The VERB™ Campaign's Strategy for Reaching African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian Children and Parents

Introduction 

Two fundamental principles of marketing are to segment the target population into distinct subsets of people who share similar needs or behaviors and to target each subset with messages specifically designed to appeal to the people in that subset. These principles flow from the recognition that each subgroup of the population has different needs and interests and therefore needs to be approached differently and with different messages in order to produce the desired result.1 The VERB™ campaign applied these principles to spread positive messages about physical activity to children aged 9–13 years (tweens). Messages were delivered to the general audience of tweens, and additional messages were delivered to tweens in various racial or ethnic groups. General-audience tweens are defined as subscribers to English language cable television (where most VERB advertising was aired) and consumers of other types of mainstream, English-language entertainment media such as nationally syndicated radio and nationally published magazines.

In addition, messages were designed and media purchased specifically for African-American, Hispanic, Asian American, and American Indian tweens who might not be reached by the general-audience campaign or who would respond more positively to a culturally-oriented message, which was conceptualized as a personal invitation to be a part of VERB. The need to reach these groups with messages promoting physical activity was reinforced by a growing body of research that shows that children in some ethnic minority groups are more likely than white children to be overweight or engage in behaviors that put them at risk for chronic diseases.2, 3, 4, 5 This article describes how VERB implemented this two-level approach. The strategy for developing, distributing, and evaluating messages to both the general audience and the four ethnic audiences is described, with primary emphasis on the strategies used for ethnic audiences.

Audience Segmentation 

From the outset, the goal of the VERB campaign was to surround tweens with reinforcing messages about physical activity. The main strategy was to market these messages directly to tweens through advertising on television, in print, on billboards, through a website, and through school and community promotions. Because parents are important influencers of tweens, a portion of the marketing was directed to parents, asking them to be part of the surround-strategy for tweens by encouraging their children's physical activity.6 To develop and implement the marketing plan, CDC contracted with six advertising agencies, two agencies to reach general-audience tweens and parents and four agencies to reach the four targeted racial or ethnic groups; each agency had a proven track record of success with marketing to tweens and parents in one of those groups. The two general-market agencies were Frankel, an Arc Worldwide Company (Chicago) and Saatchi and Saatchi (New York). The other four agencies and their target audiences were:

The charge to the ethnic-focused advertising agencies was twofold: (1) to assist the general-audience advertising agencies with their marketing plan to ensure that the messages these agencies developed were culturally appropriate and nonstereotypical for the four targeted racial and ethnic groups and (2) to develop appropriate messages, buy media time, and execute an advertising strategy for their defined racial or ethnic audience.

Message Strategy for General-Audience Tweens 

The general-audience agencies conducted formative evaluation to understand tweens' motivators and barriers to being physically active and to learn how to portray the campaign so that it would be appealing to tweens.7, 8 In addition, extensive qualitative evaluation with tweens of all ethnicities confirmed that they understood the proposed concept of VERB.9 For example, Hispanic tweens said in focus groups conducted in Spanish that VERB meant action, movement, and get up and go. On the basis of this process, the VERB brand for the campaign emerged and it was decided that the messages would have a can do rather than a don't do tone. That is, physical activity would be cast as an opportunity to spend time with friends, play, and have fun10 instead of something that children ought to do to be healthy. Although a variety of communication messages and strategies were used throughout the campaign, they were always guided by and stayed true to the character of the VERB brand.

The campaign was divided into four phases; each phase was characterized by a message platform (a marketing term for the foundation for a campaign's message), a communication strategy, and a main idea for the message of the phase (Table 1). Like the VERB campaign itself, each phase was based on the following unifying concept: Free kids to play out their dreams. During the first phase, June 2002–May 2003, the plan was to build awareness of the VERB brand of physical activity by associating it with the usual meaning of verb as an action word. Children were encouraged to Find your VERB. The messages for the second phase, roughly the second year of the campaign, June 2003–May 2004, focused on associating free-time play with the fun and exhilaration of being on an organized sports team. The messaging platform suggested that the good qualities of organized sports can be brought to children's own backyards. The core idea behind the message was this: Every day is game day. Get out and go play. The third phase of the campaign, June 2004–May 2005, built on the notion of associating play with the status of organized sports. Messages were refreshed with the nuance that tweens do not need to play like professional athletes to be active and have fun and that physical activity can happen Anytime. Anywhere. The central idea was for tweens to create their own games and play them by their own rules. The general-audience creative agencies described the fourth and final messaging platform as igniting in tweens a desire for physical activity. The message was that nothing replaces the rush and exhilaration of physical activity; wanting to play is an intense desire within each child. The central idea was I can't not play.

Table 1. Overall strategy for reaching tweens with messages about physical activity: VERB, Phases 1–4

		Free Kids to Play Out Their Dreams
		Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4
	Message Platform	Put verbs into action as VERBs	Infuse play with status of organized sports	Infuse play with status of organized sports	Ignite desire for physical activity
	Strategy	World of action words to discover and make yours	Bring all that's good in organized sports to the backyard	You don't have to be a pro to play	Nothing replaces the rush and exhilaration of physical activity
	Main idea for the tween message	Find your VERB	Every day is game day. Get out and go play	Kids make up their rules	I can't NOT play

The general-market and ethnic agencies followed a timeline through the four phases. Several key elements of the overall execution of VERB are shown in Figure 1. Each phase of the campaign was characterized by a cognitive or behavioral objective. The top arrow shows that the agencies considered that maintaining brand awareness among tweens was critical through all four phases of messaging. The timeline and the message phases together reflect the underlying marketing model of behavior change wherein the target audience experiences a cognitive, affective, and behavioral change en route to engaging in the behavior being promoted.11 The four ethnic agencies were asked to align with the general-audience message and timeline. Table 2 briefly summarizes how the ethnic agencies adapted the general-audience messages to their own messaging plan. Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, Appendix D list the major marketing activities for the general-market audience of tweens over the four phases of the VERB campaign. Appendix E lists the activities for parents.

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Figure 1. Timeline for VERB Campaign.

Table 2. Overall strategies used to reach four ethnic or racial groups: VERB Phases 1–4

	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4
	African American: Developed approach for African-American children. Introduced tagline: What's your VERB?	Developed the “Find yours” theme to encourage tweens to combine games, making up a new game.	Started sponsorships with music groups. Developed the “What could be simpler?” theme urging parent involvement.	Sponsored music and sports events to deliver the VERB message.
	Hispanic: Established presence among Hispanics nationally and 3 cities: Houston, Miami, LA. Introduced tagline: VERB: Ponte las pilas	Stressed message that “real action is outside” and encouraged tweens and parents to sign up for activities at community centers.	Shifted focus to parents. Developed the Niños Activos, Familias Sanas theme for parent materials.	Developed messages for parents around theme: “Good parents have active kids.”
	Asian American: Developed approach for Asians (in four Asian languages). Introduced tagline: Happy Families/Happy Children	Shifted focus to educating parents about the benefits of physical activity for their tweens for 60 minutes a day.	Encouraged parents to be active with their children. Marketed VERB at cultural events.	Developed theme: “Make every day an active day.” Continued to market VERB at cultural events.
	American Indian: Developed national and focused approach. Introduced tagline: VERB. It's what you do! Native Style	Encouraged tweens to get involved in community physical activities regardless of their skill level or ability.	Focused on fewer tribal communities. Hosted community events to assist tweens in signing up for activities.	Expanded distribution of VERB messages by advertising in communities at events, sponsored sport clinics.

