Verb, Action Word

In the latest incarnation of VERB ("It's what you do"), a campaign that began in 2001 to increase physical activity among youth, the marketers keyed on a simple yet powerful idea: Put a yellow rubber ball into kids' hands; then stand back and watch them play.

The execution of "Yellowball," however, was more involved. The outreach program began in 2005 as executives at Frankel & Mr. Youth, working with partner agencies, concert tours and media outlets such as the now defunct Teen People, conducted a nationwide search for up to 2,000 kid ambassadors.

Once selected, each of these pint-sized promoters received five yellow balls to play with and distribute to friends. Each ball contained a code which the recipient tots used to access a blog on which they described their activities before passing the balls onto playmates, who'd then repeat the process. Celebrity PSAs, guerrilla street teams and a four-month-long mobile tour sparked additional interest in the program.

Previous Reggie-winning VERB campaigns also featured such grassroots tactics and the customizable online play characters known as ViRTS ("You move. They move.") But this was the first time all the elements were brought together under one program, said Chris Cancilla, creative director at Frankel & Youth, a unit of Arc Wordwide.

Cancilla said the idea for Yellowball came from a VERB ad campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi that featured fantastical images of kids plucking the sun out of the sky and turning it into a ball. "In Amsterdam they have these community bikes. Anyone can ride them and, once they're finished, leave for the next person," he added. "That was the inspiration we had for Yellowball: to create an endless chain letter of play."

In all, promoters distributed 500,000 balls to more than 4.5 million kids and tweens, sparking a playing frenzy that totaled nearly 15 million hours (cataloged on 1,700 blogs). Guerrilla teams hit skate parks and malls to show off their juggling, acrobat and breakdancing moves, while the mobile tour got kids involved in a challenging obstacle course. Celebrity endorsers included Reese Witherspoon and Hillary Duff.

Arguably, a few bumps and bruises are a small price to pay for getting kids to move their kiesters as much as their mouses these days.



Program: VERB Yellowball Marketer: CDC, Atlanta Agency: Frankel/Arc Worldwide, Chicago Silver winner: Kids Targeted Promotion Bronze winner: National Consumer Promotion (over $5 Million) Frankel & Mr. Youth