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"National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: How to Ensure the Program
Operates Efficiently and Effectively"
August 1, 2001
Chairman Souder, Ranking Member Cummings, all of us at the Office of National Drug Control Policy appreciate this opportunity to review ONDCP's administration of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. This written testimony provides an overview of programmatic achievements and initiatives, campaign effectiveness, and contract oversight.
Since its launch in July 1998, the Media Campaign has been the most visible symbol of the federal government's commitment to drug prevention. The extensive public/private sector partnerships formed by the campaign have created a significant counterbalance to the plethora of pro-drug messages received by vulnerable youth. The National Institute on Drug Abuse conducts the Monitoring The Future (MTF) survey which has become one of the principal tracking instruments of adolescent attitudes and behavior. Dr. Lloyd Johnston of MTF asked youth about exposure to anti-drug advertising in general during interviews conducted for the 2000 MTF survey. He reports that half of teens report daily anti-drug ad exposure, and that 70 percent of 8th graders are seeing anti-drug advertising on a weekly basis. We believe that the media campaign is contributing to these encouraging results.
We are investing $7 million a year in performance measurement to determine the effectiveness of the Media Campaign. Campaign effectiveness is measured for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) by Westat and its subcontractors, the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania and the National Development and Research Institute (NDRI). We are encouraged by the findings to date. Westat data, from the most recent evaluation (April 2001) indicates high awareness of anti-drug messages — 89 percent of youth and 93 percent of parents recalled seeing or hearing some form of anti-drug advertising at least once per month. Additionally, unpublished 2000 MTF data indicates that 40 percent of eight graders reported that anti-drug advertising made them less likely to use drugs. Again, we believe that the media campaign is making a difference here. Susan David of NIDA, who is also testifying today, can provide you greater details of the formal media campaign outcome evaluation and results to date.
The Media Campaign's contract administration procedures were recently reviewed by the General Accounting Office in a June 2001 report to the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government. This report found problems with our advertising contractor's — Ogilvy & Mather (Ogilvy) - accounting and billing processes. It also faulted the government for inadequately managing aspects of the contract award and contract administration. The report's findings and the steps we have taken to implement the GAO's recommendations are addressed later in this written statement. It is important to view this report in perspective. ONDCP has protected the public purse at all times. We have meticulously scrutinized all invoices submitted to the government by Media Campaign contractors and recommended non-payment for all unsubstantiated or unallowable claims. All payments to contractors are subject to final audit.
We very much appreciate the bipartisan support of Congress for this important drug-prevention program. We believe there is a strong body of evidence that indicates the campaign is working, as planned, to change drug attitudes, intentions and use. Existing indicators of success suggest we have the opportunity to realize long-term change in adolescent and adult substance-abuse rates if we continue to invest in science-based drug prevention programs.
II. Overview of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign
Purpose
The purpose of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is to prevent drug use before it starts. The campaign seeks to influence young people's attitudes and beliefs about drugs and prevailing social norms – key factors that influence decisions to use or not use illegal drugs. Our anti-drug messages are science based. We continuously consult with experts in the fields of behavior change, drug prevention, youth marketing, advertising and communications. We are implementing a comprehensive communications strategy that uses a variety of media and messages to reach young people, their parents, and other youth-influential adults. From network television advertisements to school-based educational materials, from playground basketball backboards to internet Web sites, and from parenting skills brochures to ads in movie theaters, the campaign's messages reach Americans where they live, work, learn, play, and pray.
Focus
The campaign focuses on drugs of first use, most commonly marijuana and inhalants. Many adolescents who start using marijuana at an early age later use other drugs. Youngsters who have never tried marijuana or inhalants are substantially less likely to do so. The campaign also addresses new drugs and new ways of using existing drugs, which can rapidly become popular with young people. The campaign addresses these emerging trends in an effort to prevent their spread.
Advertising
Advertising (both purchased and pro-bono matches) on television, radio, print, and the internet is the cornerstone of the Media Campaign. The advertising delivers specific anti-drug messages each month nationally as well as across 102 local markets with more than 1,300 media outlets. Media outlets receiving paid advertising are required to match the value of those ads with in-kind public service activity. This "pro-bono" match can take many forms, such as free advertising space or time, newspaper inserts, and sponsorship of community events.