Appendix A. Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003): General market activities for tweens

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	TV: Ads placed on national and local TV networks National: Nickelodeon, MTV, ABC Family, ABC Saturday, Disney, WB, Cartoon Network, and Buena Vista Local: 50% increase over national plan in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Columbus, Greenville SC, Green Bay WI	National: 119 average GRPs/week, June 2002–May 2003. During the school year, ads aired after school, on evenings, and weekends. During the summer, ads aired during the afternoon and evenings. Local: 100–200 GRPs/week Oct 2002–June 2003 (37-week presence).
	Radio: Ads on national and local networks Examples National: Westwood One Radio Network: Next, Source Max, Absolutely Live, Gen X, MTV-A, MTV-B, American Top 40 Local: 50% increase over national plan	National: 59 average GRPs/week, July–Dec 2002 (14 weeks; alternative weeks); morning and afternoon drive time, evenings, and weekends Local: 50 GRPs/week; Oct 2002–June 2003; evenings and weekends
	Print: Seventeen, YM, Cosmo Girl!, Nickelodeon, DC Comics, SI for Kids, Teen People, Game Pro, and Nintendo Power	75 average GRPs/month; Nov 2002–June 2003
	In school: Book covers, lunch menus, Channel One	83 average GRPs/month; Sept 2002–June 2003
	Out of home: National: Cinema advertising: Local: Strategic presence in tween locations	National: Nov 2002–Jan 2003 Local: Oct 2002–June 2003 (37-week presence)
	Internet: AOL and Primedia Teen Internet Group. AOL buy included the main website (verbnow.com) as well as banners within affiliates, e.g., Nick.com,	92 average GRPs/month; June 2002–June 2003

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Appendix B. Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004): General market activities for tweens

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	TV: Ads placed in both national and local media National: Nickelodeon, WB, Cartoon Network, Disney, ABC Saturday Local: 40% increase over national plan in Los Angeles, Miami, Columbus, Greenville SC	National: 106 average GRPs/week; July 2003–May 2004. During the school year, ads aired after school, on evenings, and weekends. During the summer, ads aired during the afternoon and evenings. Local: Saturday mornings, after school, and evenings
	Radio: Ads in both national and local markets National: Radio Disney Local: Radio ads in local markets in Los Angeles, Miami, Columbus, Greenville SC	National: GRPs not available; Oct 2003–Nov 2003. Morning and afternoon drive time, evenings, and weekends Local: 60 GRPs/week; Aug 2003–Jan 2004; evening and weekends
	Print: Ads in magazines similar to Phase 1.	69 average GRPs/month; July 2003–May 2004
	In school: Channel One, Time for Kids	32 average GRPs/month; Sept 2003–May 2004
	Out of home: Local market activity, strategic placement in tween locations	July 2003 and Sept 2003 Pool program in summer (July 2003) Skate park program in fall (Sept 2003)
	Internet: AOL, Nick.com, YM.com, and Primedia Teen Internet Group. The AOL buy includes the main website (verbnow.com) as well as banners in affiliate sites.	90 average GRPs/month; July 2003–May 2004

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Appendix C. Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005): General market activities for tweens

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	TV: Ads placed on Nickelodeon, MTV, WB Kids, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, ABC Saturday, ABC Family, Foxbox, BET, Fox Prime (Teen Choice Awards), MTV Vignettes	393 average GRPs/month; April 2004–June 2005. During the school year, ads aired after school, evenings, and weekends. During the summer, ads aired during the afternoon and evenings.
	Print: Ads placed in magazines similar to Phases 1 and 2.	112 average GRPs/month; May 2004–June 2005
	In school: Channel One, Time for Kids	32 average GRPs/month; April 2004–March 2005
	Internet: AOL.com, Channelone.com, Nick.com, Disney.com	90 average GRPs/month; May 2004–May 2005

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Appendix D. Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006): General market activities for tweens

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	TV: Ads placed on ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Disney, MTV, Nickelodeon, The N, ABC Saturday, Kids WB, Channel One	419 monthly average TRPs; Sept 2005–May 2006 537 monthly average TRPs; June 2006–Sept 2006
	Radio: Ads placed in Radio Disney	67.75 monthly average TRPs; June 2006–Sept 2006; morning, day, afternoon, evening, weekend
	Print: Ads placed in Discovery Girls, Disney Adventures, Elle Girl, Girls Life, J-14, M, Nickelodeon, SI Kids, Teen People	Monthly average TRPs: Children aged 9–11 = 56; children aged 12–14 = 41; Sept 2005–May 2005
	Internet: verbnow.com (main VERB website) with game ideas, tutorials from pro-athletes, and creation of ViRTs (virtual side kicks). Added value promotions and banner ads through partner websites:	In Phase 4, there were 7,987, 645 site visits; Over 1,000,000 ViRTs created
	Alternative media: During mall and movie theater hours, video on demand (VOD). Reactrix: in malls and theaters; Screenvision: in cinemas, VOD: Sportskool, FUSE, Music Choice, Cartoon Network	Reactrix: Dec 2005–Jan 2006 and June 2006–Sept 2006 Screenvision: June 2006–Sept 2006

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Appendix E. Phase 1: General market activities for parents

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	TV: Limited to occasional PSAs on CBS.	No GRPs specified
	Radio: NA	Radio: NA
	Print: Ads in Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, First for Women, Redbook, Working Mother, Scholastic Parent and Child, Parenting, Family Fun, Shape, Soap Digest, People, Readers Digest Family, TV Guide, Health, Child, Family Circle, Fitness, Parents, Rosie	Nov 2002–June 2003
	Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	Print: Series of advertorials that followed four families for 5 months, entitled “Fit Family Fit Kids” in Parents, Fitness, Family Circle, Child. Additional ads in Family Fun, Parenting, Health People	84 GRPs/month; Oct 2003–May 2004
	Radio: Local only in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Columbus, Greenville SC, Green Bay WI	Radio: 200 GRPs/week; Oct 2003–Mar 2004; aired mornings, midday, evening drive time, evening
	Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	TV: PSAs on ABC Prime, ESPN, ESPN2	17.4 GRPs/month; March 2005–May 2005
	Print: Fit Family Fit Kids advertorials continued in Family Circle, Parents, Fitness.	Average 43.8 GRPs/month; Oct 2004–March 2005
	Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006)
	No marketing for parents

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Marketing Strategy for Specific Racial or Ethnic Groups 

Public health campaigns often do not have separate marketing plans for different ethnic groups. Instead, they simply translate the health messages into different languages or incorporate them into the general-audience advertising by using actors who belong to racial or ethnic minorities. They may also augment the national media buy with a separate buy on ethnic media outlets such as Black Entertainment Television (BET). The VERB campaign concluded that these methods were inadequate to fulfill the promise of the campaign to reach all of the 21 million U.S. tweens and their parents and made the following points in support of separate marketing to reach four racial or ethnic groups:

General-market agencies know how to make products appeal to most people, and agencies that specialize in reaching ethnic groups know how to make products appeal uniquely to a specific ethnic group.

Ethnic agencies know their audience well, know their needs, and can move freely within the audience to tap resources, (e.g., media partners) that will help meet those needs. A quote from an American Indian interviewed by G&G exemplifies this sentiment, I read in English; I feel in Indian.

Some groups are so disenfranchised and hard to reach that special advertising is needed to communicate with them. Examples of such groups are unassimilated Asian Americans and residents of tribal areas; some members of these groups also distrust the government.

