YELLOWBALL Shines Light on Advertising

By Kaitlin Villanova

So often we hear of the marketing and advertising industry getting bad press and being held responsible for the rise in childhood obesity.

At yesterday’s Integrated Marketing Committee meeting, it was a breath of fresh air to listen to the Arc Worldwide presentation on VERB YELLOWBALL. The impact this viral advertising campaign had on the health and well being of youth ages 9-13 was remarkable.

They dropped 500,000 yellow softball size balls at parks and schoolyards across the country, leaving no demographic, ethnicity, and economic class untouched.

The YELLOWBALL campaign had three simple rules (printed on each ball):

1. Play with this ball
2. Go to verbnow.com, enter the code below and tell us what you did with it
3. Pass it on to another kid

The incredible response and engagement reaffirmed my personal belief in the power of advertising. This campaign got 5 million kids “moving” in a time where childhood obesity is at an all time high. It also encouraged blog participation, an act these kids are already engaged in.

The results of the campaign:

• 21% of balls were passed on
• 6,500 Schools visited
• 168,000 videos made on micro site
• 16,980 blogs received

As U.S citizens, advertisers are protected by the first amendment, so you might never see an end to those ads dangling chocolate pastries on your television, but it is nice to know advertisers can encourage healthy and positive changes in society.

Technorati tags: VERB Yellowball, Viral Marketing