Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services
Situation/Challenge
Over the last two decades, the FDA approved and championed the use of various treatments including buprenorphine for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to combat Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). During that time, it also set forth a comprehensive set of rules which, when combined with counseling and behavioral therapies, provides a whole-patient approach to the treatment of opioid dependency. When taken as prescribed, buprenorphine is both safe and effective. While the numbers of opioid-related deaths in Montgomery County, Maryland, were trending below average at both the national and state levels, they were nonetheless alarming, with 106 reported deaths in the county alone in 2017.
Through a prior Montgomery County task order, the Local Behavioral Health Authority (LBHA) Division of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created a public service announcement (PSA) to communicate the features and benefits of buprenorphine and MAT to various stakeholders within the community. These stakeholders included both the general public and those in the medical field. The purpose of this subsequent task order was to create and implement a countywide “Know the Risks” media campaign to promote the PSA to the broader public audience, and then to support that message with a creative information campaign targeting the local medical community.
Approach
To creatively deliver the PSA message to our target audiences, Sage employed a variety of tactics with multiple touch points. In the creative information campaign, more than 140 specialty promotional items, in the form of an oversized pill bottle containing a flash drive with the PSA video, were delivered directly to physicians and qualified practitioners in the county. The PSA was also submitted to Washington, D.C. metro area radio and television stations, which had a heavy concentration of listeners in Montgomery County. Additionally, we converted the video PSA into :15 and :30 audio versions for use on radio stations. To supplement the PSA, Sage ran a geo-targeted advertising campaign on Facebook and developed and distributed a press release to area reporters.
Results
The PSA ran on a variety of broadcast television, cable, and radio stations in the local market, including WRC Ch 4 (NBC), WUSA Ch 9 (CBS), WDVM Independent TV, Comcast TV (Montgomery County), WTOP (All News), WHUR 96.3 (Urban), WASH-FM 97.1 (Mix & Variety), DC101 (Alternative), WMZQ 98.7 (Country), Big 100 (Classic Rock), Hot 99.5 (DC’s #1 Hit Station), Cool Oldies (70’s & 80’s Hits), and 104.7 Wonk-FM (News & Talk). Comcast Digital TV delivered more than 77,000 streaming impressions, while Facebook ads reached 74,000 people (viewed ad once), delivering a total of 175,281 impressions (number of times our message appeared on screen).
