LazyTown took Mexico by storm when Magnus Scheving made an appearance in Mexico City to promote a new, world first initiative between the Washington Apple Commission, California Grapes, USA Pears and the US Department of Agriculture. The primary goal of the promotion was to increase consumption of fruits amongst kids in Mexico, the highest childhood obesity country in the world. This was the first time two governments collaborated on a kids health program, with USDA and Salud (Minister of health of Mexico). WAC shipped 66,500,000 apples during the promotion! Now LazyTown are working with the USDA on other potential markets with a similar concept.
 
The ‘Dulces Sanos’ (SportsCandy) campaign has been supported by Mexico’s Department of Health and all the key grocery retailers in the country who have committed to helping children to eat more fruit.  WAC saw a 29% increase on exports of apples in to Mexico during promotion  – the highest export in November in the last 7 years!
 
Dulce Sanos also gave away thousand of tickets to kids for an exclusive LIVE Show event on Nov 28 in Mexico City. Magnus Scheving, LazyTown’s creator and star, appeared on TV and in no less than fourteen publications. The publicity campaign received over 37 million impressions.  A local Sportacus actor appeared at over 50 retail stores throughout the country during the 4 week promotion.
 
While in Mexico, Magnus also appeared at Sports World, a high quality family friendly gym chain, to launch the LazyTown Sports Club there. Over 2,000 people and twenty media outlets attended the event. Sports World have the exclusive to provide LazyTown branded Sports Clubs to children in all their gyms. This is fantastic news for Mexican children who will now have access to a sports club aimed specifically at them. The Sports Club concept is unique to LazyTown and is proving popular in the UK where it was first launched. Other territories are currently being sought to trial this amazing fitness program for children.

More news on www.lazytown.biz
Please contact us at biz@lazytown.com

National Family Week is back 30 May – 5^th June 2011 and currently seeking charitable partners and not-for-profits to get involved in helping to make the UK’s largest family focussed week bigger and better than ever. With the recent appointment of Ann Brookes as Head of Not for Profit Partnerships, National Family Week is looking forward to growing the involvement in the third sector. Anne  has over 15 years experience working in the Not for Profit sector both in the UK and North America working in a diverse range of organisations from the Arts to the Charitable sector, most recently as Director of Fundraising & External Relations for The Frank Buttle Trust.

With family time becoming eroded due to time, money and inspiration (the average UK family spends 49 minutes per day together), National Family Week is the ideal platform for charities and not-for-profits to demonstrate how they support families, by offering activities and services for families, developing family-friendly policies, or engaging in other ways in the promotion of family life. Organisations can run activities as a fundraising exercise, publicise their work, recruit more members, or simply have fun.

 This year National Family Week is offering an income generator to key partners through their soon-to-launch Family Value Club, a cash back club that allows members to receive money back on high street and online purchases. Members will be allowed to choose a charity of their choice to receive a donation from their purchases.

Last year’s National Family Week event was supported by 180 national and thousands of local partners.

These included:

National Literacy who launched their latest campaign, Tell Me A Story, to coincide with Family Week Story Time. To mark the launch they released results of a study of over 17,000 young people exploring family engagement in learning.

The Association of Chief Police Officers sent a letter and an ideas sheet to all Chief Constables across the UK encouraging them all to organise events and activities for families in their local area. This lead to a large number of safer neighbour teams running picnics, story time sessions and general family fun days.

Make-A-Wish Foundation granted their 6,000th wish to Luke Taylor from Molesly. He made his film debut as a superhero in The Elementor when he shared the red carpet with Spiderman and signed autographs at the premier of his film to coincide with The Week.

The new National Family Week website (http://www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk) features a selection of downloadable “Idea Sheets” to get charities started with their planning for this year’s activities.

For more information about how your charity can get involved please contact:

Anne Brookes at abrookes@nationalfamilyweek.co.uk or see the website http://www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk

For media enquiries please contact: snoble@nationalfamilyweek.co.uk

Are you doing the exercises that are right for you or are you feeding an existing injury or imbalance in your body? Chances are that unless you’ve had a full functional movement assessment, you may be doing more harm than good at the gym. Greg Brookes, a personal trainer and teacher of over 15 years, believes that only by having a full Functional Movement Assessment can you know your strengths and weaknesses .

