VERB is a campaign dedicated to fighting youth obesity. We were challenged to create a movement. To get kids 9-13 active, then inspire them to spread play to other kids.The solution was a simple yellow ball.We dropped 500,000 yellow balls where we knew kids would find them. Each carried a unique code and instructed kids to play with the ball, enter the code on-line, blog their story, then pass their ball to another kid.The ball was the media. The response device. The catalyst for action. And an invitation into an on-line and off-line community dedicated to spreading play.It defies classification.

We launched YELLOWBALL by getting balls into the hands of the “right” kids — opinion leaders who would get the movement started. We employed: stealth direct mail packages sent to connector kids; interactive projections in malls and movie theaters; viral street teams and performers that gathered crowds, performed amazing YELLOWBALL tricks, then distributed a select few balls; random ball drops in select parks/playgrounds.These early viral efforts paved the way for mass vehicles, including: microsite where kids blogged stories, tracked balls and mixed custom videos; school/community programmes; nationwide mobile experience.