The campaign advertising messages are developed in concert with the Partnership for a Drug Free America. All campaign advertising messages undergo a rigorous, multi-step review process and are designed to not only reach America's youth audience, but also to inform and engage tens of millions of parents and adult influencers of youth, including numerous ethnic and culturally diverse audiences. The strategic use of advertising accomplishes the campaign's goals of reaching 90% of America's teens four times a week with one set of anti-drug messages while simultaneously reaching about three quarters of all parents more than three times per week with a separate set of relevant messages.
Partnerships
ONDCP has formed more than 100 strategic partnerships and cooperative initiatives to extend campaign messages in order to reach young people, their parents and other adults where they live, work, learn, play, and practice their faith. The campaign works through these alliances to help create a legacy of healthy choices for America's youth by infusing campaign messages into the fabric of youth-serving, civic, parenting, educational, and other organizations nationwide. Examples of campaign partnerships include:
Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) — A critical partner, the PDFA is a private, non-profit, non-partisan coalition of professionals from the communications industry. Its mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in America through media communications. The Partnership had concluded that intense competition, brought on by the splintering of the media, brought new economic realities to the media industry in the 1990s. With media donations to the Partnership down more than $100 million since 1991, the outlook for national media was uncertain. The ONDCP campaign promised something unprecedented for PDFA's public service advertising — precise placement of the right ads, targeting the right audience running in the right media, consistently, over time.
*NSYNC — ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and *NSYNC, one of the hottest musical groups among young teens today, have joined forces to promote the Media Campaign's "My Anti-Drug" brand. Millions of young lives are being positively impacted this summer as the voice of *NSYNC asserts its anti-drug stance.
Boy Scouts of America — The campaign's multi-faceted collaboration with Boy Scouts included a major "What's Your Anti-Drug?" presence at the organization's quadrennial Jamboree, which last week attracted more than 250,000 youth and adult visitors from around the world.
Girl Scouts of the USA — The campaign has partnered with the Girl Scouts of the USA to develop a drug-prevention workbook and patch program for all levels of Girl Scouting.
YMCA of the USA — Together, we developed Positively Drug Free: A Prevention Awareness Handbook that incorporates campaign messages into a substance-abuse curriculum for use in YMCA training centers across the country.
Youth Service America Volunteer Initiative — We developed the "Building Healthy Youth & Communities through Service" initiative for National Youth Service Day 2000.
Nationwide Newspaper Supplements — The campaign teamed with the country's largest newspaper trade association, educators, and anti-drug organizations to create Majority Rules — a "What's Your Anti-Drug?" newspaper supplement — for publication in more than a hundred daily papers across the country this fall. ONDCP helped bring together the newspapers with local anti-drug organizations in each market to encourage adaptation of the materials into unique community-specific supplements featuring local youngsters.
New York Times — The campaign revised, edited, and promoted "Anti-Drug Education with The New York Times," a standards-based anti-drug classroom guide for middle-school teachers that demonstrates how to incorporate the daily newspaper into classroom lessons to help youth develop skills to resist the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
USA Today — The campaign collaborated with USA TODAY, the National Middle School Association and the National Association of Student Assistance Professionals to develop an educational newspaper insert featuring youth from across the country with their "Anti-Drugs." The insert, published in November 2000, captured the vitality and diversity of the campaign's "What's Your Anti-Drug?" youth movement by featuring young people and their "Anti-Drugs" expressed through stories, poetry, artwork and photography. Combining circulation and availability through other channels, almost four million copies have been distributed.
National Education Association (NEA) — NEA is the nation's largest multi-disciplinary organization for educators and school personnel. We are working with the NEA's Health Information Network to develop innovative substance-abuse prevention programs and materials geared to school employees, middle school students and their families.
America Online/Time Warner (AOL) — ONDCP has partnered with AOL to develop multiple opportunities to promote campaign Web sites Freevibe.com and TheAntiDrug.com as resources to AOL users in the Family and Kids Only areas, and supporting the integration of campaign messages into AOL content.
NASADAD and NPN — The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) and the National Prevention Network (NPN) foster and support the development of effective drug abuse prevention and treatment programs in every state across the country. NADASAD and NPN work with ONDCP to provide local and regional input for a variety of the campaign's communications efforts.
National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA) — The Media Campaign developed and disseminated information for youth and adult influencers in daily contact with tweens and teens, enrolled NACoA as a judge in the "What's Your Anti-Drug?" USA TODAY print insert project, and enrolled NACoA as a premier partner in the "Children at Risk" project.
National Families in Action (NFIA) — The campaign collaborates on Web site resource links and content sharing of drug prevention materials, parenting tips and articles for electronic newsletters.