He says, “There is a simple rule when it comes to correct movement patterns – get it right then add resistance to lock it in. By performing thousands of reps with a muscle imbalance you are locking in a faulty movement pattern. This will take on average 13 times the amount of reps to undo.”

Greg’s movement assessment runs the client through 7 movement screens and 3 clearance tests. Following on from the assessment he then knows all their strengths and weaknesses, and so knows which areas need attention and which areas are clear for further exercise. For example, lets say that your Squat Pattern or Lunge Pattern are faulty then these exercises would be avoided until mobility and stability modifications have been made elsewhere in order to correct these patterns. Single sided exercises with a kettlebell or dumbell will greatly help to level out muscle imbalances but you need to know which movements need more work. Greg believes the body is designed to move in a number of primitive patterns. So we squat when we are sitting and standing, lunge when we are walking and running, bend when we are lifting, twist when we turn to look at something, push and pull as we use our arms. Now. Lets imagine you go to the gym and start to squat and press a barbell over head. What happens to the weaker side and movement pattern? It doesn’t get used as much.  You compensate. So you may press the weight overhead with only 35% of your left and 65% of your right. Over time this will get worse and worse and usually without you knowing it.

Remember adding weight to a dysfunctional body will only “lock in” faulty movement patterns and make them worse. The result is always injury and a compromise that means uneconomical training. Get it right and burn more fat and grow more muscle, it’s as simple as that.

For a complimentary fully functional movement assessment with Greg Brookes, please contact: Suzanne@stunningpr.com, 07957 371840

8^th August 7, 2010. Next week thousands of students will find themselves without a place at University and having to seek employment, many for the very first time.

But while the prospect of getting a first time job that will lead to an enjoyable career may seem limited, David Royston-Lee, a career strategist, believes students are further being sold short by school career counselors and out-of-date psychometric testing that have barely evolved since the tests were first invented at the beginning of the 19^th Century.

David has been a career strategist for 20 years, advising senior executives, those taking early retirement or having been redundant, in how to transition their career and find new jobs that are right for them. Formerly, head of career management services at KPMG, he has successfully helped thousands of people to find the job that was right for them.

Now he has turned his skill to graduates. In his new book, ‘How to Win from the Start (amazon.co.uk, £7.19)’ he concentrates on something you are rarely taught in school… a way of finding out ‘who you are’. The book is a refreshing departure from the usual tomes written for students on how to get a job.

The book addresses common problems such as how to write a CV when you have had little to no work experience or if the work is not relevant to the path you wish to pursue, how to focus and get what you want, the path to successful employment.

David is dismissive about Psychometric tests believing they tend to confuse more than they help. “How does knowing that the test results show you should look at hairdressing and becoming an aircraft pilot help!” Psychometric tests have not changed since the digital era, therefore omitting a huge range of employment opportunities.”

He says, ““The art of career management is quite simply answering 3 question. Who am I? Where am I going? How am I going to get there? Students need to wake up and focus on who they are, what they enjoy doing and not just at what they are good at. Social media has paved the way for enormous opportunities to connect with people in every type of job in every field. The CV is on the way out. The use of networking to gather and give information is the way forward.”

“Instead of staying in bed until midday because you have heard that there are no jobs,” David adds, “Graduates need to WAKE UP and talk to people. That is the best way to get a job and not just any job but the right job.”

David is available for interviews. Contact Suzanne at Stunning PR, 07957 371840 or suzanne@stunningpr.com

‘How to Win from the Start’  (Artesian Publishing) is available from Amazon, price £7.19, http://www.davidroystonlee.com

Mansfield might not be the first town that springs to mind when it comes to launching a new song, but it will be, when, on 25^th August, Jango’s Indoor Play Centre hosts the stars of hit TV show LazyTown who will be performing their first single release ‘Go Step Go.’

North Nottinghamshire’s premier play facility, Jango’s, that opened in October 2009 is expecting over 300 children most of them dressed as LazyTown characters – Sportacus and Stephanie – to attend the event on 25^th August at 3pm.

Magnus Scheving, who is both the star and creator of LazyTown will fly in from his native country of Iceland to perform as Sportacus. Meanwhile, Julianna Rose Mauriello, who plays Stephanie will be taking a break from her studies at an American university, to sing the song to the children.

