MCO 507

Experiential Learning in Public Relations

Salem Board Of Health

Client Account Manager: Deanna DeBenedictis

Lead Writer: Jacquelin Del Rio

Art Director: Jesse Wogan

Media Strategist: Samuel Copans

 The Salem Board Of Health has worked with our team in creating a campaign that we have called

Salem Opioid Awareness. The goal of this campaign is to work towards erasing the stigma that surrounds

people who have struggled or are currently struggling with drug addiction. Many people are quick to have

the mindset that those who struggle are addicted out of choice and can stop using whenever they want to,

but they just choose not to and make their situation worse off in the process. In reality, however, addiction

is a disease and effects the body and mind physically just as much as it does mentally. There are treatment

options available and pretty accessible, though, that some may know about and others may not. Our

campaign’s goal was to shed light on these matters in a positive and hopeful way while also remaining

informative and stressing the seriousness of the opioid crisis.

We worked closely throughout this campaign with Emily Chi, Program Coordinator and Health

Educator at the North Shore Public Health Services Program in Salem, Massachusetts. We collaborated

with Emily through e-mail and phone and also met up with her in person on numerous occasions to

discuss the goals of the campaign, what actions would be taken throughout it, and the progress as things

were executed. She was a great help, giving us great jumping-off points to start with for the campaign and

helping us have access to resources that were really beneficial in terms of us achieving our goals for the

campaign. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her and the Salem Board Of Health

on this campaign!

The main goal that Emily brought up when we first met with her was for the campaign to have an

active presence on social media, something that the Salem Board Of Health had struggled with in past

instances. Because of this, we started out our campaign mostly focusing on an Instagram presence,

posting informative articles, statistics, and stories of local recovering addicts on the up-and-up. From

there we expanded to YouTube, conducting and filming personal interviews and working on more

creative projects like music playlists. We even went so far as to plan an event on the Salem State

University campus, complete with speakers and a NARCAN demonstration by the Salem Police

Department. In the end, the event was probably the largest part of the campaign that we tackled, but we as

a team feel that it was very worth it and really helped us in spreading the messages that we wanted to

spread with this campaign!

Client Goals/Objectives

- increase social media presence with a completely new Instagram account and build

off of the Salem Board of Health’s current work with a focus on opiate overdose

awareness.

- gear campaign towards de-stigmatizing the opioid crisis in the community of Salem

and hopefully in the North Shore community as well.

- educate Salem State University with an event on-campus regarding the opioid crisis

as well as treatment resources to give the community an educated point of view on

behalf of the Salem Board Of Health.

Strategy Brief

Background research: The opioid epidemic is a horrific crisis taking place within our community in

which, our client has dedicated substantial time and effort towards. According to The National

Institute of Drug Abuse, every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after an

overdose on opioids. Out of the 34 communities within Essex County, Salem, MA had the third

most overdoses in 2017. The number of opioid overdoses in Salem increased from 184 to 215

in just one year and the number of opiate-related deaths has also increased from 15 deaths to

21 deaths. Our client, the Salem Board Of Health, has helped to combat the opioid epidemic

significantly over the last decade. Because overdose fatalities are so prevalent in the region,

they have worked in conjunction with law enforcement to learn more about why people are

using at such alarming rates and what can be done to lower the number of overdose deaths In

the past, other Salem State students have worked with the Salem Board of Health to raise

awareness of the crisis. Their goal was to educate and inform the public about the dangers of

opioid use, as well as gain insight into personal experiences and public opinion.

The biggest stakeholder for the Salem Board of Health is the general public of Salem.

Salem residents are very concerned with the opioid epidemic, and with good reason. Not only
are their families at risk of exposure to the drug in their neighborhoods but they also must be

aware of the drug-related crimes such as breaking and entering and larceny.

The Salem Police Department is another large stakeholder and ally of the Salem Board

of Health. Collaborative efforts between these two organizations save lives, and even prevent

possible first-time users from starting. Our team is very excited to begin work with the Salem

Police Department and see how much we can accomplish together during the semester.

Another stakeholder includes the recovery facilities in the North Shore who also act as

members of the coalition with the Salem Board of Health. The numbers of people who are

affected by this crisis are a major concern of theirs and they need to be well prepared for the

capacity as well as the resources available.

As always, the media also takes part as a secondary stakeholder.

SWOT analysis: The SWOT analysis of our client and their goals for us provided our team with

specific information that was crucial to the success of our overall goal, which was to help de-

stigmatize addiction in the Salem community.

STRENGTHS - Our client’s strengths are extremely significant as they are a major

contributor to public health in the community. This is something that we were trying to help our

client take advantage of as they have a major influence on the community with the knowledge

and skills that all Salem Board Of Health employees possess, including data and statistics. The

Salem Board Of Health plays a major role in the city and provides a variety of services for those

suffering from addiction. This was a key factor in our strategy to de-stigmatize this disease and

reiterate the services provided by the city via social media and events. Another strength is that

the community of Salem is very involved with each other when it comes to the issue of opioid

overdoses, whereas the law enforcement know the people who suffer from this addiction by

name and regularly visit them within the time-frame to try and get them to seek recovery as they

are more susceptible to help within the first 24 hours.

