The opioid crisis in Wisconsin was out of control. Abuse and addiction had started to become mainstream and was running rampant in seemingly all demographics, which posed a significant challenge for message strategy. We worked directly with the Wisconsin State Attorney General and his office to focus our message on high school students to stop addiction before it starts.
We produced a TV spot staring a digitally rendered fly. As the little guy made his way around a teens room it depicted how a little thing can destroy a persons life.
Our concept took aim at how opioid and heroine addictions tend to sneak up on people. Utilizing the old nursery rhyme about the old woman who swallowed a fly, we illustrate how addiction starts out small but can rapidly get out of control. The use of a childhood rhyme also lent to the innocence that often accompanies the first forays into use.
Some of the first parts to the campaign were stickers and social media posts that were distributed through influencers in local high schools (above) and posters (below) that went up in local hang outs and high school common areas.
We shot a series of interviews with addicts who had beaten their addiction but still live with it everyday, people who had lost loved ones and two people currently serving in prison. We kept them simple and honest with very few edits to keep as genuine a feeling as we could.
All materials pushed consumers to a website. In addition to having helpful information about addiction, how to recognize when you or a friend may be in too deep, there was an a "choose your own adventure" game that displayed how easy it is to get hooked.
