Girl Zone Releases Mobile App Challenge Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Choices and Devotes Section of Website to Cultivating Community for Teen Girls

BURLINGTON, Vt., June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Girl Zone has announced the release of Girl Zone Challenge for iOS and Android. The app is free to download in iTunes, Google Play and Amazon app stores. This mobile app for teen girls allows them to complete a series of fun challenges made up of fitness, nutrition and mental health goals. It includes a rewards program with real world prizes, such as electronics, fitness games, clothing, books, music, monthly gift boxes and more. When a challenge is complete, players are automatically entered into a sweepstakes drawing. In addition to the launch of the app, Girl Zone has launched a wellness community on www.girlzone.com called GZ Health (gzhealth.girlzone.com) that provides teen girls with age-appropriate health information and customized guides with fitness, nutrition and mental health trackers.

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Girl Zone encourages healthy mental and physical habits without focusing on extreme diets or unrealistic body images while folding in entertainment, engagement and fun. Evolving self-image is a huge part of every teenager's life and with the increased access to 24/7 news, reality TV, social media and incessant selfies, teens are more self-conscious about body image and identity than ever.

Mobile App - This first version of the Girl Zone Challenge offers up three challenges: Get Moving, Stir It Up and Who Am I? Each challenge includes four goals with required actions that are validated in the app and connect with a bi-weekly sweepstakes drawing.

Girl Zone Challenge incorporates everything teen girls love: quizzes, mini-games and posting pictures to social media. The best part is that they will be learning about a healthy lifestyle and exploring their identity, while having fun. "Girls will be super motivated to complete the goals in each challenge by the incentive to win cool prizes," said Girl Zone President MJ Reale.

This app is the first in a series for teens and women. Subsequent versions will feature additional engaging elements like music, social profiling and sharing, teams for cooperation or competition, a point/reward system and sponsored challenges. Branded challenge sponsorship provides a unique opportunity for marketers to engage players by embedding messaging into the app in a fun way. Brand's "call to action" features will drive attention, sales and brand loyalty for sponsors. Expanded Challenge options will include: Creativity, Discovery, Behavior Change, Social and Resiliency.

Renowned game designer Nicole Lazzaro, and her team at XEODesign, worked on the initial design, player engagement and sponsored challenges concept. "Girl Zone's mission to develop healthy lifestyles and positive self-image aligns with my values and shows great potential to use game mechanics to engage and enrich the lives of girls," stated Lazzaro.

Web-based Health Platform – In partnership with Fitango Inc., Girl Zone has created a customized section of their website called GZ Health. This new community platform utilizes elements that enhance engagement and improve health adherence in adults, but are not typically offered for teen girls. "We are excited about the Girl Zone partnership because we believe that the customized GZ platform for teenage girls will help foster a lifetime of healthy habits," said Dr. Dov Biran, Fitango's CEO.

For more information, contact MJ Reale, President/Founder at Email, 802-598-0293

About Girl Zone Corp. - Girl Zone is a hip and healthy online magazine and community for teenage girls. The site, originally launched in 1997, has pivoted its mission and focus onto health and wellness and expanded its platform beyond Web, to app development. Editor, Erica Portillo can be reached at [email protected]     www.girlzone.com    gzhealth.girlzone.com

About Fitango – Fitango's white-label solution, FitangoCare, enables healthy lifestyle brands, payers and providers to launch customizable, fully branded engagement and adherence web solutions. By connecting users with their social support networks, care team members and other health experts, Fitango significantly improves health outcomes. www.fitango.com

About XEODesign - XEODesign is an award-winning firm that unlocks human potential with play. For 22 years XEODesign has created innovative groundbreaking player experiences for leading companies such as EA, Ubisoft, and Cisco by harnessing the emotions and actions players like the most about games.

www.xeodesign.com

About Brisk Mobile – Brisk Mobile is a mobile development firm that provides services on smart phone and tablet platforms. They have an award-winning track record of creating unique mobile experiences on multiple mobile platforms, as well as creating or integrating with existing web/server technologies. www.briskmobile.com

Girl Zone Challenge Sweepstakes - http://girlzone.com/sweepstakes

SOURCE Girl Zone