 WEAKNESSES - The main advertising/public relations problem that exists within the

Salem Board Of Health is their social media presence. Our team collectively believed that

another thing that could use improvement was the amount of planned events within the

community of Salem. When we asked to see if there were any upcoming events on the subject,

we were informed that there was only one coming up in November and that the police

Department usually takes the lead on it. It is one thing to address the opioid epidemic, but the

issue lies within the fact that the Salem Board Of Health has to let the target audience know that

they are the ones putting out the message to inform and educate people on this subject. The

city of Salem needs to know that they are the ones who are engaging with the public to create

awareness, especially if one of their main objectives is to let people know the services and

resources that are available. These are some areas that we helped our client with throughout

the semester.

OPPORTUNITIES - There was a major opportunity for word-of-mouth as well as

networking opportunities since the community is already very close. There was opportunity to

get some help from some city councilmen, which we previously discussed with Professor

Haines to try and get them to lead some social media traffic towards our pages. We had many

resources in terms of the people who could help us accomplish our goals for the client this

semester.

THREATS - The Salem Board Of Health’s competitors would include other foundations

and hospitals in Salem trying to do the same thing: de-stigmatize and raise awareness on the

issue. Instead of competing though, we thought it would be a good idea to familiarize ourselves

with those foundations and companies to see what they do well so that we could also gain

followers. In contrast, it gave us an idea of what they are lacking in so we wouldn’t be making

the same mistakes. Ongoing social media development comes with backlash and debate from

opposing sides that are against the overall goal. There is currently quite a divide on the topic of

addiction that threatens the public image of our client as well as the goals they are trying to

accomplish.
Key strategic decisions: There are a lot of different factors that go into developing a relationship

with a client over time, and our team was dedicated to taking the steps to further our relationship

with Emily Chi, the Salem Board Of Health, and the community of Salem.

TARGET AUDIENCE - As previously mentioned, our target audiences for our campaign

were the community of Salem, Massachusetts and the students of Salem State University. We

believe that with our circumstances, skill sets, and connections, we were able to educate these

audiences on the physical makeup of an opioid addiction as well as what the consequences and

effects on an opioid user are, both physical and mental, and inform them of resources that are

available in the area for those that are suffering from the affliction of addiction. The big idea was

to de-stigmatize Salem.

DEMOGRAPHICS - people of any race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or education. Most

likely ages 15 and up (anyone who is able to understand the concepts of addiction and the

opioid epidemic.)

GEOGRAPHY - local, specifically the Salem community and the North Shore.

ATTITUDES - those who perceive those suffering from opioid usage and addiction as

any different from those suffering from any other sort of disease and assuming that addicts are

able to stop using whenever they feel like it.

MEDIA HABITS - where our main media focus was going to be social media for this

campaign, those who use social media applications such as Instagram and YouTube.

CULTURE - those from any cultural background, most likely those who speak and read

English because of the language barrier between our team and those who speak and read other

languages.

Brand position: The point of difference that the Salem Board Of Health has is that there are

many members of the community that are a part of their coalition. This makes things so much

easier for them to spread their message that is meant to de-stigmatize addiction when people of
the community come together to lend a helping hand and offer their own resources. This shows

that others recognize the issue at hand. Another advantage that they have includes the fact that

they are a board of health; the message coming from them will include all facts, especially when

physicians are available to say that addiction is in fact a disease. The message about health

would be much more respected coming from a reliable source.

Media strategy: Social media presence has been a major weakness for the Salem Board of

Health in this ongoing effort. The Board is utilizing our communications skills to develop a more

robust social media presence and develop a better public image via social media. Many

opportunities are there for the client in terms of increasing social media productivity and public

image. These opportunities arise from not only the services they provide, but possible events

that can take place in the community as well. A major factor that goes into all of these

opportunities is the willingness that the Board of Health provides to be more active on social

media and promote their services and goals.

There are many strategies that our team will be using to combat these threats that are

including but not limited to factual information, education resources alike and a presence of well

respected community members who are looking to achieve the same goal as our client.

Creative Works List

- logo for media campaign

- Instagram page (salem_opioid_awareness)

- YouTube channel (Salem Opioid Awareness)

- music playlist (#DestigmatizeSalem)

- interview with local recovering addict

- on-campus informational event/NARCAN demonstration

- flyer for on-campus informational event

Creative Works Collection/Results

- logo for media campaign

This logo was designed by Jesse Wogan to stand

as the symbol for our media campaign, Salem Opioid

Awareness. The logo is primarily purple so as to

represent the color of opioid awareness, with a plus sign

to symbolize health and a silhouette of a witch to

represent the community of Salem, which is known for its

Halloween festivities and Salem Witch Trials history. The

concept for the logo was brainstormed by the entire team with Jesse utilizing his art and graphic

design skills to make the logo a reality. The logo was created on Adobe Photoshop and we

believe it has done a superb job at representing our campaign as a whole. At our on-campus

event, we also handed out stickers of the logo that Deanna DeBenedictis had printed.
 - Instagram page (salem_opioid_awareness)

This Instagram page was created by Samuel Copans and edited over the course of the

semester by the entire team. Informational articles, poignant statistics, informative videos,

anecdotes on local recovering addicts, and promotional posts for our campaign’s other content

were posted to the account. The account content garnered 80 followers by the end of the media

campaign and even saw some followers interacting and commenting on the posts, something

that we were really hoping to accomplish throughout the campaign. Content to be posted to the

Instagram page was decided on by the entire team’s collaborations.