Fundamental to the argument in favor of separate advertising for certain groups was this credo of marketing: Match your message execution and delivery to the needs of your customer.12 Thus, VERB opted for separate strategies for ethnic minority populations and tasked each ethnic agency with developing mini-campaigns for its ethnic group. Each agency conducted the full range of formative evaluation, tested the concepts and messages of all advertising,13 developed separate messages for its ethnic group, tailored the visual imagery and language for that group, and used a broad range of delivery channels to reach the group. This comprehensive approach maximized the expertise of the four agencies to reach a particular ethnic or racial group and to motivate tweens and parents in that group.

The VERB campaign's effect on the attitudes, beliefs, and physical activity behaviors of tweens was evaluated primarily through the Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey (YMCLS), an annual, nationally representative telephone survey of a cohort of tweens and parents.14 The YMCLS provided estimates of the effects of VERB on white, African-American, and Hispanic tweens. Sample sizes for Asian Americans and American Indians were not large enough to provide reliable estimates.

Marketing to Urban African Americans 

Focus groups were conducted with African-American tweens and parents to learn their preferences, barriers, and motivators related to children's physical activity.7, 13 African-American tweens reported a preference for safe, noncompetitive activities. Lack of transportation, unsafe neighborhoods, and limited availability of programs were barriers identified by the tweens. Parents valued the social and psychological benefits of physical activity for their children: building self-esteem, promoting discipline, supporting independent and positive thinking, and helping their children feel empowered.

PFI Marketing adapted the VERB campaign tagline from It's what you do! to What's your VERB?, a subtle modification that, when combined with cultural cues in the images and sounds of the advertisements, individualized VERB for African Americans. PFI Marketing learned from African-American tweens that cultural cues from fashion and music were especially important (Sidebar 1). Tweens advised PFI Marketing to use language that did not attempt to mimic current slang and was conversational, not didactic. Tweens wanted advertisements that showed images of African-American tweens doing physical activities, not talking about physical activity.

Sidebar 1

African American

From PFI Marketing:

The unique thing about the African-American tween audience is that, first and foremost, they are kids.

Make it exciting and you've got them. However, African-American kids have the added requirement which states that “a product has to reinforce how cool I am, and it has to seem like it is something uniquely made for me.” This is what drove our first-year effort—What's Your VERB—and continued to be our vision throughout the campaign. We knew that the best way to make an impact on African-American tweens was to allow them to showcase their individuality and creativity. While VERB is the campaign charged with the goal of all kids leading healthy lifestyles, we broke through by focusing on how that could be achieved one kid at a time.

When Li'l Bow Wow was on the verge of super-stardom, we tapped into his unique draw as a tween-aged star who was also seen as a role model. We leveraged this to create a series of television and radio PSAs, where he discussed his interests outside of the music world. Bow Wow remained an official ambassador throughout the campaign. Today, as a true teen role model, we have no doubt that he is an example to young tweens of what can be achieved through a physically active lifestyle.

PFI Marketing developed messages that incorporated the findings from focus groups and implemented a marketing plan with a wide range of advertising and promotional activities. There were a few tweens, and a greater number of African-American tweens, who associated the early VERB ads with language arts in school. This association of VERB with grammar or school disappeared by the second phase of the campaign.

PFI Marketing's objective was to focus on appealing and delivering messages to tweens and parents in densely urban areas with low to middle incomes. Hence, they provided urban schools with book covers with VERB messages, used street teams to carry the VERB message into city neighborhoods, and produced a television advertisement that showed nonprofessional child actors playing games in urban parks. A marketing tactic encouraged by African-American tweens and parents was to involve music and sports celebrities in the VERB advertisements. As a result, PFI Marketing not only used celebrity talent to endorse VERB, but negotiated with celebrities to act as ambassadors for the brand (Sidebar 1). In addition to the singer Li'l Bow Wow, other performers such as Nick Cannon, Marques Houston, and O'Marion promoted at their performances the notion that there were plenty of VERBs out there and encouraged their fans to go out and find theirs. For more details on the marketing plan implemented by PFI Marketing over the 4 years of VERB, see Appendix F.

Appendix F. Marketing activities developed by PFI to reach African-American tweens and parents

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	Tweens Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	TV: Ads ran on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Black Entertainment Television, MTV	TV: 50 GRPs/week of general market ads in eight high-density African-American markets: (Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Greenville, Columbus, Chicago, NYC, Atlanta)
	Radio: National reach on the Pinnacle network (includes 312 stations); American Urban Radio Network	Radio: 291 GRPs/week of radio ads June 2002–Oct 2002; 50 GRPs/week radio ads Oct 2002–June 2003
	Print ads developed and purchased for African-American tween magazines (e.g., Black Beat, Essence Teen Supplement, Right On, Slam, Vibe)	Print: Ads ran Jan 2003–June 2003; estimated to reach 58% of African-American tweens
	Book covers and Weekly Reader special issue to high density African-American schools in Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Greenville, Columbus, DC	School: Estimated 309,100 children received in-school VERB book covers, materials
	110 street-team visits in Columbus, Greenville, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami; 14 street-team planned events	Street teams: Multiple sites (parks, malls, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, churches, theaters) and events (e.g., Roots Heritage Festival, MLK Parade)
	Event sponsorship	Event: Bow Wow tour event participation
	Tweens Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	TV: Produced 3 TV ads featuring local tweens in NYC, Los Angeles, Miami (Make up your own game)	TV: 50 GRPs/week for 10 weeks in Miami, NYC, Los Angeles
	Radio: Ads placed on the Pinnacle network (includes 312 stations); American Urban Radio Network	Radio: 27 GRPs/week; Sept 2003–Dec 2003 and Feb 2004–March 2004
	Print ads developed and purchased in same magazines as print for Phase 1	Print: Ads ran 23 weeks; estimated to reach 62% of African-American tweens
	Book covers and Weekly Reader special issue to high density African-American schools in same markets as Phase 1.	School: Estimated 392,840 children received VERB materials
	VERB Action Days—street teams organized games and activities with tweens	Events: 40 Action Days completed; 10,000 VERB-branded items given away (wristbands, t-shirts); estimated 5000 tweens engaged with teams
	Event sponsorships. Tweens on the Move, First Night Columbus, The Source/Keep It Moving	Events: Estimated 20,000 tweens personally reached; 5000 VERB items given away
	Tweens Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	Event sponsorships only: And 1 Tour, O'Ryan Tour Bowling with Nazr Muhammad, Omarion, and B5 Promo Tour	Events: Multiple sites in high density African-American markets; prominent signage, street-team participation; >20,000 VERB-branded items given away
	Tweens Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006)
	Radio: Radio Disney and Premier Radio Networks that target African-American tweens	Radio: 18 GRPs/week; Nov 2005–May 2006 (Radio Disney); 16 GRPs/week; Dec 2005–April 2006 (Premier Radio)
	Parents Phase 1
	Radio: Ads targeted African-American adults: Pinnacle, STRZ Weekend, American Urban Radio	Radio: 29 GRPs/week; Oct 2002–March 2003 and May 2003–June 2003
	Print ads ran in Ebony, Essence, Jet, Heart and Soul	Print: Ads ran Oct 2002–March 2004 and May 2003–June 2003; estimated to reach 71% of African-American adults
	Parents Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	Radio: Ads targeted African-American adults: Pinnacle, STRZ Weekend, American Urban Radio	Radio: 45 GRPs/week purchased for June 2003–Nov 2003
	Parents Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	Radio: ABC Radio, AURN Radio	Radio: 23 GRPs/week on ABC Radio; Aug 2004–Dec 2004 35 GRPs/week on AURN Radio; Jan 2005–May 2005
	Print ads: Ebony, Essence, Jet, Heart and Soul	Print: Estimated 72% of African-American adults reached
	Internet: Banner ads on Blackamericanweb.com, Michaelbaiseden.com.	Internet; Sept 2004–April 2005. Estimated 6 million impressions on two websites.
	Parents Phase 4 (June 2005–May 2006)
	None for parents.

