Advertising Case Study

Nick Fico, Digital Strategist, Draftfcb

Above the InfluenceCompany Background

The White House Office of National Drug Control

Policy (ONDCP), working with the advertising agency

Draftfcb, created a multichannel communications

campaign called “Above the Influence.” The Above

the Influence campaign focuses on teens who are

newly exposed to peer substance use. Their lives

are filled with pressure—to fit in, to grow up, to

stretch, to succeed, to define themselves. Above

the Influence helps to prevent and reduce teen use

of drugs and alcohol by positioning substance use

and the influence that promotes substance use as

an “influence” that makes you “less than you.” The

brand campaign launched in 2005, and has evolved

to incorporate active participation among teens

through activities, discussions and content creation.

Objective

The objective of the Above the Influence

Facebook Page is to engage teens with credible

information on substance abuse and allow

them to interact with one another to create an

authentic conversation around drugs, alcohol

and the influences that surround them every day.

The Above the Influence campaign has leveraged

social media as a key communications tool,

ensuring the brand message is communicated

in an environment most relevant to teens,

with Facebook being a critical component.

Facebook has provided an authentic platform

that facilitates true dialogue, builds positive

Facebook Executive SummaryClient:

Agency:

Objective: To engage teens with credible

information on substance abuse and

allow them to interact with one another

to create an authentic conversation

around drugs, alcohol and the influences

that surround them every day.

Solution: Target like-minded teens with

Facebook Ads to cultivate and support

an active user group on the Above the

Influence Facebook Page

Key Lessons:

• Facebooktargetingcanbean

effective tool for identifying a teen

demographic and encouraging

teens to join a community

• TheFacebookplatformenables

organizations to obtain a wide

variety of feedback from its

audience, which can inform and

lead an initiative

“While many people focus on overall page growth as a metric for

success, we have focused on ‘quality’ Like growth. In this regard,

what targeting on Facebook delivers often exceeds our expectations.

The quality of our audience is evident in the engagement rates we

are seeing, which are continuously going higher, month after month.

Facebook targeting has helped us create a supportive community for

teens to come and share with other like-minded teens.”

Advertising Case Study

brand interactions, and enables the Above the

Influence message to be delivered through the

voice of teens, thus making it more credible.

Approach

The presence of the Above the Influence brand

within Facebook began as a fan-created community

that officially launched as a Page in June 2010.

Media support followed in November and featured

Facebook Ads encouraging teens to visit the Above

the Influence Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/

AbovetheInfluence) in addition to the Above the

Influence website (www.abovetheinfluence.com).

The goal of the Facebook Ads campaign was

to continue to raise awareness for the brand’s

philosophy and its available resources, and to drive

quality fan growth for the Above the Influence

Facebook Page.

To achieve these goals, Above the Influence

approached U.S. teens 13- to 17-years-old on

Facebook with a two-pronged strategy. First, it

reached out to general market teens and directed

them to the Above the Influence website, where

teens could learn more about Above the Influence

and increase their knowledge regarding substance

use and negative influences. Secondarily, Above the

Influence targeted teens who shared the brand’s

sentiments and encouraged them to join the Above

the Influence Facebook community.

Ads targeted to the latter group of teens were

identified as having a potential affinity for Above

the Influence based on what the teens shared

in their public profiles. This could include stated

involvement in community coalitions (e.g., YMCA,

Jewish Community Center, etc.), and/or statements

against substance abuse (e.g., “I don’t drink or

smoke”). The ads used provocative messages such

as “Live Above and Inspire,” encouraging users to

join the conversation and make their voices heard

on the Above the Influence Facebook Page.

To encourage engagement with Above the Influence,

teens that showed affinity for the brand were also

served Premium Video Ads featuring Above the

Influence television commercials. One Video Ad

asks, “What keeps these teens Above the Influence?

Watch this commercial and let us know. Like our

Page for more discussions.”

With the understanding that teens across the

country have embraced Above the Influence as their

voice in resisting negative influences—particularly

drugs and alcohol—it was important to build a

strong community where teens felt empowered

to be themselves and share their experiences

with peers. “The Above the Influence Facebook

community supports the mission and fights for the

ideals that we are talking about,” says Dana Fiore,

Account Executive at Draftfcb. “The fans know it’s

a safe place for them to have honest discussions.”

The campaign’s success has come from establishing

a cohesive online community through targeted

advertising efforts, careful moderation and frequent

brand postings helping to guide and encourage

ongoing conversation.

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The Future

Moving forward, Above the Influence looks to

continue to leverage the Facebook platform as a

catalyst for teen discussion on influence in their life,

including drug and alcohol use. “It’s a critical part of

what the campaign is doing, the platform where the

conversation is going on,” says Dana. “The teens are

generating the dialogue, sharing their stories and

supporting each other. They are the inspiration for

other teens to make their voices heard.”

Results

• TheAbovetheInfluenceFacebookPagegained

99,680 new fans as a direct result of the ad

campaign and has gained a total of 196,547 new

fans since the beginning of the overall campaign.

As of mid-July 2011, Above the Influence had more

than 255,000 fans, giving the campaign a

big base of teen influencers who can spread its

message.

• Thecampaign’sengagementrateshavebeen

as high as 3 percent, surpassing the brand’s

typical engagement rates.

• AccordingtoNickFico,DigitalStrategistat

Draftfcb, “Since the launch of the Facebook ad

campaign in November, the community’s growth

has tripled, even quadrupled.”

• Thecampaign’svideoswereviewedmorethan

55,000 times.

• Theadswereviewednearly161milliontimes,

with the campaign generating an additional

70 million “social impressions” or views when

friends liked the Facebook Page.

The passion of the Above the Influence Facebook

community has been evident in the campaign’s

high engagement rates. Nick says, “We’re seeing

engagement rates on average of 0.70 to 0.80 percent,

and sometimes even over multiple percentage

points, which was not common for the brand

before the advertising campaign began.” Draftfcb

attributes the high engagement rates to frequent

brand postings of questions to the community,

which positions the fans as experts and allows them

to share their expertise with peers. “It becomes

more peer to peer. We become the moderators

and shape the conversation, letting them help

each other,” explains Nick. Above the Influence has

leveraged advertising efforts, in addition to brand

posts, to identify and engage teen advocates.