Celebrity Partners — A variety of celebrities have appeared in campaign PSAs or have given their Anti-Drugs including Tiki Barber of the New York Giants, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team, Olympic Gold Medallist Tara Lipinski, and the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team.
Entertainment Industry Outreach
As a major influence in the lives of young people, the entertainment community is in a unique and powerful position to communicate the message to America's youth that most kids are not using drugs and that drug use is not normal. The Media Campaign, working with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, is engaging the entertainment industry as part of the solution. The campaign's strategy leverages pop culture's visibility, credibility and influence with young audiences. The goal is to surround teens with vital drug use prevention messages, provide adults with practical information to help them raise drug-free kids, and encourage accurate portrayal of drug issues in entertainment media so that pop culture does not perpetuate myths about drugs and drug use.
We are providing resources and information on substance abuse to the creative community via briefings, special events, collateral materials, access to experts, and other technical assistance on issues related to substance use. We are engaging celebrities who are positive role models to extend the reach of campaign messages and strategies. We participate in and host entertainment industry events. We develop public service messages in collaboration with major media outlets. We conduct content analysis and other research to determine how entertainment media depict substance abuse issues. We have brought together producers, writers, directors, and creative executives from the television networks and major industry associations for workshops and roundtables on substance abuse issues in New York and Los Angeles.
We are encouraged by the results of this outreach to the entertainment industry. All major television networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and the WB, as well as cable outlets such as ESPN, have supported the campaign and its messages through donations of airtime and production of celebrity PSAs. A growing number of television programs highly-rated among teens have incorporated strategic, research-based information on illicit drugs and drug use. We have developed relationships with key entertainment industry organizations including The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Music, Fox Home Video, the Writers Guild Foundation, the Los Angeles Lakers and Marvel and D.C. Comics. Youth and parents nationwide are hearing anti-drug messages from celebrity voices from a range of entertainment genres, including: TV (e.g., Eriq La Salle of NBC's ER, Jenna Elfman of ABC's Dharma & Greg, Ken Olin of CBS's LA Doctors, Lisa Nicole Carter of Fox's Ally McBeal, Marc Blucas of ABC's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Hector Elizando of Chicago Hope), film, popular music (e.g., Lauryn Hill, Mary G. Blige, The Dixie Chicks, MTV VJ Tyrese), amateur and professional sports (e.g., U.S. Women's Soccer Team, Olympic Gold Medallist Tara Lipinski, Mike Modano of the 1999 NHL Champion Dallas Stars), comedy (e.g., Howie Mandel), pop culture (e.g., Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson, Marvel Comics' Spiderman).
Interactive Activities
The Media Campaign includes an interactive program that blends Web sites, online editorial, partnerships, sponsorships and rich-media advertising to create one of the strongest public health programs on the Web. We have developed a number of Web sites that use audience-tested messages to engage and educate parents and youth about drug use prevention. Our target audience is driven to the sites through online and traditional advertising and publicity; Web links through Internet sites that support the campaign messages (i.e. news, health, or target age-related); Internet search engines; as well as direct access. The following sites have garnered a combined total of over 20 million page views since the campaign's inception:
www.theantidrug.com provides parents and other adult caregivers with strategies and tips on raising healthy, drug-free children. The site encourages parents to help their children with these difficult issues by focusing on four major concepts: love, trust, honesty, and communication. It also offers suggestions on how to address sensitive subjects such as a parent's personal history with drugs. Information from theantidrug.com is now available in Spanish at www.laantidroga.com and in various Asian languages (Korean, Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese) through the www.theantidrug.com homepage.
www.freevibe.com helps young people understand the dangers of substance abuse and make responsible decisions with their lives. The site features moderated bulletin boards, role-playing games, media literacy tools, and facts about today's drugs. Freevibe was developed in a collaborative effort with Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, and the Media Campaign.
www.teachersguide.org was designed around the youth-oriented content on Freevibe and provides teachers with lesson plans, classroom activities, teaching tips and discussion guides to help prevent students from using or trying drugs. It was created and designed with input from veteran educators, behavioral experts, and social marketers.
www.straightscoop.org is designed for junior high school and high school reporters and editors as part of the campaign's Straight Scoop News Bureau. The site encourages students to report on drug-related issues in school-based publications and broadcasts. It features news bulletins, story ideas, and tips from professional journalists.
www.mediacampaign.org provides campaign stakeholders with information about the ONDCP's drug prevention programs, activities and strategies. The site includes the campaign's press releases, announcements and quarterly newsletter, as well as downloadable anti-drug banners that can easily be posted on stakeholder Web sites.
