Hire a Media-Savvy Project Manager
Hanley knew that developing an effective statewide media campaign would take special expertise and a dedicated project coordinator. So they hired Kathrine Muller, M.Ed., a media-savvy education and behavioral health consultant with experience working at the state level. Muller, a former CPA President, understood how state offices, grants, and nonprofits worked. This experience, along with her knowledge of marketing and advertising, enabled her to serve as a bridge between workgroup partners and their creative agency.
"Kathy's leadership was vital to keeping everyone on task," Hanley says. Muller held twice-monthly phone meetings with the workgroup to make sure all partners were meeting their deadlines and to head off problems before they snowballed. These frequent check-ins were critical, given the group had just a few short months to research, develop, and launch the campaign.
Muller also served as a point person when tough decisions needed to be made. "One of the first things people asked at the early meetings was, 'Who is going to make the final decision?'" Muller says. The group decided that final decision-making would go to the CPA Executive Board, but that it was Muller's job to make sure that all opinions were considered. She also served as a conduit to creative agency BOOM Creative, as she spoke their language as well as that of the workgroup's prevention specialists. Muller translated marketing concepts to CPA's members, while making sure the agency understood CPA's prevention goals.
Find a Media Agency that Understands Nonprofits
Hanley says the most challenging part of the collaboration was finding the right media agency. "We typically don't have these kinds of grant dollars to spend on media processes and programs, so we wanted to be sure we properly vetted the agencies responding to our request for proposals, and chose the best one to work with us." They hired BOOM Creative, located in Pittsburgh, for their experience working with nonprofits in the arts, education, and health care sectors. "They had also worked with other single county authorities and they understood our world," Hanley says. "That turned out to be a really good fit for us."
BOOM Creative worked with Muller to educate PAStop Workgroup members about things such as "media buys" and "click-through rates"—new concepts to people who'd spent their careers working in prevention.
Stretch Your Funding and Your Reach
With limited public funding available to address prevention, Pennsylvania knew it had to get creative to make the PAStop campaign a reality. "Doing business as usual doesn't work anymore," says Maureen Cleaver, DDAP Director of the Division of Prevention and Intervention and the National Prevention Network Contact. "We were fortunate to partner with our state colleagues at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which provided the grant for this project. Through our SAMHSA Block Grant funding, we could authorize our single county authorities to use media materials we approved of in advance, however they saw fit." This saved time, as the single county authorities didn't need to individually request approval from the state to use materials in their communities. DDAP funding also provided for buys of billboard space and media airtime for the state’s five counties receiving Partnerships for Success funding.
Get Audience Input
To ensure that campaign materials resonated across the state’s diverse population and adequately communicated key campaign messages, the PAStop Workgroup sought the input of a wide group of stakeholders living and working in cities, suburbs, and small-town communities.
"We used our extensive CPA membership network across the state to put focus groups together," Muller says. "We had a parent-teacher organization, a regional meeting of preventionists, and in one case, a group that was in recovery. We tried to balance representation from rural and urban groups in different parts of the state. They let us know exactly what they were looking for, and we could share what we were able to provide. We also made presentations to the single county authorities at their quarterly meetings to get their input." Engaging users through existing networks also ensured that the workgroup and campaign had the support of champions on the ground.
Get State Leaders Involved on a Personal Level
DDAP Secretary Gary Tennis recorded two radio public service announcements for PAStop, speaking to the people of Pennsylvania on a personal level. "America is in the middle of an epidemic of overdoses from painkillers and heroin," one public service announcement says. "Tragically, Pennsylvania's overdose rate is higher than the national average. At least seven Pennsylvanians are dying every day from drug overdoses...."1
Tennis's involvement helped elevate the campaign’s profile within DDAP. It also helped the workgroup engage other state departments. "Having DDAP on board gave us more weight. It opened doors," says Muller. For example, DDAP helped CPA connect with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Turnpike Commission, who then invited them to place campaign posters at service plazas and rest stops.
Roll Out with a BOOM!
To generate interest and excitement about the campaign, Hanley, Muller, and Scot Fleming from BOOM Creative delivered 17 presentations, including radio and television interviews, prior to its launch. "We first introduced the campaign at our CPA annual conference in June 2015, then did follow-up at Communities That Care regional meetings around the state," Muller says. "We also sent info to the conferences of State County Commissioners, school psychologists, and other organizations." Raising awareness prior to campaign launch helped get buy-in from organizations and groups, who were ready and eager to download the materials as soon as they were made available. Media interviews also piqued public interest in the campaign.