Imagine being a drug addict and not even knowing it. Imagine the impact on, your health, your career, your relationships.

In 2018, almost 1 in 8 Australians were taking medically prescribed opioids, while almost 90% of the population were unaware of their highly addictive properties. With physical dependency beginning after just 5 days, and 1 in 10 long term users at risk of addiction, many descend into a destructive cycle of opioid addiction without even knowing why.

Our challenge was to expose these risks and encourage those taking prescription opioids to question their behaviour. Was it just pain relief they were reaching for or was it something else?

Under the Banner of Reach for the facts, we developed a multi-faceted media campaign across broadcast, outdoor, direct and digital, all designed to alert the public to the risks of long-term prescription opioid usage – mainstream media for reach, and programmatic behavioural targeting to serve ‘search term’ prompted ads with bespoke messages. 

Beyond building awareness, the campaign directed our audience to a new website. A hub of useful information for the public and healthcare professionals, the website allowed visitors to check if their medication was an opioid, and to take an online ‘dependency test’. When completed, a PDF of the test results was generated for people to share with their doctor.

Our campaign encouraged South Australians to ‘reach for the facts’, and post-campaign results made it clear that they had. Awareness of prescription opioids (29%) and the associated risk of dependency (30%) had risen significantly. Most importantly, there was a 46% increase in patients willing to talk to their GP about pain management alternatives.