ChaCha, HP and DoSomething.org Engage Young People Through Texting for the “Green Your School Challenge”

More Than 3,000 Students Signed up to Receive Eco-Friendly Tips

INDIANAPOLIS, IN–(Marketwire – May 31, 2011) – ChaCha, the popular real-time answers service that millions of people turn to for fun-size answers to any question, teamed up with HP and not-for-profitDoSomething.org to encourage youth involvement in the “Green Your School Challenge” by contacting young people on their mobile phones.

Over the course of this 10-week campaign which ended on Earth Day, young people from 2,500 schools were tasked with leading, developing and creating innovative green projects with their classmates.

ChaCha delivered more than 700,000 mobile texts and 500,000 mobile video ads to users 13 to 19 while promoting the “Green Your School Challenge.” ChaCha received more than 10,000 responses, and 3,000 young people signed up to receive eco-friendly tips through text messages. Students who responded back with green ideas and initiatives were eligible to win free Palm Pre Smartphones™.

“Our collaboration with DoSomething.org was a great way to encourage awareness and involvement amongst young people when it comes to the environmental issues happening in their local communities,” said Scott Jones, ChaCha CEO. “Reaching and impacting youth can be incredibly challenging, but it is an area where ChaCha has always excelled. We were pleased to participate in the ‘Green Your School Challenge’ by leveraging these strengths to spread the initiative’s eco-friendly messages to teens on their mobile phones.”

A panel of experts and celebrities selected the winners of the “Green Your School Challenge,” with the grand prize being a $5,000 environmental grant, five new HP Pavilion DMI notebook computers and a chance to Skype with celebrity spokesperson, actress and “Daily Show” correspondent Olivia Munn. Milburn High School in Milburn, NJ was selected as the grand prize winning school with students raising awareness about environmental concerns such as the harmful emissions generated by cars idling in their school’s carpool lane. Four additional schools were selected to receive $1,000 environmental grants and HP Pavilion dm1 notebook computers.

For more information, a DoSomething.org partner page can be found at: http://www.chacha.com/topic/dosomething.org.