Text4baby Launches National TV PSA Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Contact:
Arlene Remick
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition
(703-797-1945)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Text4baby Launches Television National Public Service Announcement Campaign
Segments Promote Delivering Information to New & Expectant Moms Via Text Messaging
SAN DIEGO, CA, October 13, 2011 – The text4baby partnership - comprised of public and private sector companies, federal agencies and non-profit organizations - is distributing two television public service announcements (PSAs) nationally to promote the initiative. The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, in conjunction with CTIA- The Wireless Foundation, has produced the PSAs to encourage expectant and new mothers to sign up for the free mobile health service, which provides helpful health and safety tips timed to their due date or baby's birth date throughout their pregnancy and baby’s first year.
The PSAs show viewers how they can simply text "BABY" (or “BEBE” for Spanish) to 511411 to register and receive free text messages. The campaign, which features two thirty-second television PSAs, will be distributed to media outlets nationwide this month.
• “Belly-to-Belly” shows the pregnant bellies of two friends talking about text4baby. One pregnant mom is a text4baby subscriber and shows her friend how to sign up.
• “Baby Photos” includes real photos of text4baby babies submitted by mothers nationwide along with the song ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The mothers of the babies in the PSA received three text4baby messages a week while they were pregnant and until their babies were one year old.
“Healthy and informed mothers are the first line of defense to give our nation’s babies the best possible start in life,” said CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent. “Text4baby is an important way to reach mothers with the critical health and safety information they need throughout their pregnancy and their baby’s first year.”
The text4baby tips and messages - developed in collaboration with government and nonprofit health experts - focus on several topics including, nutrition, immunization, and birth defects prevention.
Each day in America:
• 11,686 babies are born
• 1,487 babies are born preterm
• 964 babies are born with low birth weight
“Television public service advertising is an important tool for increasing awareness and we are grateful to CTIA- The Wireless Foundation for supporting this creative vehicle for reaching moms,” stated Judy Meehan, CEO of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition.
The PSA is another public tool the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition is using to encourage women to enroll in text4baby. Since text4baby launched in February 2010, more than 235,000 users have received the messages thanks to an unprecedented public-private partnership that includes more than 600 outreach partners from government agencies, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations, tribal agencies, and non-profit organizations.
For more information, visit www.text4baby.org.
About text4baby
Text4baby is made possible through a public-private partnership that includes government, corporations, academic institutions, professional associations, tribal agencies and non-profit organizations. Johnson & Johnson is the founding sponsor. Founding partners include the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, Voxiva, CTIA - The Wireless Foundation, and Grey Healthcare Group (a WPP company). U.S. government partners include the White House Office on Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The mobile health platform is provided by Voxiva and free messaging services are generously provided by participating wireless service providers. Implementation partners include BabyCenter, Danya International, Syniverse Technologies, Keynote Systems, the HIMSS Electronic Health Records Association, and The George Washington University.
About CTIA
CTIA-The Wireless Association® (www.ctia.org) is an international organization representing the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products. CTIA advocates on behalf of its members at all levels of government. The association also coordinates the industry’s voluntary best practices and initiatives, and sponsors the industry’s leading wireless tradeshows. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C.
###