ViacommunityNewsletter 1_30_15B

VIACOMMUNITY IMPACT
FALL’14
A LOOK AT
’s IMPACT THROUGH THE
COMMUNITY EFFORTS ACROSS OUR BRANDS
LOGO TV
Standing in solidarity with its audience and community, Logo TV stepped up in a significant
way on October 16, 2014 to participate in GLAAD’s Spirit Day, the largest and most visible
anti-bullying campaign that supports LGBT youth. Throughout the day, Logo TV aired
commercials encouraging Spirit Day participation and featured pictures from the New
Orleans-based LGBT youth organization BreakOUT. Logo TV, as well as its sister channel
MTV, aired documentaries about coming out, marriage equality and the documentaries “It
Gets Better” and “It Gets Better 2.” Rounding out the day, Logo TV, MTV and Laverne Cox
lit the Empire State Building purple in celebration of the original documentary “Laverne Cox
Presents: The T Word,” which premiered the following day on MTV and Logo TV.
Viacom’s brands each took on Spirit Day and amplified it to their audiences in
their own way. The cast of MTV’s “Faking It” debuted a Spirit Day video on
MTV Act earlier in the week, speaking out against bullying. Hosts from VH1’s
“Big Morning Buzz Live” and “Gossip Table” and BET’s “106 & Park” also
wore purple in solidarity of the day. Finally, MTV and its channels, Logo TV,
Comedy Central, BET, CMT and Tr3s all went purple online and on air in a
stand against bullying.
MTV
Amidst the fun and excitement of the MTV 2014 VMAs, the network brought attention to the
issue of bias and prejudice through its Look Different campaign. Before the VMAs, MTV aired
a Look Different PSA that vividly captures the harmful and hurtful effects of stereotyping.
During the award show, MTV ran a powerful 15 second spot and tribute around Ferguson. The
riveting spot shows a sign for Ferguson, MO with the word “Mike” spray-painted on it. Dave
Baldwin’s quote, “not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed
until it’s faced” appears, while protestors can be heard in the background chanting, “Hands up.
Don’t shoot.”
In addition to raising the volume on the issue of bias, MTV revamped It’s Your (Sex) Life, MTV’s
sexual health campaign, through a complete redesign of its website. The design overhaul will
better address young audiences by being fully responsive and featuring a new LGBTQ section
and an expanded Relationships section.
Paramount Pictures
This fall, Paramount was busy giving back and making a difference in the LA community. More
than 15 members of the Paramount Volunteer Crew paid tribute to the memory of September
11 by waking up much earlier than usual and heading to Skid Row, where they began prepping
and serving breakfast to the men, women and families served by the Union Rescue Mission,
a downtown homeless service provider. During the 30th Annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles,
Paramount recruited 250 team members, the largest to date, to join the fight against HIV.
More than 100 walked with Paramount’s Honorary Captain, Amy Powell (President TV, Digital
and Insurge Pictures). In October, Paramount kick off its yearly partnership with Santa Monica
Community Charter school. Since 2008, Paramount employees have been reading matched
with a 2nd - 6th grade student for weekly or bi-weekly reading sessions. During the kick-off
event, the 23 employee volunteers played word games with students as they were paired for
the reading program.
Viacom’s Office of Global Inclusion
This Fall, Viacom’s Office of Global Inclusion (OGI) celebrated diversity and differences in a
number of ways. In October, Viacom was honored as a Top Corporate Ally for Diversity by
Difference Matters magazine for its work supporting the LGBT community. During the holiday
season, Viacom once again hosted Give Back & Get Down, the company’s
annual holiday giving event. This year’s event benefitted homeless and atrisk youth. Viacom and the Office of Global Inclusion partnered with
New Alternatives, Covenant House and New Yorkers for Children to
collect food and personal care items for the most in need and to give
employees the chance to give back and make a difference. To date,
Give Back & Get Down has collected more than 50 tons of food,
clothing and other items for City Harvest and other local charities.
Viacommunity’s Week of Giving
Viacom and its employees put the giving back in Thanksgiving during Viacommunity’s Week
of Giving. At Viacom’s New York headquarters, employees rallied with Lifebeat, a nonprofit
dedicated to educating America’s youth about HIV/AIDS prevention, to assemble 2,300
condom packs. The packs contained HIV prevention materials and information and were
distributed by Lifebeat at the benefit concert #MusicFightsAIDS. Employees also lent their
creative talents to DOROT, a New York organization that works to alleviate the social isolation
among the elderly, by crafting handmade holiday cards. Lastly, Viacom’s New York employees
took to the streets by volunteering with Citymeals-on-Wheels, an organization that aims to
ensure no homebound elderly New Yorker will ever go a day without food or human company.
Employee delivered warm meals and Thanksgiving baskets to 70 homebound seniors.
On the West Coast, Paramount and Nickelodeon gave back in a significant way to the LA
community. More than 400 pounds of food were collected during Paramount’s annual Food
Drive, benefitting the LA Regional Food Bank. Paramount’s contribution helped Food Bank
distribute 332 more meals to hungry children, families, seniors and individuals in LA County.
In coordination with the donation drive, Paramount’s Volunteer Crew sent 20 team members
to the LA Regional Food Bank to help pack deliveries for Thanksgiving Holiday distributions.
