Partnership for a Drug-Free America Partners With WeeWorld to Connect With Teens Through Measurable Social Media

Campaign Educates Teens About Drug and Alcohol Risks

NEW YORK, July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and WeeWorld, recently teamed up to educate teens about substance abuse prevention and the real-life consequences of drug and alcohol use. The custom campaign underscores the power of embracing measurable social media to connect directly with teen audiences.  This effort delivered more than 47 million viral impressions, dramatically increased traffic and tripled brand awareness for the Partnership's teen-targeted site CheckYourself.com. It also resulted in a record number of cause-related virtual goods downloads over a two-month period.

Millions of American teens visit WeeWorld.com each month to visually express themselves by choosing virtual items to wear and add to their online rooms via their WeeMee avatars.  Now boasting 36 million registered WeeMees, teens creatively identify who they are, what they are passionate about and embrace the brands and media they love on WeeWorld.com.

"WeeWorld.com has proven to be an incredibly effective platform for us to share messages with teens about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse," said Partnership Digital Media and Marketing Director Hilary Baris. "These unprecedented results clearly demonstrate that teens are thirsting for this kind of information. We've been blown away by the quality and overall level of engagement WeeWorld has so clearly quantified and we're thrilled to be able to embrace this technology to connect with teens."

The centerpiece of the campaign was an actual young adult named JT who is in recovery from substance abuse and addiction. Through his custom-designed WeeMee, home page and room, JT visually interacted with a growing base of over 20,000 teen friends, posted messages and shared weekly scenarios drawn from CheckYourself.com.

JT also screened drug abuse prevention videos from the Partnership's "wreckED" program – a teen-oriented substance-abuse prevention education presentation about the realities and consequences of substance use. "WreckED" encourages teens to think more introspectively about their own and their friends' choices regarding alcohol and other drugs and motivates them to be proactive in "looking out" for friends who may be engaging in unhealthy behaviors.

"What an incredible inspiration this collaborative effort has been for me," said JT. "Not only have we meaningfully interacted with tens of thousands of teens and helped educate them about the dangers of substance abuse, but we are helping these young people make smart choices about drug and alcohol use.  So many people have been instrumental in personally helping me to recover from my addiction and that's why I am so excited to have encouraged so many 'WeeWorlders' to achieve a positive attitude about not using drugs and alcohol."

WeeWorld teens have downloaded more than 212,000 virtual items for the campaign (skateboards, TVs, posters and more). Each time a JT item is added to a WeeMee, it is viewed an average of 300 times. WeeMee items alone generated 47 million viral impressions for the cause on WeeWorld, as well as on Facebook, MySpace and other sites where fans of JT share their WeeMees online.

"We're thrilled that, together, we helped build a unique 'celebrity role model' in JT and provided compelling content that teens eagerly integrated and shared with friends," said Pauline Malcolm-John, VP of National Sales for WeeWorld. "And just like we do with any client, whether they are major brands, product launches or causes, we were able to quantify the massive viral effect we achieved and are proud to see the huge success of this educational social media campaign."

About the Partnership

The Partnership at drugfree.org is a nonprofit organization that helps parents prevent, intervene in and find treatment for drug and alcohol use by their children.  Bringing together renowned scientists, parent experts, and communications professionals, the Partnership translates current research on teen behavior, addiction, and treatment into easy to understand resources at drugfree.org.  For parents who need help talking with their kids about drugs, alcohol and other risky behaviors, TimeToTalk.org offers tips and tools promoting parent/child communication. Time To Act is a step-by-step guide for parents who believe or are sure that their teens are drinking or using drugs and need to know what to do.  Through its "360" suite of community programs, the Partnership educates parents and concerned citizens at the grassroots level on the risks of methamphetamine, non-medical prescription drug use and other emerging drug threats, and promotes parenting and community practices designed to prevent teen substance abuse. The Partnership depends on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and government. The Partnership thanks SAG/AFTRA and the advertising and media industries for their ongoing generosity.

About WeeWorld

WeeWorld (WeeWorld.com) is a popular social game and virtual world for teens with a mainstream appeal, reaching a global audience of more than 36M registered WeeMees. WeeWorld's goal is to provide a fun, visual environment that encourages self-expression and creativity. The WeeMee Avatar Creator is the #1 avatar on the iPhone and is consistently ranked as one of the top-selling social networking apps in the Apple app store.  Through an expansive palette of features, clothes, accessories, hobbies, etc., WeeWorlders can create their personalized WeeMee avatar, connect with friends, decorate their own visual space, send animated messages, play games and more. Thanks to WeeWorld's open platform, WeeMees are portable to all major social networks and blogging sites, in addition to instant messaging platforms, e-mail signatures and mobile phones.

Josie Feliz: +1-212-973-3505, [email protected],

Hilary Baris: +1-212-973-3543, [email protected]

Erica Camilo: +1-781-861-7800 [email protected]

drugfree.org & weeworld.com

SOURCE Partnership for a Drug-Free America