Nickelodeon Launches The Big Green Help - An Environmental Pro-Social Initiative for Kids This April

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 /PRNewswire/ -- 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: 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 (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 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

CONTACT: Joanna Roses, +1-212-846-7326, joanna.roses@nick.com, Tori
Fernandes, +1-212-846-4942, tori.fernandes@mtvstaff.com, Thamar Romero,
+1-212-846-7491, thamar.romero@nick.com, all for Nickelodeon

Web site: http://www.nick.com/
http://www.nicktropolis.com/

---

Profile: International Entertainment