This is the first time Julianna has visited the UK and the first time that both Julianna and Magnus have been together since LazyTown collected a children’s BAFTA in 2006.

LazyTown is currently shown daily on Cbeebies and Nick Jr.

Magnus Scheving has been very busy since his last appearance in the UK back in 2009. He has appeared in the Jackie Chan film ‘The Spy Next Door’ as a Russian villain released in March 2010, met Michelle Obama as part of the launch of her ‘Let’s Move’ campaign and been back and forth to Los Angeles many times negotiating with film producers who want to produce a LazyTown movie.

Julianna Rose, starred as Stephanie in LazyTown and LazyTown Extra before taking a place at an American University where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance.

The Single ‘Go Step Go’ encourages children to get up off the sofa and get moving, which is especially important during the summer holidays when sitting at home and playing computer games may seem far more appealing! Written by Mani Svavarsson, LazyTown’s resident hitmaker, the song is an upbeat, infectious tune that has all the potential to be a summer hit single as the Macarena was way back in 1995. The single will be available for free for 30 days from 24^th August at www.asda.co.uk before it goes on general release.

Tickets are only available from reception at Jango’s priced at £7.50 per child, £2.50 per adult.

limited numbers apply.

Where:

Jango’s Indoor Play Centre, Sandlands Court, Fulmar Close, off Old Mill Lane, Forest Town,  Mansfield, Nottinghamshire,  NG19 0GG Tel: 01623 465 465

When:

25^th August – doors open for entry by ticket only at 2pm

Performances commence at 3pm

What:

Sportacus and Stephanie from LazyTown perform their new song ‘Go Step Go’ to be followed by fitness session with Sportacus, meet and greet/autograph signing and photo opportunity

For interview requests, please contact Suzanne at Stunning PR, 07957 371840 or suzanne@stunningpr.com

On the weekend of Saturday 4th September and 5th September Havering will experience a dose of Hollywood magic when Disney, Marvel and more come to Bowering School in Romford.

Showcase Overview – The H2H Product; The event will be recorded for news coverage

Art You Grew Up With: Gallery of original and limited edition art from the masters (feat. Sponge Bob, Little Miss and Mr Men, Dan Dare, Commando Comics, Disney, DC, etc.).

A) Disney Artist Alan Batson – Disney  & PIXAR Master Class: Learn how to draw your favourite Disney characters and make them come to life – Toy Story 3, Winnie the Pooh and more

B) Marvel Entertainment Artist Gary Erskine – Comic Book Master Class: Learn how comic book characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-men, etc., become major film successes. How to become a Comic Book Artist.

• BBC Worldwide: How do TV shows get made and the science & technology behind these successful media properties in magazines and merchandise (Dr Who, Top Gear, Top of the Pops, BBC Focus (science), Who Do You Think You Are, BBC History, Sky At Night, etc)?
• Channel 4 – How does Channel 4 work? A question and answer session with Programme Commissioner Angela Ferreira. Explore the business of TV from buying hot teen shows to music, drama, documentaries and current affairs. Learn how Angela made it and that you can also have a successful career.
• Titan Magazines: Hollywood licenses are big business and the productions cross many media formats. Learn more about these popular entertainment franchises – Star Trek, Star Wars, Transformers, Supernatural, Smallville, Superman & Batman, The Simpsons and many more…
• Celebrity Interview: Q&A interview with an actor, a writer, a technician, research advisors, etc.
• Star Cars – Movie Motors: See the technology of the movie star cars such as the Batmobile, Back to the Future’s De Lorean, Starsky and Hutch’s Grand Tourino and Knight Rider’s Pontiac “Kit”, etc. The real cars showcase… and you’ll be surprised!
• Movie Characters Showcase: Alien, Predator, Star Wars, etc. costumed characters
• Hollywood Fashion & Make-Over: Fun with fashion and photography as you get the Hollywood red carpet treatment, and we find the models and stars of the future
• Dance Master Class: A Stage and screen choreographer shows you how to make it in entertainment with some of TV & film best tutors
• Music: Various tribute bands, DJ’s and music from the motion pictures and small screen
• Tropical Island: Children’s theatre show and live characters.
• Royal Air Force Museum – Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary (showcase of history and the 1960’s movie). Havering and the wider Essex & Kent area was the site of some famous airfields for Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft
• British Model Flying Association: Large scale model aircraft give a spectacular radio controlled air-show and tuition in the technology of flight – from piloting to engineering. Before computer generated special effects, this was how it was done!
• Peace Alliance: Citizenship showcase of young heroes in the UK
• Emergency Services: Showcase from the police, fire service and ambulance service
• Food & drink concessions
• Free stuff!
•
Win an Apple iPad with BBC Focus magazine

