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Nickelodeon Launches The Big Green Help - An Environmental Pro-Social Initiative for Kids This April
Multi-platform Campaign Designed to Educate and Empower Kids to Take Action
on Environmental Issues will Roll Out Globally with First-Ever Multiplayer
Online Green Game for Kids and Grassroots Activity
NEW YORK, March 13 -- With more than half of U.S. kids
saying that they are concerned about the environment*, Nickelodeon targets
April for the launch of The Big Green Help, its new multi-platform, global
pro-social campaign. Designed to empower kids to take action on the
environment through gaming and grassroots activity, the multi-platform Big
Green Help will provide information and tools to help explain climate
change to kids, and connect them to energy saving and earth-friendly
activities in their everyday lives. The centerpiece of The Big Green Help
will be the first-ever global multiplayer online green game for kids, which
will provide actionable, measurable steps and information to directly link
them to ways that they can positively contribute to helping the
environment, on an individual and a community level.
"We know that kids can truly be agents of change on important issues,
and the environment is an issue that affects 100% of our audience," said
Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, for
Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. "Whether it's addressing kids'
health and wellness through our Let's Just Play campaign, or promoting
volunteerism with The Big Help, Nickelodeon has a history of talking to
kids and engaging them on issues that affect their lives, and encouraging
them to take action. With The Big Green Help, we want to provide them with
the necessary tools and information so they can become part of the
environmental solution."
Continuing to forward its understanding of issues that are important to
kids, Nickelodeon collaborated with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change
to conduct the "Keeping It Cool: Kids, Parents and the Global Environment"
research study* to gauge kids' and parents' attitudes and behaviors towards
the environment. The network then applied its learnings from the research
directly to the development of The Big Green Help campaign.
Findings from the research include:
-- Half (50%) of kids 8-14 are not sure how to directly impact
environmental issues, but approximately 80% believe they can stop
global warming.
-- Approximately one third of parents and kids say they know nothing about
ways they can help protect the environment, yet three quarters of
parents and half of kids are concerned about the environment.
-- While 33% of kids and 25% of parents believe they have a responsibility
to the environment, still 62% of families drink bottled water on a
daily basis and 45% of them do not recycle.
Rolling out new information and activities from April to December and
beyond, the campaign's cornerstone will be the November launch of the first
global multiplayer online green game for kids. In the game, players can
work individually or team up to "virtually" lower the Earth's CO2 levels.
During game play, kids will be challenged to pledge volunteer hours and
then follow up by taking actionable steps toward creating a healthy
environment in their homes, schools, or communities.
When the campaign launches in the U.S. in April, Nickelodeon will
encourage kids to convert their virtual online missions into actionable
steps within the real world and their local communities and schools.
Nickelodeon will team up with national environmental and youth-focused
organizations on all aspects of The Big Green Help to engage kids on
environmental issues, including partnering on local grassroots activities
where kids will carry out their virtually volunteered hours.
Nick.com will launch a new website in April to help educate kids on all
things green: http://www.thebiggreenhelp.com. This site will include features such
as: a personalized questionnaire to track kids' individual and family
progress during the campaign; a glossary of environmentally focused terms;
daily green tips for kids; a video upload tool that kids can use to share
what they are doing to protect the planet; and green games to teach kids
earth-friendly activities. Kids can also create green environments in
Nicktropolis (http://www.nicktropolis.com), Nickelodeon's virtual community for
kids.
Nickelodeon will begin to raise awareness of The Big Green Help to kids
through campaign spots and PSAs in April. Additional spots, some featuring
celebrity talent, will air throughout the year building momentum towards
the launch of the multiplayer online green game. These will be structured
around The Big Green Help campaign themes:
-- Slow the Flow - Educating kids on how to curtail the waste of energy
and natural resources.
-- Recycle and Pre-Cycle - Encouraging the use of items which can be
recycled.
-- Give it the Third Degree: Asking kids to adjust the temperature within
their homes to make sure they are being energy efficient.
-- Grow the Green - Through planting trees and preserving our natural
resources, kids can create a greener planet and also spread the word.
Wal-Mart will support The Big Green Help in the U.S. during April.
Stores across the country will distribute 1.2 million green seed packs,
containing "secret green codes." Kids can log on to http://www.thebiggreenhelp.com
to enter the secret codes and access a SpongeBob-themed eco-game.
Internationally, Nick channels in the UK, Germany, Korea, Latin
America, and Nick South East Asia are actively addressing environmental
issues. The Big Green Help will roll out across Nickelodeon's international
network to become the brand's global pro-social campaign with all key
markets participating in the multiplayer online green game later this year.
Nickelodeon has a history of addressing climate change over the years.
Its Plan It for The Planet special in 1993 featured Al Gore who, along with
award- winning journalist Linda Ellerbee, met with kids to discuss the
environment and how they can affect positive change. Linda Ellerbee
recently hosted Nick News: A Global Warning from the Kids of the World
where she talked to kids about climate change and how it affects
communities. Nickelodeon has a legacy of addressing important issues to
kids. The Big Help pro-social campaign, recently inducted into the CTAM
Hall of Fame, created a generation of more than 40 million kid volunteers
pledging 383 volunteer hours. Its Let's Just Play campaign motivated more
than one million kids to get out and play during Nick's annual Worldwide
Day of Play and 500,000 kids to pledge to live healthier lifestyles through
its Let's Just Play Go Healthy Challenge.
Nickelodeon, in its 28th year, is the number-one entertainment brand
for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in
everything it does. The company includes television programming and
production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer
products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films.
Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million
households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more
than 13 consecutive years.
*Source: Nickelodeon and The Pew Center on Global Climate Change's
"Keeping it Cool: Kids, Parents and the Global Environment"
research study
SOURCE Nickelodeon
http://www.nick.com
http://www.nicktropolis.com
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