Strategy

RALLY was brought on by the Center for Collaborative Planning, Public Health Institute (CCP) to create a digital communications campaign to address the impact of substance use disorders, especially opioid use among Black women living in California and increase the awareness about Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), use of medications to treat substance use disorder. RALLY’s engagement began with desk research, stakeholder interviews, and social media listening scans that provided three critical insights: 1) Myths and misperceptions about MAT discourage people from seeking it out as a solution, 2) Women of color with substance use disorder are not afforded empathy and understanding, and 3) The voices of those with lived experience are crucial to putting a personal face to this issue, especially success stories for MAT.

Execution

These insights led to the strategy, messaging, and campaign development of See Her Bloom, an online statewide stigma reduction campaign that raises awareness for service providers while reducing stigma about opioid use disorder so Black women feel empowered to seek treatment.

To ensure See Her Bloom included voices from the community and individuals who had experience supporting Black women experiencing opioid use disorder, RALLY worked with the Center for Collaborative Planning, Public Health Institute (CCP) to form, manage, and leverage coalition partners as part of the campaign. The coalition was composed of organizations from different parts of California including, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco. As service providers and community leaders, they offered essential perspectives in tackling this issue as well as useful connections to help build the campaign. RALLY engaged the coalition and leveraged their community connections to amplify the campaign and build relationships with service providers and impacted women.

See Her Bloom launched with an interactive website, social media channels, and personal stories to bring the name, branding and messaging of the campaign to life. RALLY used See Her Bloom’s social media channels to highlight the personal stories of Black women impacted by the opioid crisis to drive a human connection and put the impacted audience front and center. See Her Bloom executed a coordinated day of action where influencers simultaneously distributed See Her Bloom content, primarily on Instagram and Twitter. See Her Bloom also hosted an Instagram live to create a safe and positive space to talk about opioid addiction and healing.

Paid digital advertising was essential to drive engagement to social posts. Paid digital advertising allowed us to reach women and service providers across California and raise awareness of the campaign. RALLY reached our audience through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and drove them to the See Her Bloom website, the information hub for the campaign. To engage Black women and service providers with the campaign, RALLY identified three goals: awareness, engagement, and mobilization, and developed a digital strategy to achieve them. The vision was to provide a hub for Black women and service providers to gather, learn, and tell their stories.

Results

RALLY developed messaging, a multi-faceted website of user-generated content, social media strategy, and launched a first-of-its-kind campaign that centered Black women in the discussion about the opioid crisis. See Her Bloom has been featured on social media channels of Tina Lifford, star of OWN Network’s Queen Sugar, B.L.A.C.K Wellness, and Prosperity Center, and The California Opioid Safety Network. The digital campaign drove high awareness among key audiences, delivering 9 million impressions and social media posts reached over 63,000 people targeting service providers and Black women across the state.

The campaign demonstrated that Black women are more likely to discuss their experiences with opioid use disorder and be more receptive to messaging around services that can help when those messages come from others who look like them and share their lived experiences.