Can you get the attention of a 'tween? (Youth Outreach).

Watch the media for fun marketing messages aimed at 'tweens (the 9-to to 13-year-old crowd) meant to get them active and healthy. NRPA has teamed up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a national partner to spread the word about youth physical activity. Our members are encouraged to take advantage of the media campaign to promote local programs to 'tweens.

CDC is funding the national ad campaign, called VERB. The ads use computer-generated kids' figures in which the bodies are formed of action verbs like "pass" and "slide." Later ads will have real kids doing real racing and climbing, and also will feature celebrity athletes.

NRPA members can jump into the limelight and utilize VERB to get their message out with customized print advertising for local agency use. Kids in this age group are starting to make brand loyalty choices that will influence them for years to come, says Mike Greenwell, director of communications for CDC's chronic disease prevention program. CDC's initial goal is seeding brand loyalty for physical activity just like corporations seed loyalty for hamburgers and video games. "It's a good time to compete with all the other messages directed at this age group, which, frankly, are encouraging kids to be more sedentary," Greenwell says. Congress ordered the CDC to run the campaign, and provided $125 million for the first year of funding. The CDC, which is more famous for reams of disease statistics than fun and games, hired outside experts for the sales job.

'Tweens consider eating chips and watching TV to be fun, and the ads won't lecture them that couch-dwelling, high-fat living is bad for them, says the campaign's creative director, Dave Shea. "What we cannot do is point a finger and say, `You're getting diabetes,'" Shea says. "Kids play video games to get to the next level of fun. What we are trying to do is show that the next level of fun might be outside."

The campaign ties into a White House crusade for a more active America. The Bush administration's HealthierUS initiative highlights previously issued federal recommendations that call for at least half' an hour of activity daily for adults, and at least 60 minutes for children.