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Outcomes for African Americans 

After the first year of the campaign, the YMCLS showed that awareness of VERB among U.S. tweens was 74%.15 Awareness among African-American tweens (64%) was lower than among white (78%) or Hispanic (70%) tweens, but none of the groups fell below the advertising agencies' first-year goal of 50% awareness. These levels led the campaign to conclude that the combined efforts of the general audience and PFI Marketing were successfully reaching African-American tweens.

In addition to awareness, the attitudinal and behavioral effects on African Americans of the first year of VERB were examined and compared with effects on white and Hispanic tweens. A positive association between increasing levels of VERB awareness and free-time sessions of physical activity during the 7 days before being surveyed was detected for white children but not for African American or Hispanic children.15 The campaign concluded that although targets of awareness were being met for all ethnic groups, African-American tweens were not responding to the advertising as well as white tweens were. As a result of these findings, PFI Marketing purchased more advertising time during the second year in markets with large numbers of African-American tweens than they had during the first year. In addition, the general-audience agency, which also bought advertising time on African-American media outlets, increased its second-year advertising on networks such as BET.

After 2 years of advertising, awareness levels were maintained for African-American tweens (62%), but were still slightly lower than levels for white tweens (75%). However, data from the outcome evaluation showed that African-American and white tweens were showing positive associations between increasing levels of reported frequency of exposure to VERB and free-time weekly sessions of physical activity and physical activity on the day before the interview.16 The campaign concluded that the adjustments made in response to the first-year findings were having the desired results of affecting the physical activity of African-American tweens, but closing the gap in awareness was still desirable; two routes were suggested. One approach was to increase in the general-market budget the advertising media buy on programs that skewed toward African-American tweens, such as All Grown Up on Nickelodeon. A second approach used by PFI Marketing focused on participation in popular musical and sporting events that targeted African-American tweens (e.g., Scream Tour IV). By the fourth year of VERB, there were no significant differences for levels of awareness among African-American tweens (72%) and white tweens (79%).

Marketing to Hispanics or Latinos 

Garcia 360° conducted focus groups and interviews with tweens and parents to develop a messaging plan for Hispanics.13 To create a Hispanic identity for their marketing materials, the VERB brand and tagline, It's what you do! was modified in colloquial Spanish to VERB. Ponte las Pilas., meaning VERB. Get going. (The literal translation is put in your batteries.) Through their qualitative research, Garcia 360° learned that this audience would respond to messages that emphasized family values, had a strong emotional tone, were in Spanish, and were delivered by authority figures and media personalities who were respected sources of information (e.g., Dra. Isabel, a physician talk show host).

Garcia 360° based its messages on findings from the focus groups and knowledge of the unique characteristics of Hispanics (Sidebar 2). Low income, family responsibilities, gender boundaries, and language differences created barriers to tweens' participation in physical activities. Garcia 360° heard from tweens that family responsibilities (e.g., babysitting siblings after school while parents worked) were barriers to their participating in structured programs, especially for girls.

Sidebar 2

Hispanic/Latino

From Garcia 360°

From talking with tweens and parents, we learned that our messages and efforts should do the following:

•be positive and encouraging;

•invite them to participate as a family;

•enable them to sample new activities;

•lower the barriers wherever possible; and

•gain the permission/acceptance of parents, make it a parent-must and a family priority.

•Through our media planning and negotiations, we were able to integrate our message into network programs that could focus specifically on the campaign messages (i.e., National Spanish-language morning variety shows, sports talk programs, PSAs, and editorial content). This helped us raise the profile about the importance of physical activity as well as begin to normalize the behavior through key Latino media influencers.

•Community events in high-density Hispanic neighborhoods via grassroots events, participation in festivals, and mobile marketing tours gave us the ability to reach our target audiences with direct one-on-one interaction. These events created opportunities to feature the sampling of different activities to help further teach the ease and importance of physical activity.

Garcia 360° implemented a marketing plan that was delivered in Spanish. They produced Spanish-language television and radio advertisements and placed print advertisements in magazines that are marketed to Hispanics. Internet sites popular with Hispanic tweens were used for VERB banner ads in the first year (Appendix G). During the first 2 years, they developed materials for schools with large Hispanic populations and used street teams to communicate VERB's message to tweens throughout Spanish-dominant neighborhoods.

Appendix G. Marketing activities developed by Garcia 360° to reach Hispanic or Latino tweens and parents

