From Sears, Roebuck catalogues in the 1800s, to Little Orphan Annie rings in the 1940s to Joe Camel and Happy Meals, advertising to American kids is nothing new.Today, the Internet, behavioural tracking, and other sophisticated – and unregulated technologies have taken ad exposure to new levels. The average American child will be exposed to 40,000 ads a year.

The impact is hotly debated: Alarming childhood obesity rates and poor body image amongst young girls are reasons used to support government intervention or an outright ban. Others believe that self-regulation driven by free market competition is the sound approach. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission invested in a judgment-neutral program to enable children to understand commercial messaging. The strategy centres on the powerful medium of gaming to engage and educate. Campaign Elements: • Admongo.gov, a fantastical online world with real-life learning• Curriculum, educator initiative• Forum of industry, children’s advocates, academia • Co-creative research • National awareness effortWith virtually no paid or social media, Admongo.gov has received 380,000 unique visitors, curriculum is in schools across America and the launch received 180 million media impressions. Kids stay, play and learn.

Campaign wove together core content and creative elements: Admongo.gov: • Online Game: Four-level interactive game in which kids move their avatar through increasingly complex challenges• Teacher Site: Downloadable lesson plans, instructional videos• HTML Version of the Game: Allows parents and teachers easy access to the educational content • Ad Library: 22 fictional ads – in-game ad, cereal box, text message, etc.Educator & Expert Outreach: • Curriculum: Free lesson plans, including a poster, worksheets and take-home activities.

• Distribution & Promotion: Strategic partnership with Scholastic allowed access to/awareness among educators• Expert Alliances: Tapped subject matter expert from children’s media literacy group and worked with Children’s Advertising Review Unit, the ad industry’s self-regulatory body• Conferences: Participated in leading panels and conferencesMedia Outreach: • Media Exclusives: Media strategy hinged on offering two key exclusives • Press Conference: Launched in New York on April 28, 2010

• Establish a relevant and engaging way to teach kids 8-12 ad literacy• Online game gets 380,000 unique visitors• Average time on site is 18 minutes – significantly higher engagement than web average of approximately 3 minutes• Recent average repeat visitor rate of 37%• Engage educators • Every single public school with a 5th and 6th grade has the curriculum• 2.4 million teachers reached through Scholastic.com• 300,000 teachers reached via targeted email initiative• Coverage in all major educator trade publications• Participated in 7 key education conferences• Generate awareness of campaignNote: because of the age of our target audience, social media was not part of the mix• Over 180 million impressions from launch announcement• 6,900 YouTube views• Key placements included: The New York Times, The Today Show, major parenting/teacher blogs and top market print/broadcast outlets