AOL's Parents' Drug Resource Center (PDRC) (Keyword: Drug Help) features science-based parenting skills and drug facts to help parents raise drug-free children. The PDRC connects parents to a wide variety of drug prevention resources, and features bulletin boards that enable parents to share drug prevention tips and other information. This site is the result of ongoing collaboration between America Online, the Media Campaign and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
AOL's "It's Your Life" (Keyword: Your Life) is located on AOL's Kids Only Channel and provides an entertaining environment where kids age 7 to 12 can learn the truth about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. "It's Your Life" features advice from celebrities encouraging healthy living, along with kid-friendly information about alcohol and illicit drugs.
We have also formed partnerships with some of the nation's leading organizations and corporations to more effectively reach tweens, teens and their mentors. These partnerships have resulted in the joint development of interactive content for the campaign, as well as raised awareness of the drug prevention issue. Examples include:
Reprise Records — has led to high-profile opportunities for the Media Campaign such as a link to the Freevibe Web site from pop group Barenaked Ladies' and Reprise Records' Web sites. Reprise Records (www.repriserec.com), a major recording label, has extended its resources and talent to the campaign in a number of ways including interviews for Freevibe and It's Your Life.
The Federal Web site Initiative — encourages federal agencies to place anti-drug messages and links on the youth- and parent-focused areas of their Web sites, which are visited by kids and parents seeking answers to homework or other projects. More than 20 sites have volunteered to include drug prevention content or links to Media Campaign Web sites, including NASA (www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/index.html).
The Mills Corporation Partnership — has proven to be extremely beneficial for the campaign both online and offline. The Mills family of mall Web sites receives high amounts of traffic and regularly features updates from the Media Campaign. Offline, the Mills Corporation (www.millscorp.com) has extended its generosity in the form of free airtime on their Malls' closed circuit TV system and floor space at teen and tween oriented events.
Online Advertising is also an important aspect of communication. In the 1999-2001 media years, ONDCP placed online advertising on over 50 consumer Web sites and America Online. This generated nearly 1.2 billion total impressions (paid and match). These efforts drove more than 6.5 million visitors to the Media Campaign Web sites. The campaign's interactive ads appear on sites relevant to vulnerable youth and concerned parents, e.g. video games, entertainment, music, teenagers, health, parenting, community, audio, broad reach, activist, advice, and education.
III. Indicators of Campaign Success
We are reaching our target audiences
The campaign is reaching its intended audiences and achieving breakthrough anti-drug awareness. Following the behavior change model on which the campaign is based, the effort has achieved significant absolute levels of anti-drug awareness. The 'anti-drug' campaign has been infused into the market and become a verifiable part of youth vernacular and pop-culture today.
Campaign advertising reaches about 90 percent of all teens 4.3 times per week (Nielsen 2000/X*pert System and other independent syndicated research sources). In focus groups, youth repeatedly indicate that they see it 'all the time.' The campaign receives roughly 90-100 unsolicited requests a month from youth seeking campaign posters, postcards and other material.
The campaign advertising reaches 83 percent of all adults 3.4 times per week. (Nielsen 2000/X*pert System and other independent syndicated research sources). During the most recent parent inhalants effort, there was a 193 percent increase in average number of calls received per day to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information.
According to the campaign's own Milward Brown Tracking Study, as of the end of May 2001, 60 percent of youth surveyed report having seen 'Anti-Drug' advertising, and 77 percent of these have thought about their own 'anti-drug.' While this is not a formal measure of outcomes, this study does suggest that the campaign's messages are being heard and are causing adolescents to think about drugs.
