary lifestyles of American children, using the social marketing principles of product, price, place, and promotion. In this paper, we describe how these four principles were applied to formulate the strategies and tactics of the VERB campaign, and we provide examples of the multimedia materials (e.g., posters, print advertising, television, radio spots) that were created.
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, Mail Stop K-85, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, USA. fwong@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Faye
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huhman
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heitzler
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Asbury
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bretthauer-Mueller
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Londe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D010290:Parents; D040241:Social Marketing; D014481:United States