Meet the AddictDead and learn their stories—and in the process, discover the truth about tobacco and avoid Addiction once and for all.

The Smoking Dead are speaking, Addiction is watching, and time is running out…

Over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of teens throughout Arizona, gaining insights on everything from fashionable trends and pop culture influences, to online habits and perspectives on some of today’s most pressing issues.

In pulling together information for my presentation, it was important to me that I not only inform the attendees on the latest happenings in the youth/teen market, but also enable them to walk away with tangible action items they could use in their organizations.

Whether I’m working alongside RIESTER team members to develop large scale communication strategies or devising grassroots outreach efforts for niche audiences, the end goal is always about effective message delivery for our clients.

The ways in which teens communicate with one another has vastly changed. Add to that, the need for attendees to successfully inform/persuade a young audience to make positive behavioral changes, and you can understand their communication challenges.

I utilized this opportunity to provide attendees with a snapshot of today’s youth, including their media habits and online activities, before reviewing how to strategically engage teenage girls. Key takeaways for the session included social media do’s and don’ts along with outreach tools and tips.

RIESTER’s staff consists of experts in communications and marketing who lead our clients in today’s rapidly changing world. If you need someone to speak at a conference or event contact Jim Breitinger at jbreitinger@riester.com to discuss arranging an appearance by a member of our staff.

Choose/Refuse is a video questionnaire that takes kids through a variety of scenarios.

They’re watching it on venomocity.com, YouTube and Facebook.

It features real Arizona kids, along with a real mechanical arm.

This public awareness piece was for Utah’s End Meth Now campaign. Sarah McLachlan thought it was such a powerful and important message that she donated the music.

Addiction’s goal is to kill. Our goal is to beat addiction. We know it can be done.

Smokers’ lives are organized around their nicotine addiction. Forfeiting control to addiction is at the root of a new, original program to stop Arizona youth from smoking and an ‘on-the-ground’ extension of the public service campaign, http://www.venomocity.com.

Today and tomorrow, June 11, the Bureau of Tobacco and Chronic Disease (BTCD) will immerse more than 200 youth from across the state, ages 13-17, into the 2011 anti-smoking youth conference being held at Arizona State University, Old Main Building, Tempe, Ariz. The first-ever 24-hour hands-on learning environment, called The Experiment. Brought to you by addiction. is packed with workshops and presenters.

“Today, teens know about the health impacts of smoking, there is a lot of information they can access,” said Wayne Tormala, Chief, Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Tobacco & Chronic Disease. “But, the health dangers may feel ‘far away’ to this audience so explaining the ‘instant impact’ of nicotine addiction leaves an impression right now. ”

On Saturday, they will wake up to a traditional Navajo tobacco ceremony, adapted for the attendees, presented by a Navajo tribal member.

Participating teens will preview a series of new interactive ‘choose your path’ videos that make saying ‘no’ cool. Designed especially for ‘Generation Net,’ participants will have a chance to create their own versions at the conference. The videos can be seen at http://www.venomocity.com.

Phoenix Theatre will unveil 15-minute plays, “Big Tobacco in the Boardroom” a theatrical performance and lab to explain big tobacco marketing tactics and “Anatomy of a Smoker” a theatrical performance and lab to explain the health effects of tobacco use, ‘live’ from a ‘coroner’s’ lab.

National anti-smoking advocate, Mackenzie Lowry will talk about how losing her dad to lung cancer inspired her work on a cigarette tax increase in her state. A Harvard graduate, she founded the Institute of Politics Tobacco Control Policy Group. Glamour magazine honored Mackenzie as one of the Top 10 College Women, coining her as “The Politician.”

Kids who weren’t able to join us in person, can catch some of the The Experiment in real-time online, at http://venomocity.com/experiment or follow it on Twitter #addictionexperiment.

Event organizers plan to stay in touch with all of the attendees and will encourage organization of anti-smoking efforts in their communities.

In Arizona, Kick Butts Day events were carried out across the state that shed light on tobacco use here, where it is estimated that 6,800 people die each year from tobacco use and nearly 20 percent of Arizona high school students smoke.

From demonstrations in Yuma and Clifton to the Hopi reservation, youth across the state stood proud against Big Tobacco, demanding a change in the industry’s marketing habits targeting teens and appealing to elected officials to join the cause.

In the Valley, four high schools skillfully performed their own “flash mobs” during their lunch periods yesterday in front of their peers, and then came together as one group last night for an encore flash mob performance at Westgate City Center in Glendale, dancing to the Ke$ha hit “Your love is my drug.”

Nearly 200 kids across the state have also elected to “join a movement” of like-minded teens who want to fight big tobacco. This coalition is another layer in the firm’s commitment to tobacco prevention efforts for youth—and adults—across the state.

Kick Butts Day is a reminder for us all to get behind the cause.

The flash mob:

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

The HEMMY Awards are held in conjunction with the annual Arizona Public Health Association Fall Conference. The award will be formally presented at the conference on September 16, 2010. Toni Means will accept a commemorative glass plaque on behalf of the Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health (Arizona Department of Health Services).

We are very proud of this campaign!

The community garden at Valley View Elementary School in Phoenix was recently featured by FOX News.

It’s a privilege for us to work with UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest health and well-being companies, as it helps address childhood obesity in Arizona and nationwide.

Childhood obesity has tripled during the last 30 years.  Unless we change course, estimates suggest that one-third of all children born after 2000 will suffer from diabetes or other obesity-related health problems—conditions that cost an estimated $147 billion each year to treat.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative is helping make the issue of childhood obesity a national priority. Her childhood obesity action plan “seeks to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation,” in part by encouraging healthier food in schools and more physical activity among our nation’s youngsters.

For its part, UnitedHealthcare of Arizona recently awarded $5,000 in grants to five local organizations working to develop programs to help prevent childhood obesity  in their communities . Kids in these programs worked on a variety of projects, such as creating community gardens, developing fitness routines, producing documentary films, writing healthy-ingredient cookbooks and even funding a new fitness track.  The grants, which were awarded in Arizona and various other states, seek to further UnitedHealthcare’s mission of helping people live healthier lives.

A little education combined with action goes a long way in helping young people establish healthy habits and happy lives.

View the coverage of Valley View Elementary’s garden from Fox News.