	Activity (All in Spanish)	Audience reach and distribution
	Tweens Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	TV: Produced 2 ads. National on Telemundo. Local: in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami	TV: 10–20 GRPs/week on national networks, intermittent; Oct 2002–May 2003. Local: 25–34 GRPs/week; Oct 2002–April 2003. Univision, Telefutura, and Galavision
	Radio: Ads developed to air in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami	Radio: 25–35 GRPs per week; Oct 2002–April 2003
	Print: Ads in Tu, Teen en Espanol	Print: Monthly; Oct 2002–April 2002, Tu circulation: 20,000. Teen en Espanol: 55,000
	Schools: Book covers and Weekly Reader special issue to high density H/L middle schools in Miami, Houston, Los Angeles	School: Distribution book covers, August 2002: Houston: 70,800 book covers. Los Angeles: 483,000; Miami: 65,000. Weekly Reader, March 2002: Houston: 71,000; Los Angeles, 84,240; Miami; 10,300
	Experiential: 52 street-team visits across Houston, Los Angeles, Miami	Street-team activity: >100,000 VERB-branded items distributed by street team.
	Events: Calle Ocho, Miami	Event; 3/9/03. VERB booth one of 50 booths in “Kid Zone”
	Internet: Batango.com, Yahoo en Espanol.com, Terra.com	Internet: Oct 2002–April 2003. Banners, buttons, interactive radio ads. Impressions: Batango.com= 9.3 million; Yahoo.com=3.25; Terr.com=2 million
	Tweens Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	TV: Produced two ads; national on Telemundo and cable on Mun2	TV: 10–20 GRPs/week on national networks; intermittent Oct 2003–May 2003; cable: March 2004–June 2004 on Mun2
	Weekly Reader, school curriculum, and PTA information kits: in high-density Hispanic/Latino middle schools. Student planners: in Hispanic/Latino elementary schools	School: 930 school curriculum kits; 930 PTA kits; 30,000 student planners across Houston, Los Angeles, Miami
	Tweens Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	Focused on parents. See below.
	Tweens Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006)
	Focused on parents. See below.
	Parents Phase 1
	TV: ads during NBA Spanish play-by-play; 10–54 GRPs/game	TV ads: games during Jan 2003–March 2003 on Telemundo; ads ran Oct 2002–March 2004 and May 2003–June 2003; estimated to reach 71% of Hispanic/Latino adults
	Radio: ads developed; purchased 25–54 GRPs/week; three nationally-broadcast town hall meetings, health fairs in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami	Radio: Oct 2002–April 2003. Radio Unic Spanish-language network: Dra. Isabel (family psychologist); and Jorge Ramos (sports) on air sponsorship. Health fair participation, not known.
	Print: ads developed for magazines targeting Hispanic women aged 25–54	Print: Healthy Kids en Espanol; Hispanic Latina; People en Espanol; Seleciones; Ser Padres; VISTA Magazine; (circulation varied: 270,000–1 million)
	Internet: Univsion.com	Internet: Oct 2002–April 2003. Banner ads; estimated seen 5 million times by users. Univision sponsored VERBparents.com Spanish mini site.
	Parents Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	TV: Produced two ads; GRPs/week not available	TV ads aired: Feb 2004–May 2004; Telemundo
	Radio ads, national: developed and purchased 25–30 GRPs/week. Radio-affiliated health fairs in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami	Radio: Radio Unica: Dra. Isabel and Jorge Ramos sponsorship; Hispanic Radio Network: Futbol De Primera; Univision Radio Network: Dra Isabel sponsorship; health fair participation, not known
	Radio ads: ads aired in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami	Radio local: 150 GRPs/week for Jan 2004–May 2004
	Print: Print ads developed for magazines targeting Hispanic women age 25–54.	Print: Reach not specified. Ads ran April 2004–Oct 2004 in VISTA Magazine (1M circulation); Readers Digest (328,365 circulation).
	Internet: Univsion.com	Internet: Aug 2003–May 2004. Banner ads; estimated seen 5 million times; Univision sponsored VERBparents.com Spanish mini site.
	Parents Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	TV: used Phase-2 ads; shown on Telemundo	TV: 40 GRPs/week; June 2004–May 2005
	Radio ads, national: ads for Hispanic Radio Network, Futbol De Primera, Univision Radio Network; four radio-affiliated “Town Hall” shows	Radio: 25–30 GRPs/week overall for July 2004–May 2005
	Radio ads, local: Houston, Los Angeles, Miami	Radio local: 84 GRPs/week during Jan 2005 in Los Angeles
	Print ads developed placed in same magazines as above	Print: ads ran: July 2004–May 2005
	Parents Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006)
	TV, National: ads for Telemundo, Univision, Telefutura, Azteca, Galavision	TV: 25–54 GRPs/week Oct 2005–May 2006; distributed across Telemundo (57%); Univision (30%); Telefutura (5%); Galavision (1%); Azteca 6%).
	Added value from TV ad purchase included two PSAs bonus spots to run as PSAs (46 times on Azteca; storyline integration in three novellas; “Energize your Life” Sweepstakes)	Added value of 30-second spots and billboards; no GRPs available
	Radio, national: ABC en Espanol. 162 60-second ads on ESPN, Hispanic Advantage, Hispanic Morning Drive, and 2005 World Series	Radio: Sept 2005–May 2006; 29 GRPs/week Sept 2005–Dec 2005; 11 GRPs/week Dec 2005–May 2006
	Added value from radio: ESPN weekly integration on talk show (26x); produced five 60-second PSAs	60 promotional spots; contest and prize fulfillment on Telemundo

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

For the third and fourth phases of the campaign, Garcia 360° made a strategic shift to market to parents only, instead of tweens and parents. The rationale for the shift was the following: (1) limited funds could be better focused on one audience instead of two, (2) VERB's general-audience materials were reaching Hispanic tweens, and (3) Hispanic parents would benefit from stronger messages directed to them in order to overcome barriers and support their tweens' physical activity. Garcia 360° created a separate name for the parent-focused marketing so that it would not compromise the tween following that VERB had generated. Parent marketing was done under the umbrella name Niños Activos, Familias Sanas, which means Active Children, Healthy Families. This slogan clearly communicated not just the purpose of the campaign, but its desired outcome; it was the basis for all messages to Hispanics during Phases 3 and 4.

From June 2005 to September 2006, the campaign continued to focus exclusively on Hispanic parents and the importance of getting children active every day. Garcia 360° leveraged the knowledge that Hispanic parents tended to derive their self-esteem from how others viewed them as mothers and fathers. Messages linked physical activity to good parenting by emphasizing the key point: Good parents have active kids. The intention was to emphasize that good parenting today means making sure their children do not end up with obesity-related illnesses tomorrow. Having their children be physically active for at least 1 hour a day was encouraged as a way to avoid these problems. Television, radio, print advertising, and community promotions carried these themes to parents. Although Garcia 360° had some national coverage through Hispanic television such as Telemundo, the agency concentrated its efforts in cities with high proportions of Hispanics, especially Los Angeles, Houston, and Miami. For details on Garcia 360°'s marketing, see Appendix G.

Outcomes for Hispanics 

The YMCLS captured the VERB campaign's effect on the attitudes, beliefs, and physical activity behaviors of a nationally representative sample of Hispanic tweens.15 Many Hispanic tweens saw VERB advertisements in English on Nickelodeon and Disney networks as well as in Spanish on Telemundo. The YMCLS was conducted in Spanish for tweens who preferred Spanish; 18% of the Hispanic tweens and 40% of Hispanic parents were surveyed in Spanish.

Hispanic tweens' awareness of VERB (70%) was higher than that for African-American tweens (64%) and was not significantly different than that for whites (78%).15 As a result, evaluators concluded that the combined efforts of the general-audience agencies and Garcia 360° were successfully reaching Hispanic tweens.

In addition to awareness, the attitudinal and behavioral effects on Hispanic tweens of the first year of VERB were assessed through the YMCLS and compared with those of white and African-American tweens. A positive association between increasing levels of VERB awareness and free-time sessions of physical activity during the 7 days prior to being surveyed was detected for white children, but not for Hispanic or African-American children.15 The campaign concluded that, although targets of awareness were being met for all ethnic groups, Hispanic tweens were not responding to the advertising to the same degree as white tweens. Garcia 360° knew from focus-group work that their messages were relevant to Hispanic tweens, but the findings suggested that the agency needed to reach tweens through more outlets; therefore, they increased their school-based marketing efforts by distributing a popular bilingual student planner. Garcia 360° also increased their marketing to parents because they felt that messages to parents could increase parents' encouragement of their tweens' physical activity.

As with African Americans, after 2 years of advertising, YMCLS data for Hispanic tweens showed positive associations between increasing levels of reported frequency of exposure to VERB and the number of weekly sessions of free-time physical activity, as well as reports of being physically active on the day before the interview.16 These findings led the VERB evaluators to conclude that the adjustments made in response to the first-year findings were increasing the effects of VERB on Hispanic tweens.

Marketing to Asian Americans 

APartnership, the agency hired to reach Asian tweens and their parents, developed a marketing plan that targeted speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Korean. Although most Asian tweens in the target audience are bilingual, the profile of targeted parents highlighted their close ties to their native heritage: They attend Asian cultural events, send their children to Asian-language schools, watch Asian-language television, and read Asian-language newspapers and magazines.

Focus-group research revealed that Asian boys and girls were interested in highly stimulating sports such as surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding because they were “cool” and “fun.”13 Activities that offered time with friends and that helped them feel good about themselves appealed to Asian tweens. Tweens reported that their parents were important influencers on their activities: Asian parents are important motivators to tweens, and they are firm gatekeepers of tweens' schedules. Tweens reported that parents did not see physical activity as a priority in the tweens' schedules or the parents' schedules; education, discipline, and cultural values took precedence. In focus groups with parents, the perception of the tweens was confirmed: physical activity was often not a priority in the family, academics were emphasized over other engagements, and parents wanted firm control over their children's schedules and activities.

