CASE STUDY
Infected By Meth
Business Situation:
Unlike most major drug outbreaks, which are born in large cities and then make their way outward, methamphetamine was seeding its attack in small towns across rural America.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America sought ideas to combat Meth at its origin – in those very small towns where its damage was devastating not only users but entire communities, as well.
Specifically, the collateral damage Meth causes to water, air, the local economy, school funding, real estate markets, police forces and related were pointed out as tangible evidence of the wrath of Meth.
Strategic Insight:
If personally confronted with the impact of Meth, the residents of these small communities confirmed a willingness to take the battle against the drug into their own hands, band together and fight back.
Despite an assignment requesting mass media advertising, the avenue to confront towns of people with the realities of Meth involved taking the message to the very streets where the drug lived.
Thus, the first-ever non-traditional, guerilla communications war on drugs would be born.
The effort wouldn’t just create advertising; it would create a brand and offer personalized communications weapons in fighting back against the drug.
Communications would be designed as street-ready kits of materials, ready-to-install into the gathering places of small town America…school athletic events, super market parking lots, libraries, DMV offices, county fairs, on streets and sidewalks and the like.
Brand Fluency
Brand: Infected by Meth
Brand What: Rallying communities to fight back…
Brand Why: Against the drug that destroys your life whether you take it or not.
Brand Promise: It’s infecting all of us.
Results:
Our strategic and creative work earned us the prestigious Jay Chiat Global Strategic Planning Award (one of nine agencies awarded worldwide).
The campaign was widely covered in the media, including national feature stories in Adweek on multiple occasions.
We were also awarded the prestigious PDFA Crystal Vase Award for our efforts on their behalf.
Most important, the campaign has been implemented in communities nationwide, with declining Meth usage resulting across installation markets in over 32 states.
Campaign:
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