For interviews with any of the animators involved, please contact:
Suzanne Noble, suzanne@stunningpr.com, 07957 371840

For tickets, visit www.ticketweb.com

For the past twenty years or more, running has been promoted as the one-size-fits-all panacea for a range of issues including increasing metabolism, losing weight or just the best way to achieve overall fitness. Alongside this, the running industry has grown year on year, with dedicated shops now selling running gear all across the country, running clubs in every town and more marathons springing up everywhere you look.

But is running all its cracked up to be? Personal trainer Greg Brookes believes that often it does more harm than good. In fact, he’s so against it, he has devised the seven deadly sins of running which are:

1. Decreases the size of your heart.

Small muscles use less energy and are more efficient. Consider the difference in energy consumption between a 50cc scooter and a huge V8 4×4 truck. Our heart is a muscle just like the rest of our muscles, if you force the heart to keep running for long periods of time it will naturally shrink to use less energy and become more efficient. If you want to increase the size of your heart then you must strength train your heart, not endurance train it!

2. Causes injury through repetitive movements.

When you run 2.5 times your bodyweight is transmitted through your joints. Now imagine this type of force being repeated over and over again, eventually your weakest joint will give out. Usually the ankles or the knees are the first to go, generally becasue of poor hip and core stability. Many runners then opt for some kind of support or brace which only exacerbates the problem by moving it on to the next weakest joint and still maintaining the old injury.

3. Slows down your metabolism.

The more muscle tone you can maintain, the higher your metabolism. Muscle is highly metabolically active and requires constant energy to survive, so the more muscle tone you have the more calories you will be burning at rest. Long distance running will often deplete your energy stores and then start breaking down your muscle tissue to use as energy. If you want some serious muscle wastage and to reduce your metabolic rate then keep running.

4. Produces more body fat.

Fat is one of our body’s favourite sources of energy. The more you run the more your body prepares itself for your next run. You will actually start to hold on to more fat so you can run for longer next time.

5. Boring and time consuming.

Some people run for fun, but lets face it most of us run to get in shape and lose that excess belly fat. The truth is running is very time consuming and there are better ways to get great results in a lot less time.

6. Cardiac distress and heart attacks.

Evolving from our hunter gatherer days we had no real necessity to run long distances, in fact the only running we ever did was in short bursts to avoid predators or to catch food. Our body simply isn’t designed to run long distances and the stresses you put your heart under during this time can set you up for a heart attack. It’s a fact that many long distance runners do die of heart attacks.

7. Fat burning slows right down.

The body is an amazing machine and will adapt to anything over time. The more time you spend running the better you become at running and the more efficient you get at using less energy. So what starts off as a great calorie burner quite quickly becomes almost useless at burning excess calories. Ultimately runners then have to run further and further to get the same calorie expenditure that they achieved when they first started.

If you have read all this and are thinking “OK, so what is the answer – what should I be doing?”. The answer is simple, high intensity training. Intensity training is like strength training but for your heart and lungs. It burns far more calories, strengthens your heart and joints and increases your metabolism – the best thing, it only takes 4 – 10 minutes max.

For a one-to-one workout with Greg Brookes or interview opportunities, please contact: suzanne@stunningpr.com or 07957 371840

Editors Note: Editor’s Note: GB Personal Training is run by Greg Brookes and offers results in the comfort of your own home or local park. No matter where you are based in London Greg can help offering individual training packages tailor made to suit his diverse range of clientele ranging from celebrities to busy City executives, housewives to high flyers. He offers a 30 day money-back guarantee on his weight loss programmes.

Have you ever had a functional movement assessment? Do you know whether you are using the correct muscles when you exercise? Chances are your movement patterns are way off and you are making compromises without even realising it. Personal Trainer Greg Brookes of gbpersonaltraining.com believes that when it comes to exercise, most gyms and personal trainers don’t focus on what is of prime importance – functional movement assessment and screening for movement dysfunction.

Why is good functional movement so important?

