Demand Treatment! projects across the U.S. are using the Internet, radio spots, newspaper ads, flyers, and postcards to increase awareness of the need for improved addiction treatment services.George Krietemeyer, assistant to Mobile, Ala., Mayor Michael Dow and a member of the Mobile Demand Treatment team, said that denial in his community has been a serious impediment to improving treatment services. "Most parents don't really think their kids do drugs," he said. "Most politicians don't think there's a problem in the community."
Looking for a way to provide treatment and recovery information to as many Mobile residents as possible, Krietemeyer and other Mobile officials turned to the local newspaper, the Mobile Register, delivered daily to 130,000 subscribers. Using $12,000 in Demand Treatment grant money, Mobile prepared an extensive pullout supplement called "Drugs Shatter Lives: What You Need to Know Now," which included treatment information and resources.
Similar information is included on the Mobile Drug Education Council's website.
In Manchester, N.H., Demand Treatment advocates have sought to educate both the public and government officials, mailing 225 postcards to health and human services agencies detailing the need for treatment services, and running ads on rock radio station WGIR and in an alternative newspaper, the Hippo Press. Tess Gomes, project manager for the advocacy group Friends of Recovery New Hampshire, said the intention of the public campaign was to reach 25- to 34-year-old men -- the demographic with the most need for treatment.
Manchester was fortunate that one of its Demand Treatment team members -- Scott Brody, executive director of Harmony Manchester treatment program -- is a former advertising executive. Brody brought invaluable expertise to the Demand Treatment campaign, advising the group not to rely on PSAs -- which usually get buried in horrible time slots, if they are run at all. "A hundred times zero listeners is still zero," said Brody. "When you're spending money, you have leverage to get them to do more," such as on-air promotions or running extra ads.
Brody also warned Demand Treatment groups to be wary of broadcasters who tell them they have to run their ads with great frequency, saying that the time of day ads run can be more important than how often they air.
Dwayne Proctor, Ph.D., the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's communications officer for alcohol and other drug abuse issues, echoed Brody's warning about PSAs, pointing to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study showing that free ads are largely ineffective. Instead, Proctor advised groups to investigate community cable television as a low-cost way to get their message out to the public.
Other inexpensive outlets for Demand Treatment! messages include ads on newspaper websites and Internet banner ads.
Community leaders also advised building relationships with local media in order to win valuable coverage of treatment issues. Treatment advocates in Houston held a media roundtable to get their issues before editors and reporters. And Mobile's Krietemeyer said that passing along a press release on a Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) report about ecstasy sparked a local TV news story.
"Be a source, and it will get coverage for you," agreed Manchester's Gomes.
Local affiliates of the Ad Council also can help develop advertising materials for Demand Treatment, experts said. Michael Townsend, executive vice president of the PDFA, was also on hand at the Tempe meeting to deliver the message that his group and its local affiliates are interested in developing messages that support Demand Treatment.
Both Krietemeyer and Gomes acknowledge that they essentially went with their gut feelings in deciding how to distribute their Demand Treatment information. Experts say that some market research can be helpful, but that running focus groups to screen ads or using other standard techniques can be expensive.
David Bandler, a Pittsburgh Demand Treatment team member and former advertising executive, recommended partnering with a local ad agency, which may provide pro-bono advice on how to run an effective campaign.
Demand Treatment leaders also were reminded that Join Together -- which reaches tens of thousands of people via its website and JTO Direct news service -- also publishes press releases and news alerts for groups in the addiction field, free of charge (visit www.jointogether.org for more information).
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