With a guest DJ and dancing in the aisles, the crew packaged 4,300 meals to be dispersed
among the Food Bank’s more than 1,000 network pantries. Lastly, Paramount’s 2014 Food
Drive celebrated its Hunger Heroes with its 1st annual Golden Can Awards. Employees caught
supporting the on-lot food drive received the Golden Can Trophy in appreciation for their
contributions to help alleviate hunger.
On November 30th, Nickelodeon hosted its 6th annual Feast of Sharing dinner with The
Salvation Army. Nickelodeon came back bigger and better this year with Nick Radio and
DJ J Boogie as Master of Ceremonies. Voice talent from Nickelodeon’s animated shows
made appearances on stage and treated diners to a sampling of their vocal wizardry.
SpongeBob and Dora were on hand for Polaroid photo opps with the kids. Nickelodeon was
also recognized with a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric
Garcetti, and Councilmember Gilbert Cedillo for its continued commitment to bringing joy to
families in the community.
Nickelodeon International
Nickelodeon International’s newest initiative “Agentes de
Cambio” (Agents of Change) became an instant hit during
the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards - Colombia and Mexico,
empowering young audiences to share their stories of how
they’re impacting their hometowns. “NICK Agentes de
Cambio” launched earlier this year, thanks to a partnership
with Kellogg’s.
During both #KCAColombia and #KCAMexico events, the
new show category “Transforma Tu Mundo” highlighted 3
nominees – 3 local, mini agents of change making a difference
in their own backyards. In addition to onstage recognition,
the finalists received well-deserved VIP experience, including
meet & greets with talent, access to show rehearsals, red
carpet interviews, and other special rewards. These two sets
of finalists were selected among a long list of submissions,
however, only one received the most local votes and was awarded onstage - Sara Inés
Rodríguez Hernández, from Bogota, Colombia, part of a local program called “Ya Tengo Donde
Escribir” (I Now Have Where to Write) that recycles cereal boxes to create notebooks for
nearby schools.
“NICK Agentes de Cambio” will soon premiere in the other regions’ upcoming flagship events,
specifically in Kids’ Choice Awards - Argentina and Meus Prêmios Nickelodeon in Brazil. More
inspirational stories will be available on www.mundonick.com.
Viacommunity UP Mentoring
Coinciding with back to school, Viacommunity launched UP
(Unlimited Potential), a new mentoring initiative that provides
promising high school students worldwide the opportunity
to gain exposure to the media industry and to establish a
lasting relationship that spans high school, college and entry
into the workforce. Like many of the social impact initiatives
at Viacom, the concept of UP originated from its employees,
in this case, the idea was conceptualized by the Social
Responsibility Committee of the BEAT, Viacom’s Employee Resource Group focused on the
Black/African-American experience.
To achieve its mission of investing in promising students, UP works closely with its mentoring
partner Virtual Enterprises International (VEI). VEI is an in-school entrepreneurship program
and global business simulation that targets high school and college students in underserved
communities. VEI has a curriculum that replicates all the functions of real businesses in both
structure and practice under the guidance of a teacher-facilitator and business mentors.
Viacom’s New York-based partner school is Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, a local
school in Times Square, whose VEI team, T-Squared, won 3rd place in VEI’s 2014 National
Business Plan competition.
To date, approximately 50 Viacom employee volunteers have signed up for the 2014-2015 New
York-based UP mentoring pilot. These volunteers will serve as Business Mentors and Advisors
to the 20 students from T-Squared and work within the VEI curriculum, using their career
expertise and daily Viacom experiences to provide students a unique exposure to Viacom and
the entertainment industry.
Viacommunity Pro-Bono Program
For the past few months, five teams of employees have been hard at work, doing what they
do best at Viacom for five of our nonprofit partners. The Actors Fund, Reel Works, St. Bernard
Project, Theatre East and True Colors Fund each received probono services on greatly-needed
projects through our first-ever Viacommunity skills-based volunteering program, facilitated
by Catchafire. For employees, the chance to further skills and collaborate with colleagues old
and new across the company, all in support of worthy causes, made the program as fulfilling to
Viacom as to the organizations. Here’s more on the experiences of our colleagues in their own
words:
“My biggest takeaway was that a little bit of what you already know could
mean the world to someone else. I don’t really keep up with Theatre or
Community Theatre, so it was nice to get a little more familiar with that
world and what their challenges and needs are. It was nice to be able to
use my professional skill set and offer up these professional services to an
organization that would not likely ever be able to afford to.”
Ami Pak
Viacom, Website Audit Project for Theatre East
“It’s been really amazing to be able to work on something that will be
able to help immediately. Even being in a client services position, you
never know if what you do is going to be immediately useful to the team
and company you’re providing it to. This I know for a fact is going to be
immediately helpful for them to get more donations and volunteers that
you know will make a difference and that makes me feel great.”
Jon Ortiz
Scratch, Pitch Deck Creation Project for St. Bernard Project
TOP 5
Catchafire’s top 5 project matches
in 2014 were:
1. Brand Messaging
2. Salesforce Database Customization
3. Logo Design & Visual Brand Identity
4. Infographics
5. Print Material Design
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