Data from the NIDA evaluation study includes two types of measures of awareness of the media campaign - measures of general ad awareness, and measures of specific ad awareness. Awareness of specific ads is the preferred measure in assessing the media campaign. The most recent evaluation report (April 2001) indicates high awareness of the campaign, typically higher on general awareness and lower on specific ad awareness, for example:
"Roughly 89% of youth and approximately 93% of parents recalled seeing or hearing some form of anti-drug advertising at least once per month." (p. 3-13)
"About 70% of youth and parents report weekly exposure from the combination of [media] sources." (p. 3-14)
"The median number of recalled ad exposures by parents was 10 per month and the median number of recalled ad exposures by youth was 12 per month." (p. 3-14)
"[On an aided basis] about 84% of youth recalled seeing at least one of the ads that had been played in the previous 60 days." (p. 3-19)
"Almost two-thirds of parents reported exposure to at least one parent television ad from the campaign in recent months." (p.3-20)
Attitudes are changing
The authorizing legislation for the Media Campaign provides "that the Director [of ONDCP] shall...report to Congress within 2 years on the effectiveness of the Media Campaign based upon measurable outcomes provided to Congress previously." As documented in previous reports to Congress (Phase I final report, September 1998, and the Phase II final report, June 1999) the first two phases of the Media Campaign achieved their objective of increasing awareness of anti-drug messages among youth and adults. In the Phase II final report, ONDCP reported statistically significant increases in awareness of specific Media Campaign ads. In Phase II, there also was a substantial increase in the percentage of youth who agreed that the ads made them stay away from drugs (from 61 percent to 69 percent). The percentage of youth reporting they learned a lot about the dangers of drugs from TV commercials increased from 44 to 52 percent.
The first year of data collected as part of the Phase III evaluation and submitted to Congress in April 2001 ("Evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign: Second Semi-Annual Report of Findings") provides valuable information on the Media Campaign's reach to date. Key findings include 71 percent of youth reported seeing general anti-drug ads across all media. There is good evidence of increased anti-drug sentiment among older non-drug-using teens (aged 14 to 18) with regard to marijuana trial between Waves 1 and 2, which may signal subsequent declines in marijuana use in future waves of the evaluation. Among parents, 70 percent of parents report seeing or hearing general anti-drug ads across all media. The parent data indicate a consistent pattern of association between exposure to anti-drug messages and three key outcomes (talking with, monitoring, and engaging in fun activities with youth), meaning that parents who reported high levels of exposure to anti-drug messages were more likely to have engaged in the three activities with their children, but no change over time.
As noted earlier, the independent evaluation of Phase III is being conducted through NIDA with a contract to Westat and its subcontractors, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. The first wave of data collection occurred from November 1999 through May 2000. The first semi-annual report of the evaluation of Phase III, released in November 2000, includes early estimates of exposure to the campaign, and it identifies anti-drug beliefs and drug use behaviors that will be watched over time both for movement and their association with exposure, setting the stage for the additional waves of the evaluation. Findings from the November 2000 report included:
Awareness
General exposure measures summed across all media suggest that 93 percent of youth recalled exposure to one or more anti-drug ads each month and 90 percent of adults recalled exposure to one or more anti-drug ads each month.
More than half of youth reported seeing and hearing a good deal about drug use in the mass media, including through media coverage about drug use among youth.
Attitudes
Most youth express negative attitudes and negative beliefs about the consequences of drug use: most 9- to 11- year-old children do not report using marijuana and have strong anti-marijuana attitudes (6.8 on a 1-7 anti-marijuana scale); 12- to 18- year-old non-using teens are also generally negative (6.6 on 1-7 scale) about marijuana use but less consistent in their anti-drug beliefs suggesting an area for potential improvement.
According to Milward Brown, as advertising exposure (total and youth-directed) increased, more youth agreed with a range of anti-drug belief statements being tracked. These include statements such as 'Staying drug-free will help me achieve my goals and do everything I want to do with my life". In a specific example, as exposure increased to one particular anti-drug ad entitled "Two Brothers," more youth agreed with the statement "Smoking marijuana can't help a kid to get accepted."
These findings corroborate findings by other surveys that higher levels of advertising exposure relate to higher levels of youth knowledge of drug use risks and make them feel less favorable toward drugs at significantly higher levels than 1998. PDFA's PATS 2000 survey found that 49 percent of youth who saw ads frequently gained knowledge of drug risks versus 28 percent of youth who saw ads less than once a week. New, unpublished MTF 2000 data reports that 34 percent of 8th graders indicate that anti-drug ads made them feel less favorable toward drugs. Again, we believe that our media campaign is contributing to these favorable trends.
