Over 21,000 Apply for Touchmedia's Health Challenge

In-taxi campaign injects WOW factor to exercise

SHANGHAI, July 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Since Touchmedia, China's largest in-taxi interactive media company, launched its inaugural Mr. and Miss WOW Campaign to boost public health on June 1st, health has never been so fun! Mr. and Miss WOW Campaign has four main parts: "In-taxi Workouts on Wheels" guided exercises for taxi passengers, ongoing health tips, a health survey plus a WOW 45 Day Challenge. Besides the hotly debated and sweepingly popular in-taxi workouts, affluent white-collar passengers have taken an obvious interest in transforming their health. In just 20 days, 21,414 taxi passengers applied for the WOW 45 Day Challenge by inputting their phone numbers into Touchmedia's interactive in-taxi screens. Additionally, the WOW in-taxi health survey has been completed 214,535 times by passengers with 63.5% claiming that they are willing to take charge of their health by adopting healthy habits for 45 days. The health tips page has been entered 100,988 times. Seems that health is indeed a hot topic with a WOW factor!

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110704/CN29959-a )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110704/CN29959-b )

Micky Fung, Founder and CEO of Touchmedia commented, "We're delighted at the huge and heated response to this campaign!  It was our intent to bring people's focus onto their health with Mr. and Miss WOW. Through the survey results, the in-taxi tips, the in-taxi workouts, and now the 45 Day WOW Challenge, I hope this will be the catalyst for white-collar professionals to make their health a top priority."

Lucky Taxi Passengers Enjoy Exclusive Health Day

On July 2nd and 3rd, 80 lucky Shanghai passengers selected from the over 21,000 applicants were invited by Touchmedia to join a Health Day to enjoy free assessments and consultations by professional fitness coaches, nutritionists and dermatologists. On July 9th and 10th, 80 lucky Beijing passengers will participate in a Beijing Health Day. A target of 100 health day participants from Shanghai and Beijing combined will advance to Touchmedia's WOW 45 Day Challenge starting July 15th.

The WOW 45 Day Challenge participants will receive 45 days of complimentary access to premium gym facilities featuring Life Fitness and Power Plate® equipment in Beijing and Shanghai, World Health Store nutritional supplements and advice, plus ongoing encouragement via the official WOW weibo site to complete the challenge. (http://weibo.com/2129163431)

From July 15th to August 28th, in 45 consecutive days, all participants will make daily updates about their newly adopted health habits on their microblogs, sharing their real-time changes with the public. Touchmedia shall select 4 top males and 4 top females to be put on in-taxi touchscreens for passenger votes. Based on a combination of votes and actual health improvements, Mr. and Miss WOW shall be crowned and awarded an exclusive trip to Paris to visit the Power Plate® Studio!

In-taxi WOW Videos Become Hot Topic Amongst Netizens

Since launching Mr. and Miss WOW campaign on June 1, the in-taxi WOW videos have become a hot topic amongst netizens. As of June 27th, the in-taxi workout video featuring the "WOW gal" doing neck stretches has been uploaded and viewed online over 765,000 times with related posts about the in-taxi workouts forwarded over 57,000 times via various online sites. Two other white-collar videos, changing the water bottle at the water cooler and racing to get a taxi after work, have also been posted by netizens and viewed several thousand times.

Nancy Pon, General Manager of Touchevents,subsidiary of Touchmedia, and actress for the fictional "WOW gal" commented, "If the bizarre roles and fallen heroes that my fellow actors and I have acted are the motivation for people to take action for good health, then our novel approach is well worth the humorous comments!"

The popular "In-taxi Workout on Wheels" running from June to August consists of 3 series focused on useful white-collar exercises for the neck, shoulder and wrists. The first series in June focused on neck exercises. A new male eye-catching instructor was unveiled July 1st via the 2nd in-taxi workouts airing in Touchmedia's taxis in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, featuring shoulder exercises. The upcoming in-taxi workouts for August shall feature wrist exercises.

WOW Campaign's Health Survey Reveals Exercise is Top Choice for Good Health

Preliminary results from the first 20 days of the in-taxi WOW Campaign health survey reveal that nearly 4 out of 5 passengers (79.1%) were willing to exercise in response to "In which way will you improve your health?" Ranking 2nd was "going on a healthy diet" (59.2), followed by a tie with the third and fourth choices, "giving up smoking and drinking", and "relieving stress". Some people chose "herbal treatment" and "let it be". In answer to whether they did exercise at least 10 minutes every week, nearly 1 in 3 (30.1%) say they do exercise every day. However, 1 out of 10 (10.3%) responded that they never did exercise. Speaking of health expenses per month, ranking No.1 by nearly 1 out of 4 passengers (24.3%) is "less than 300 yuan". In contrast, 8.0% spend more than 3,000 yuan.

About Touchmedia

Touchmedia was founded in 2003, by its Founder and CEO, Micky Fung, to develop state-of-the-art touchscreen media technology in China. It is the largest in-taxi interactive media company, delivering innovative digital media solutions for clients and the out-of-home advertising industry in China, at a time when reaching affluent consumers on traditional media is increasingly challenging.

For more about Touchmedia: www.touchmedia.cn

SOURCE Touchmedia