Because if your movement patterns are incorrect then you are using the wrong muscles when you exercise. For maximum impact you must use your large muscles, your prime movers. It is your large muscles that help you to create optimal calorie expenditure and prolonged afterburn or EPOC. Plus if you are using the wrong muscles you will tire easily leaving even less time to burn fat. You may be thinking, ‘ Oh, I move OK, I’m not in any pain. Well remember your body is a master adapter, it will compromise to get the job done. Most of us do this, even Greg! Chances are you are doing it everyday without knowing it.

The point is, unless you get your functional movement patterns corrected you will not be able to lose weight and burn fat as easily, you will tire and struggle to focus on the larger muscles that really get the job done. This is one of our secrets with fat loss.

Greg Brookes functionally screens all his clients. He corrects bad movement patterns and ensure that the correct muscles are engaged. He will make you bomb proof to injury so you can workout for longer and harder.

Greg is available for interviews and complimentary functional movement assessments in conjunction with feature opportunities. Contact me at suzanne@stunningpr.com or 07957 371840 to arrange.

LazyTown Entertainment, the only children’s brand solely dedicated to helping families lead a healthier lifestyle, has completed its financial restructure. As a result, the company can now claim to be one of the most solvent in the children’s entertainment business with zero debt and many growth opportunities on the horizon. The future looks bright for the brand.

Magnus Scheving, the CEO of LazyTown Entertainment commented,” I am extremely happy that everyone worked together as a team with the singular vision to conclude this deal and to now be able to turn our focus towards building the company.”

The LazyTown Entertainment brand enjoys enormous respect from parents, educators and national Governments alike for its key messages, and for remaining focused on and committed to its core values. The company has a number of exciting prospects for the future including alliances with key retailers in the U.S. and Continental Europe, a new digital platform and a sports club roll out with the world’s leading provider of training packages to fitness professionals.

As the only children’s brands dedicated to helping children lead healthier lifestyles, it’s hardly surprising the impact the company’s licensing strategy has had directly on its core audience’s eating habits.  This is a pure and natural extension of the brand because the characters of LazyTown actually eat “SportsCandy” (fruits and vegetables), drink water and milk and engage in sports and activities in each episode.  Now LazyTown is actively licensing partners who share their vision of a healthier world.

LazyTown leverages this unique and relevant edge with strategic retail and healthy consumables partnerships.  As an example, LazyTown’s retail alliance with ASDA (the UK Wal-Mart) that has been using Sportacus to promote its Great Stuff range of products has seen the range sell a whopping 41% more fruit and vegetables during a kick-off promotion last year than it had the previous year, which included over 2.5 million incremental packages of Great Stuff Sports Candy!

In Mexico, the company’s tie-up with dairy company Lala that also featured Sportacus on pack achieved a significant double digit sales growth of white milk, proving the brand can carry a consumable other than Sports Candy. This was historic for LazyTown as it was their first major win in a territory where they are not on Free TV and where sales of white milk to children are virtually zero (children have been reported to drink soda for breakfast!). Parents even called the 1-800 customer service lines at LALA and left voicemails thanking them because their kids were drinking milk again.

In Columbia, Sportacus is at national hero status. During a recent visit to the country, LazyTown’s creator and star Magnus Scheving was asked by the country’s Minister of Health to help him to lower obesity in the country where it has become a growing concern. The show’s tie-up with fruit and vegetable superstore Surtifruver de la Sabana has branched into the country’s school system where children have participated in LazyTown/Surtifruver activities based around exercise and healthy eating.

In the U.S., the show is breaking new ground. LazyTown has aligned itself with Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ initiative and will be sharing with the Administration some of the ground breaking work they have done in other countries to reduce childhood obesity. During a momentous week in March 2010, Sportacus met the First Lady when he warmed up local Washington DC school children at a US Soccer Foundation clinic that she attended. A deal with Windmill will see a range of completely natural vitamins go into over 20,000 retail outlets in the country. With a new broadcast deal soon to be announced in the U.S., LazyTown is confident they can make a real difference to American children’s health.

In their native country of Iceland, LazyTown have signed a world first deal with a local water company, Nordic Water, to produce a range of naturally fruit flavoured water. Nordic is aiming for worldwide distribution.

What’s clear is one thing – when companies use LazyTown to promote health, EVERYONE WINS!