These findings led APartnership to develop a marketing plan that reached out to Asian tweens but that also emphasized educating parents about the benefits of physical activity for their children and encouraged parents to support their children being physically active (Sidebar 3). Messaging themes linked physical activity to children's school performance and overall health. To strengthen this message, the tagline for materials directed to Asian parents was modified from It's what you do! to an Asian-language translation of the phrase Healthy Families/Happy Children. This marketing plan took VERB into Asian-language schools where physical activity planners were distributed to children. The major channel for reaching Asian Americans was cultural community events such as the Harvest Moon festival in Los Angeles where APartnership hosted an activity zone and VERB booth.17 Parents and children participated in activities at the booth, and parent-focused brochures that highlighted the importance of physical activity and included ideas and suggestions for increasing their children's physical activity were distributed to parents. See Appendix H for APartnership's marketing activities and estimates of the reach of those activities.

Sidebar 3

Asian American

From APartnership:

From the beginning, we knew that our targeting efforts needed to be two-fold. Yes, we needed to reach the Asian-American tween audience, but just as importantly we needed to reach their parents.

In our experience, and also proven in the research done during the campaign launch phase, we saw that the parents were truly the gateway to the tweens. Without their endorsements, our efforts would have made little impact. So to make the impact we needed, we turned to the science. The science told us that physically active kids were not only healthier, but also more alert. We used this information to develop the creative “Hey parents, kids who are more alert do better in school.” This was all the Asian-American parents needed to hear. Once we had their blessings, we opened the doors that opened the tweens to physical activity.

Appendix H. Marketing activities developed by APartnership to reach Asian-American tweens and parents

	Activity (all in appropriate languages)	Audience reach and distribution
	Tweens Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	School: In Asian-language schools: “What's your VERB” expression contest in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston	Contest: 3682 tweens participated in contest; estimated 3750 tweens attended ceremonies at Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston
	Guerrilla marketing: Street teams and teachers at camps and language schools distributed VERB wristbands, tattoos, stickers; VERB-wrapped ice cream trucks Los Angeles and Houston weekends Oct 2002–June 2003	Street-team activity: 57,286 VERB wrist bands were distributed through 924 schools and camps; 249 ice cream trucks.
	Events: Sponsored VERB booth at Vietnamese Tet Festival (Jan 31–Feb 2 in Los Angeles) and Lunar Festival (Feb 8 in Los Angeles)	Events: Estimated 1000 tweens participated in VERB activities at Vietnamese Tet and Lunar Festival (attendance not recorded)
	Tweens Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	School: VERB “Tweens” print ad on the back cover of Vietnamese-language textbooks	School: 17,500 textbooks were distributed to Vietnamese tweens enrolled in Vietnamese-language schools in 10 key markets.
	Guerrilla marketing: Asian summer camps participated in encouraging physical activity of tweens and photo contest; footbags (hackeysacks) distributed to Asian-language schools in 10 high-density Asian cities.	Street team: 15,000 footbags distributed through 250 camps; 45,000 footbags distributed through 651 schools in 10 cities
	Events: VERB booth at Harvest Moon Festival in Los Angeles on Sept 21, 2003	Event: >15,000 tweens reached; 10,000 VERB passports distributed
	Tweens Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	School: Distribution of VERB planners to record physical activity	School: 15,000 VERB planners and sports bottles distributed to tweens in 81 Chinese and Korean schools in 6 cities
	Events: Harvest Moon Festival in Los Angeles (Sept 25, 2004) and Lunar New Phase Parade and Festival in Los Angeles (Feb 13, 2005). Both included free activities/games at VERB Activity Zone.	Event: >15,000 tweens reached through Harvest Moon; 25,000 VERB-branded items given out (e.g., watches, ball bags); 14 CBOs gave out information to >10,000 tweens through Lunar New Phase Parade; >10,000 VERB items given out; nine CBOs gave out information at VERB booth
	Tweens Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2005)
	School: Distribution of VERB planners to record daily physical activities. Each student who recorded for 8 weeks received VERB sports bottle as a prize.	School: 10,388 VERB planners and sports bottles distributed to tweens enrolled in Chinese and Korean schools nationwide
	Events: VERB Activity Zone and play areas set up at 21 community events targeting Asian Americans	Events: Estimated 378,450 tweens reached through 21 events. Prizes given out: 3-in-1 backpack (jump ropes and bouncing ball), ball sets, tattoos, watches, and Frisbees®; CBOs gave out information at VERB Resource Zone
	Parents Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	TV: Chinese: (e.g., International Channel, TVB); Korean (e.g., International Channel, KSCI); Filipino (e.g., KSCI, KNLA); Vietnamese (e.g., Little Saigon TV, KTSF); Asian Indian (e.g., Zee TV, TV Asia)	TV: GRPs not available. Estimated 52% targeted Asian audience reached. across NY, NJ, PA, CT, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego with some satellite national coverage. Aired Oct 2002–May 2003, prime time
	Radio: Chinese; Korean; Vietnamese	Radio: GRPs not available. Estimated 34% targeted Asian audience reached across same cities as TV (above). Aired Oct 2002–May 2003 during peak driving time
	Print: Chinese (e.g., World Journal, SingTao Daily, Seattle Chinese News); Korean (e.g., Korea Times); Filipino (e.g., Filipinas); Vietnamese (e.g., Saigon Times); Asian Indian (e.g., India Abroad).	Print: Estimated 76% of targeted Asian audiences reached June 2002–Oct 2002; estimated 79% of targeted Asian audiences reached Nov 2002–May 2003
	Internet: AsianAvenue.com—VERB own monthly trivia game, poll, banners	Internet: Nov 2002–Feb 2003; 4,186,577 impressions (times viewed) and 0.02% click rate
	Parents Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	TV: Similar stations as Phase 1 for Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese	TV: GRPs not available. Estimated 46% targeted Asian audiences reached across NY, NJ, San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago (Korean only), Houston, and Los Angeles, with some satellite national coverage. Aired Aug 2003–Nov 2003 and Jan 2004–March 2004
	Print: In language newspapers similar to Phase 1: Chinese; Korean; Filipino; Vietnamese; Asian Indian	Print: Estimated 60% of targeted Asian audiences reached Aug 2003–Nov 2003 and Jan 2003–March 2004
	Events: Sponsored VERB booth at Harvest Moon Festival in Los Angeles on Sept 21, 2003	Event: Estimated 45,000 parents attended event; 15,000 VERB refrigerator magnets, 10,000 brochures, and 10,000 Los Angeles organization lists were distributed to parents.
	Parents Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	TV: Similar stations as Phases 1 and 2 for Chinese and Korean only	TV: GRPs not available. Estimated 46% targeted Asian audiences reached across NY, NJ, San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles, with some satellite national coverage. Aired Aug 2004–Nov 2004 and Feb 2005–April 2005
	Print: Similar newspapers as Phases 1 and 2: Chinese and Korean	Print: Estimated 41% of targeted Asian audiences reached Sept 2004–Nov 2003 and Feb 2004–April 2005
	In school, aimed at parents: Brochures (Chinese and Korean) to inspire parents to help their children to have 60 minutes of physical activities every day.	School: 20,000 brochures distributed to parents of tweens who attended 81 Chinese and Korean schools in NY, NJ, DC, Houston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
	Internet: Links to content on physical activity through Chinese and Korean VERB parents' websites	Internet activity: Sept 2004–Nov 2005 and Feb 2005–April 2005; no reach information available
	Events: Harvest Moon Festival in Los Angeles (Sept 25, 2004) and Lunar New Phase Parade and Festival in Los Angeles (Feb 13, 2005)	Event: >50,000 attended Harvest Moon; estimated 7000 brochures and 5000 magnets distributed to parents. >40,000 attended Lunar New Phase Festival; estimated 5000 brochures and 3000 magnets distributed.
	Parents Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006)
	In school: Activity Tip sheets placed in waiting area at Chinese and Korean schools	School: 10,340 sheets distributed; May 2005–June 2006
	Events: VERB booths and play areas set up at 21 community events targeting Asian Americans	Event: >960,000 parents attended across all events; brochures and refrigerator magnets encouraging physical activity distributed

