MUMBAI: This summer, Nickelodeon encourages American kids to get up and be active with an on-air campaign on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.
The campaign features interactive interstitial programming and brand new spots that incorporate healthy messaging. The campaign will culminate on 1 October 2005 with Nickelodeon’s second-annual Worldwide Day of Play.
This is part of the network’s “Let’s Just Play” initiative. Nick will go off air for three hours to empower kids around the world to learn about active, positive lifestyles and make better, healthier choices.
Nickelodeon will introduce a series of on-air spots that emphasize the importance of play, as part of the network’s ongoing Let’s Just Play pro-social initiative, which encourages kids to lead active, healthy lives. The first of the spots is entitled Bring Back Play. It highlights the importance of play in kids’ lives and how play can help kids’ bodies, minds and compositions.
Subsequent spots, which will roll out in July and August, emphasise different ways to be active, different reasons to play and how to be an advocate for play. All feature original music, developed exclusively for the Let’s Just Play campaign. The spots will air several times per week on Nickelodeon US from now through August.
Nick Jr. will host Power Play Summer, the network’s new summer packaging, hosted by hit show LazyTown’s enthusiastic, pink-haired heroine, Stephanie. The packaging includes interstitial programming with themes like Love to Dance, Love to Get Up and Go and Love to Move. the interstitials incorporate the message to kids to ‘Get Up, Get Out, and Go Play.’ In the segments, Stephanie, joined by her LazyTown friends Sportacus, Ziggy and Pixel; Nick Jr. host Piper; and real kids, encourages viewers to move the Nick Jr. Power Play Meter.
This is an on-screen meter that measures the activity level of preschoolers at home. By playing along with activities like jumping jacks and learning the ‘bing bang’ dance from the show, Stephanie engages the audience by asking questions and requesting viewers to participate in her activities. The Power Play Meter is also featured in the lower-left corner during regular Nick Jr. programming to continuously encourage kids to keep the activity going while watching TV.
Currently in its third year Let's Just Play is Nickelodeon's pro-social commitment to encourage kids to participate in active, healthy, and playful lifestyles – a much needed antidote to reports of the rise in childhood obesity, the concerns about reduction of PE in schools and in after-school programs, and the over-scheduled and sedentary lifestyles of kids today.
In addition to using the power of Nickelodeon's air, online sites, and celebrity support, the channel devotes significant year-round resources to building a grassroots infrastructure that supports physical play opportunities in communities everywhere. Let’s Just Play was recently awarded four Cable Television Public Affairs Association Beacon Awards, which recognise excellence in the US public affairs industry.
