Avoid Opioid SD
Campaign: SD Testimonials
Elements: TV, Radio, Website & Social Media
Situation:
When the opioid epidemic swept the country, the South Dakota Departments of Health and Social Services formed an advisory committee to oversee efforts designed to raise awareness, inform, combat stigma, and ultimately help reduce misuse, abuse, and death.
Challenge:
The speed with which the initial materials had to be developed was the first hurdle. An enormous amount of highly clinical information had to be reduced and translated into plain language. Add to that the sensitive nature, stigma, and misinformation (even among providers) and we had our work cut out for us.
A basic “don’t abuse drugs” message would not be enough as stigma and perceptions about who is affected by opioid use and abuse are often inaccurate when compared to the data.
Approach:
An emotional connection was needed. Together with DOH, we vetted candidates who were willing to share their personal stories. I developed the interview questions, conducted interviews, drafted a document summarizing campaign goals, interview notes, and the recurring themes our team proposed to focus on for live-camera interviews.
A project overview was presented to the client for approval. We called out key phrases and sentiments from the preliminary interviews and used them to generate a set of questions that served as a guide for the creative director during the recording sessions noting that we intended to ensure these individuals be allowed to tell their stories on their own terms.
Result:
The videos were posted to the Avoid Opioid Facebook page ahead of the broadcast media launch and almost immediately went viral. Over the course of three months, organic reach resulted in over 27,500 full (60-second) video views and the page engagement was incredibly positive and supportive.
Empathy. These stories made an emotional connection with the audience in a way that the overdose data never could. The campaign continues to be expanded.