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Outcomes for Asian-American groups 

Although APartnership directed some marketing to tweens, they concentrated on marketing to parents who speak Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Korean and who resided in cities with high proportions of Asian Americans. Because sample sizes of Asian Americans in the YMCLS were too small to be meaningful, Asians' awareness of VERB and outcomes for their attitudes and behaviors could not be determined. Also, gross rating points, a standard measure of reach and frequency in advertising, are not available for Asian advertising. Thus, APartnership could not measure the level of marketing penetration into their target audiences.

To obtain feedback for APartnership, the Asian Audience Awareness survey was conducted in Los Angeles, one of the cities where a large amount of Asian-American VERB advertising was aired or published. In September and October, 2003, 150 each Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Korean parents of tweens were surveyed.18 Tweens were not surveyed because APartnership was concentrating on reaching parents with their marketing. Responding parents lived in the U.S. for 15 years or less and reported using at least one native language media source (television, radio, newspaper) “often” or “sometimes.” Parents were asked about their attitudes, beliefs, patterns of media use, perceived barriers related to their children's physical activity, awareness of VERB, and understanding of VERB messages.

Awareness of VERB among Asian parents was 45%. Awareness among all parents nationally, according to the YMCLS, was 34%. Most Asian parents (85%) who were aware of VERB understood at least one of its messages. A majority (59%) had encountered VERB advertising only in an Asian-language format and 30% had seen it in both English and an Asian language.

The question to assess understanding of VERB asked: Is there a message in the VERB advertising for you and your family? Sixty-three percent believed that there was a VERB message for them or their family; 25% did not believe so, and 12% did not know. These data from 600 parents who speak their native language at home indicated that the VERB campaign was reaching Asian parents who may not be fluent in English. Although less likely to subscribe to cable television than parents in the general U.S. population, more of these Asian parents had an awareness of VERB than did the groups of African-American, Hispanic, or white parents interviewed in the same city 5 months earlier.

This evaluation of VERB's reach within the Asian community has two major limitations. Surveyed parents were not selected at random, and hence these findings apply to this sample only and do not represent the U.S. population of Asian parents of tweens. Second, the sample sizes within each language group are generally too small for language-group comparisons to be significant.

Marketing to American Indians 

G&G Advertising developed a marketing plan that targeted both American Indians who resided in, or traveled often to, tribal communities. Because of the diversity of American Indian tribes, during the first year of VERB, G&G Advertising promoted physical activity's benefits to tweens and parents with generic messages that could be distributed widely throughout the U.S. In Years 2 through 4, the agency focused its marketing activities on three or four tribal communities.

G&G Advertising conducted interviews with American Indian tweens and parents to learn about their motivators for and barriers to being physically active and to understand what (from a marketing perspective) would motivate tweens to be physically active and what would motivate parents to encourage their tweens to be active.13 Participants reported many barriers, including insufficient resources at schools (e.g., limited sports equipment), not enough safe places to be active in reservation communities, parents' limited financial resources, parents' work schedules interfering with tweens' participation in after-school sports, parents being poor role models for being physically active, and tweens reporting that home responsibilities such as babysitting siblings limited their participation in organized physical activity, especially organized sports.

G&G also learned that the more-active American Indian tweens expressed more confidence, leadership, motivation, ambition, and pride in representing their communities. The less active tweens were reserved and unsure, seemed ashamed of their low performance in sports, tended to choose low-skill activities, and lacked parental support for their physical activity. Tweens and parents felt that messages to American Indians should incorporate aspects of tribal culture (such as music), emphasize friendships, and show images that included family members, especially extended family members such as grandparents. Authority figures within the family and tribe were identified as important influencers of behavior and could be used as spokespersons for messages about physical activity to tweens.

These qualitative findings drove the message content and tone of the advertising developed by G&G Advertising. The diversity among the more than 500 American Indian nations in the U.S. led G&G to develop a two-pronged approach to message development. First, G&G established an identity for its advertising that would resonate with all American Indian audiences by modifying the VERB brand tagline to VERB. It's what you do! Native Style. The advertisements showed common cultural elements among American Indians (e.g., the rich, vibrant colors found in American Indian artwork) and juxtaposed culture-specific activities (e.g., shawl dancing, horseback riding, dog sledding) with other general physical activities (e.g., bicycling, basketball). Focus-group evaluation informed G&G that American Indian tweens liked the music and visual elements of VERB advertisements to reflect Indian country, but they resisted advertisements that stereotyped them (e.g., advertisements with prominent drum sounds). Second, G&G developed targeted advertisements for specific groups or tribes by using dress and landscape backgrounds with which they would identify. Because of the multiple tribal nations within the U.S., G&G knew that cost efficiencies would be increased if they concentrated their marketing activities to tribes in circumscribed geographic areas. The plan emphasized event marketing, such as setting up VERB booths at cultural and community events (Sidebar 4). The elements of G&G's marketing plan and the estimates of its reach are summarized in Appendix I. The following principles guided G&G Advertising:

1.Include American Indians in all forms of advertising.

2.Gain the confidence and acceptance of American Indian parents.

3.Coordinate with and involve as many Indian organizations in VERB events as possible.

4.Coordinate VERB events with powwows and events at local schools.

5.Include traditional American Indian physical games and sports wherever and whenever possible.

Sidebar 4

American Indian

From G&G Advertising:

VERB's impact to the American Indian audience foundation was a community approach, delivering key messages of physical activity to tweens, parents, caregivers, influencers, and stakeholders. The tween message was to stimulate the enjoyment of physical activities and the adventures in exploring new activities in which to participate. For parents, it was a reminder of the importance of physical activities to their children; for stakeholders and influencers, it was the value and benefits of incorporating physical activities in the community. These key messages were displayed through traditional media outlets, public relations, grass-root event outreach, and partnership opportunities to American Indians on and off tribal lands. The creative process that was developed spoke directly to this audience and gave American Indians ownership in the campaign. This campaign ownership fueled the movement among Indians about the importance of physical activity and allowed influencers to think of ways to implement physical activities under the VERB brand or on their own. A few examples of this are the U.S. Tennis Association's teaching tennis to American Indians under the VERB brand to tribal tweens or a friendly competition among various tribes/schools to see which tribe can log the most steps using a pedometer.

