What is the antithesis of drug culture and how can it be glorified? This challenge was established in 1998 when Congress enacted legislation approving a billion-dollar media
campaign to nip drug use in the bud. The "National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign" promised to go beyond the "Just Say No" campaign of the 80s. Instead, this initiative would
focus on deep-rooted messages of empowerment and "anti-drug" solutions - e.g., sports, music, hobbies, friends, solid parenting, strong role models and self-esteem.
Now in its third year, the campaign primarily targets tweens (kids 9-18 constitute the full age range) and their parents. Secondary targets include influencers such as
teachers, coaches and youth group leaders. Although advertising is the biggest campaign staple, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) hired Fleishman-
Hillard (F-H) in December 1998 to create a non-advertising component, hinging largely on Web sites and interactive outreach.
Content Power
Two flagship Web sites updated regularly with fresh content anchor F-H's online program:
Freevibe.com, a site for kids, offers the straight skinny on drugs and their side effects, but also tons more - including celebrity profiles, pop culture news and fun stuff to
do that keeps kids coming back. Users are invited to submit their own "anti-drugs" for posting on the site. More than 3,000 kids have sent "buzz bombs" (electronic postcards from
the site) to their friends, bearing empowerment messages from role models like tennis star Venus Williams and skateboarder Andy McDonald.
TheAntiDrug.com, a site for parents, similarly features drug facts, along with tips from behavioral experts and other parents. Drug prevention messages are contextualized in
articles covering topics such as spring break, latchkey kids and summer boredom. Site visitors are even coached on how to handle sensitive issues, such as a parent's personal
history with drugs. More than 9,600 visitors have signed up (through the site) to receive a biweekly email newsletter called "Parenting Tips."
The second leg of F-H's online approach involves leveraging its ONDCP sites as platforms for content distribution across the Net. For example, partner sites such as Lycos Zone
(http://lycoszone.com) and Oxygen's MomsOnline.com feature ongoing anti-drug content, along with links back to Freevibe and TheAntiDrug.com. Original content from the "Parenting
Tips" e-letter has been shared in the MomsOnline e-letter, which reaches 53,000 subscribers. Other examples of similarly successful editorial outreach efforts:
NASA. A kids' microsite prepared for and housed within the NASA Web site. ExploreSpaceNotDrugs.com focuses on personal goal setting, featuring interviews with astronauts along
with electronic space postcards, a space station game and links to Freevibe. Roughly 30,000 kids visit the site every month, which has generated nearly 90,000 clickthroughs back
to Freevibe.
Barenaked Ladies (BNL). After Reprise Records delivered a BNL band member to share his thoughts about drugs on Freevibe, the band subsequently ran the same interview on its
site (http://www.BareNakedLadies.com) with a link to Freevibe. The BNL homepage was one of Freevibe's highest traffic drivers for
three months straight.
Experts, Bull Detectors and Spies
To ensure site content that is on strategy, F-H consults regularly with an exhaustive roster of government-sanctioned behavioral researchers, academicians and nonprofit
leaders. The team also taps into an online advisory board of more than 200 kids (known as "I Count" advisors) to ensure that site content is hip and believable. These most-coveted
youth experts are secured through Freevibe online registrations and local events such as scout jamborees (where campaign organizers hand out sign-up sheets and parental permission
forms).
Site monitoring enables the F-H team to follow users' movements around specific Web pages to discern their interests. For example, a notable spike in user clicks on a site
section covering inhalants (on TheAntiDrug.com) made the team realize that parents craved content on that subject. Within a few days, F-H posted an additional Flash schematic of a
home, diagramming rooms that might contain common, but harmful inhalants (e.g., paint thinner in the garage, chemicals under the kitchen sink, etc.).
Measuring Up
So far, the campaign's family Web sites have collectively attracted more than 22 million page views. F-H has negotiated placement of more than 3,000 links to Freevibe and
TheAntiDrug.com on other relevant Web sites through non-paid outreach efforts. More importantly, youth drug usage in the U.S. has been on the decline since 1997.
(David Wickenden, Nancy Payne, F-H Interactive, 202/659-0330)
Divide, Conquer and Target Online
Fleishman-Hillard created and manages additional Web sites for niche audiences:
- http://www.teachersguide.com, for teachers
- http://www.mediacampaign.org, for campaign stakeholders
- http://www.straightscoop.org, for high school student newspaper reporters
The team also developed content for AOL channels catering to parents and kids up until the AOL/Time Warner merger was announced last year.
ONDCP Campaign Strategy
Designed to reach Americans with science-based, anti-drug messages where they live, work, learn, play and practice their faith.
Campaign timeframe: 5 years
Total campaign budget (including advertising): $185 million per year
F-H "non-advertising" budget: $9 million+ annually (includes interactive
communications, public information, and outreach to the entertainment industry,
multicultural organizations and other potential partners)
Portion of budget devoted to interactive media: $1.5 million (for Web
site development and maintenance, online outreach and partnership development)
Total F-H staff on ONDCP account: 27 internally, plus four subcontractor
organizations
F-H staff devoted to interactive campaign component: 7
Key players at F-H: Ann Hardison, project director, ONDCP account; Nancy
Payne, VP (in charge interactive campaign component); David Wickenden, SVP,
partner, global interactive practice.