- YouTube channel

(Salem Opioid

Awareness)

The YouTube

channel was created by

Deanna DeBenedictis and

edited over the course of

the semester by the entire

team, essentially to post

original content and coincide with the Instagram page. Posted to the channel was an interview
with a local recovering opioid addict in which he told his personal story and the struggles that he

faced along with a music playlist constructed originally for this media campaign that tells the

story of someone trying drugs, becoming addicted, and subsequently embarking on the road to

recovery. Content that was uploaded to the YouTube channel was promoted on the Instagram

page for the campaign as well.

- music playlist (#DestigmatizeSalem)

The music playlist #DestigmatizeSalem was created by Deanna DeBenedictis in hopes

of another creative aspect being ready and available as part of our campaign. The playlist

consists of 40 songs, all of which were ordered in a specific way so as to tell the story of

somebody who is going through the struggle of addiction and coming out on top on the other

side. It starts out with the subject trying out drugs, then using them to cope, then falling down

the rabbit hole, then pushing away the people close to them, then realizing they have a problem,

then going cold turkey, then relapsing, then believing in themselves, and then recovering. Some

artists and bands included on the playlist struggled with addiction themselves and others

witnessed it happen to someone close to them.

 - interview with local recovering addict

This interview (https://youtu.be/xfE7YBX5WhE) was

conducted by Jesse Wogan. The interviewee is a friend of

his who has struggled with addiction and was graciously

willing to share his personal story of struggle and recovery

with the public for our media campaign. This interview was

conducted in hopes of raising awareness of the opioid

crisis in the community and to allow viewers to potentially relate on an emotional level. The

interviewee also shared with us his perspective on the crisis that has been plaguing the

community and his recovery progress, letting others know that there is hope for treatment and

that those who are struggling with opioid addiction are able to get help and come out the other

side. The interview sits at about six minutes long, and we feel that it is worth watching in its

entirety as there are a lot of poignant messages shared throughout it.

- on-campus informational event/NARCAN

demonstration

We decided that an event on the Salem State University

campus would be very beneficial to the success of our

campaign in the fact that it would help us directly reach

young adults who should definitely hear the messages of

Salem Opioid Awareness. Our event, titled “About The

Epidemic,” was held on December 3, 2018 at 6:00pm in the

Starbucks Coffee on the Salem State University campus.

There were originally three speakers lined up, however one backed out at the very last second

due to the flu. Instead we had a Salem State University student named Emily (she declined to

give her last name) tell her personal story of addiction and recovery. We also had Lieutenant
 McClune from the Salem Police Department come

in and give a discussion on the current severity of

the opioid epidemic in the Salem community as well

as perform a NARCAN demonstration. Free pizza

from Sammy’s Roast Beef was available to all who

attended and free stickers were given out displaying

our original logo. Approximately 30 people attended

the event with others passing in and out throughout

its entirety as the Starbucks Coffee remained open during the event. Salem Access Television

was also gracious enough to film the entirety of the event, which will air on local television within

the next two months.

- flyer for on-campus informational event

This flyer was designed by Jesse Wogan to

promote our on-campus informational event

and hang up around the Salem State

University campus. It was created in Adobe

Photoshop with input from the entire team

and includes information regarding our event

including the date, the time, the location, and

a brief synopsis of what the event will entail.

Our team decided to keep with the purple

color scheme so as to consistently represent

opioid awareness and because we wanted to

include our campaign logo on the flyer as

well. Other than Ed Moriarty (the speaker

who cancelled at the very last second), all of the information presented on the flyer is 100%
accurate. The Salem State University logo was also included on the flyer so as to be able to

hang it up around campus.

Conclusion

This campaign was a really rewarding experience and we feel as though each piece that

we came up with throughout

the course of the semester

coincides well with the

message of our campaign,

which was to de-stigmatize

the opioid crisis and spread

awareness of the epidemic

throughout the North Shore.

It was really nice to be able

to interact with other social

groups in the community to

discuss these issues as well

as reach out to the student

population of Salem State University and make sure that they have valuable and educational

information regarding the crisis itself, the physical and mental effects of opioid usage, and

treatment options that are available and accessible. We are so grateful to have collaborated

closely with Emily Chi and the Salem Board Of Health on this Salem Opioid Awareness media

campaign and that we have been able to achieve Emily’s originally proposed goals and

objectives. It has been a real privilege to be enrolled in this experiential learning course as it has

allowed all of us on the team to be able to be more prepared and further craft our

communications and media skills to be better suited for when we enter the work force post-

graduation.