Appendix I. Marketing activities developed by G&G Advertising to reach American Indian/Alaska Native tweens and parents

	Activity	Audience reach and distribution
	Tweens Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	In school: Tween poster distributed to 2000 native schools	School: Distributed Nov 2002–June 2003
	Tweens Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	TV produced ad: VERB Hour of Power	TV: Aired in 18 high-density American Indian markets. Sept 2003–Mar 2004
	Tween poster distributed to 500 native schools	School: 500 native schools; Sept 2003–Mar 2004
	Tweens Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	Radio: Stations in Indian country: Globe AZ, Devils Lake ND, and Warm Springs OR	Radio: Ads aired Sept 2003–Mar 2004; no GRPs available
	Tweens Phase 4 (June 2005–Sept 2006)
	In school: Distribution of tween posters	School: Distributed June 2005–May 2006
	Radio: VERB event messages for tweens and parents, in tribal communities of Warm Springs OR, San Carlos AZ, and Turtle Mountain ND	Radio: Ads aired Jan 2006–May 2006; GRPs not available
	Parents Phase 1 (June 2002–May 2003)
	Radio ads: Radio stations in Indian country	Radio: Ads aired in 17 markets Nov 2002–May 2003; GRPs not available
	Print: 409 insertions in 75 Native-specific newspaper, 17 placements in seven national Native magazines	Print: Reach information not available
	Parents Phase 2 (June 2003–May 2004)
	Radio ads: “Good ol' days” developed	Radio: Ads aired in 13 markets; Sept 2003–Mar 2004
	Print: 136 insertions in two national Native-specific newspaper, four national publications targeting American Indian parents	Print: Ads ran Sept 2003–Mar 2004
	Parents Phase 3 (June 2004–May 2005)
	Radio ads: Radio stations in Indian country	Radio: Ads aired in Globe AZ, Devils Lake ND, Warm Springs OR; Sept 2004–May 2005
	Print: 43 insertions in two national Native-specific newspaper, three local publications targeting American Indian parents	Print: Ads ran Sept 2004–May 2005; reach not available
	Parents Phase 4 (June 2006–Sept 2006)
	Radio: VERB event messages for tweens and parents in tribal communities: Warm Springs OR, San Carlos AZ, and Turtle Mountain ND	Radio messages aired Jan 2006–May 2006
	Print: Ad “Proud Strong and Active” in Indian country newspapers and select publications	Print: Ads ran June 2005–May 2006
	Billboards of “Proud Strong and Active” in three communities: Warm Springs OR, San Carlos AZ, and Turtle Mountain ND	Billboards displayed June 2005–May 2006

See glossary in back of supplement for terms and abbreviations.

Outcomes for American Indian groups 

As was true for Asian Americans, sample sizes for American Indians were insufficient in the national survey to assess VERB awareness or measure the campaign's effects. G&G Advertising's marketing was assessed by monitoring the placement and distribution of marketing materials (Appendix I).

A process evaluation of the efforts to reach American Indians was conducted at the 29th Annual Denver March Powwow, a 3-day American Indian cultural festival that took place in Denver, Colorado, in 2003. Thirteen tribes were represented from more than nine states. The powwow occurred 10 months after the launch of the national VERB campaign and about 5 months after G&G Advertising launched its campaign targeting American Indians.

Evaluators from a research company conducted in-person interviews with 123 tweens and 41 parents of tweens at the powwow. The purpose was to elicit information for VERB campaign managers and G&G Advertising on American Indian tweens' awareness of VERB advertising, their conceptual understanding of VERB messages, and their level of engagement in physical activities.19 The parent data describe American Indian parents' awareness of VERB advertising and their attitude toward their children's participation in physical activity. Responses were recorded by audiotape and coded. To have a more complete and comprehensive understanding of VERB awareness and attitudes related to physical activities among this sample of American Indians, the Denver findings for awareness were compared with those found through the VERB Continuous Tracking Survey (CTS) of March 2003, a survey that tracked awareness among tweens nationally.13

Overall awareness of VERB among American Indian tweens was 74%, the same as awareness among tweens nationally in March 2003. Conceptual understanding of the VERB message was also similar for American Indian tweens and tweens in the CTS. American Indian tweens were most likely to mention being exposed to VERB through television (63%), followed distantly by school (10%); the Denver Powwow (10%); signs, billboards, or posters (7%); and magazines (7%).

Limitations to this study include that the interviews were conducted at only one event and participants were mainly from Colorado and South Dakota. Therefore, the findings are not applicable to American Indian groups generally. G&G hosted a small VERB booth at the event, which could have magnified awareness of VERB; however, only 10% of attendees reported VERB awareness on the basis of the powwow.

Campaign managers concluded from this study that American Indian tweens at the powwow were aware of VERB and understood the messages at levels comparable with those for general-audience tweens. Given the limited time that G&G Advertising had been marketing VERB (5 months during which most advertising was in the form of posters) and that American Indian tweens' main source of awareness was television, the conclusion was that most powwow attendees had learned of VERB through the general-audience campaign, which had been in effect for 10 months.

Discussion 

The VERB campaign incorporated into its overall marketing plan a set of marketing plans to reach four racial or ethnic subpopulations that might not see the general-market advertising or would be more likely to feel affinity to the campaign through a culturally-oriented message. This two-level approach was justified by the demographic, language, and media-use habits that differentiated these four ethnic populations from the general-market population. Hiring separate agencies with expertise in reaching a specific ethnic or racial population signaled the campaign's commitment to touching hard-to-reach groups in a meaningful way with messages and delivery methods tailored for them. The decision to dedicate resources to specific racial and ethnic marketing for the campaign was driven also by the VERB managers' knowledge that these subpopulations often carry a disproportionate disease burden. In addition to reaching their own target populations, the ethnic-focused advertising agencies were also involved in shaping the general-market VERB campaign to ensure its cultural relevance for multi-ethnic tween and parent audiences.

Evidence for the effectiveness of social marketing that targets specific ethnic or racial groups is scant, especially for campaigns where racial- and ethnic-focused marketing is done in addition to general marketing.20 Rigorous outcome evaluation of targeted advertising is difficult because of the time and expense required to survey narrow segments of populations such as Asian Americans who speak mostly in their native languages or American Indian tweens in tribal communities, two groups targeted by VERB. It is difficult to separate the effects of marketing to specific ethnic groups from the effects of general marketing because the two often overlap, and the ethnic group is reached by both types of marketing.

Although evaluators of the VERB campaign faced these same challenges, several methods were used to assess the marketing activities that targeted the four ethnic groups. Qualitative evaluations during each of the four phases of the campaign showed that tweens and parents in the ethnic groups found that the advertising messages were relevant, motivating, and appealing to them.21 In addition, the outcome survey assessed tweens' understanding of the campaign message. Open-ended questions asked, What is VERB all about? and What ideas does VERB give you? There were no differences among white, African-American, and Hispanic or Latino tweens in their understanding of the campaign message. Process evaluations showed that marketing activities were being delivered as planned. Reach and frequency of the advertising were available from the media industry for African-American and Hispanic television, radio, and print, but not from the Asian and American Indian media. However, print placements were monitored extensively through on-site observations at cultural festivals, concerts, and promotional events and used those observations to assess the effectiveness of VERB signage, booth placement, distribution of VERB premiums, and tweens' and parents' response to activities or events.

During the 4 plus years of the campaign, the VERB team aimed to reach the largest possible number of U.S. tweens with a meaningful message about the benefits of regular physical activity. Creating culturally relevant messages was a key strategy to personalize the VERB brand for ethnic subgroups of American tweens. This two-level approach allowed the broad national campaign to be infused with messages and marketing activities that were relevant to four racial and ethnic groups, helped achieve the objective of reaching diverse tween and parent audiences, and contributed to the VERB campaign's success.