The second semi-annual Westat report (released in April 2001) suggests that campaign advertising continues to strengthen youth anti-drug beliefs. While Westat's April 2001 report cannot yet report significant changes among 12-13 year olds who already hold strong anti-drug beliefs, there are significant changes in anti-drug beliefs reported for older youth:
"… there is good evidence of encouraging changes between Wave 1 and Wave 2 among older teens (14-18), who had never used marijuana. There were 17 discrete outcomes assessing beliefs, attitudes and intentions about trial use of marijuana. Of those, 16 showed change toward an anti-drug direction. Of those changes, six were statistically significant. Thus, both by pattern of results and by presence of specific statistically significant results, there is a firm claim that there was an increase in expressed anti-drug sentiment during Wave 2 compared to Wave 1." (p. 7-2)
"There was no evidence of statistically significant change among 12-13 year-olds. This finding is not surprising given the already strong anti-drug beliefs and attitudes observed in this age range in Wave 1. Note, however, that the margins for error on all of these change estimates are large, some of the non-significant absolute changes are of a magnitude to be of interest, and a majority of the statistically significant changes go in a positive direction." (p. 7-2)
Westat data suggests advertising exposure is linked to reduced intentions to use drugs in the future and reports a trend linking youth exposure [to campaign advertising] with reduced intentions to use marijuana.
"Visually, there appears to be a definite upward trend [among youth] in intentions to avoid marijuana as exposure [to campaign ads] increases." (p. 10-9)
"[Among youth] the highest exposure group reports more non-intention than the low-exposure sample, with a difference at 7.1 percent." (p. 10-10)
Westat reports associations between parental exposure to campaign advertising and related behaviors are in the desired direction.
"There is impressive and consistent evidence for associations between parental exposure and reported behavior and cognitions related to several campaign objectives in the desired direction. The effects are most pronounced for parent reports of talk, including all the measures associated with that variable: recalled overall talk, talk about rules, intentions to talk, attitude toward talk, social expectations for talk, and for self-efficacy for talk. But it is also established for the monitoring and fun activities objectives." (p. 11-7)
Youth drug use has declined or stabilized since 1996
The three leading national studies identify significant decreases in drug use since 1996, continuing through 2000. They include Monitoring the Future (MTF), the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS).
Marijuana use among 8th and 10th graders is declining. (MTF 2000)
Past month use is decreasing significantly, down to 7%, among 12 - 17 year olds. (NHSDA)
Marijuana trial and use among teens in grades 7 - 12 is declining. (2000 PATS)
Observed rates of youth drug use began to show a decline in 1997, a year prior to the initiation of the campaign. While the campaign cannot be statistically related to this positive trend, the data linking anti-drug advertising to changing attitudes suggest that the campaign will contribute significantly to this decline.
The campaign is benefiting other parent- and youth-oriented organizations
The campaign's impact on community, civic and public health/service organizations can best be measured by the reporting results of these organizations most benefiting from the efforts of the program. The pro-bono portion of the Media Campaign has increased the amount of public service advertising and its visibility (by requiring high visibility placement vs. volunteered placement).
By supporting organizations that meet established criteria and help create an environment in which youth can grow up drug free the match has helped organizations that help parents and youth. It expands the campaign's scope and reach in educating and enabling youth to reject illegal drugs by providing access to more resources and information to promote anti-drug education and healthy life choices, helping build community coalitions and promoting parental involvement and mentoring. The following provides examples of specific successes, provided by the Ad Council of the pro-bono match portion of the campaign as measured by several of our stakeholder partners:
National 4H Council sought to encourage kids and parents to call the toll free number or visit the Web site to find out more information about volunteer activities and how to participate. From 1998-1999 there was a 20% increase in volunteerism, service learning and community service participation.
Kids Peace — TeenCentral.Net sought to increase awareness and use of a Web site providing teens with a safe, 24 hour anonymous, yet personalized problem solving resource. Match participation in 2000 resulted in 1/4 of a million more Web site hits than previous year.
Save the Children USA sought to recruit youth mentors. Since PSA inclusion in Match, calls generated from more than 40,000 prospective mentors and at least 20% (8,000) have become mentors helping make lasting changes in kid's lives.
Boys Town sought to increase awareness of and calls to its 24-hour professionally staffed hotline, which addresses drug and alcohol abuse problems, thoughts of suicide, and domestic violence. By participating in the Match, the Boys Town hotline experienced an increase in call volume for two consecutive years versus decreases of 14%-20% in previous years.
We are exceeding Congress' pro-bono match requirements
Congress mandates that every campaign dollar spent on advertising must be matched on an equal basis by media outlets' public service efforts. The Pro-Bono Match Program helps to ensure the preservation of the traditional donated media model of public service advertising. Most importantly, this program serves to dramatically increase the frequency and broaden the nationwide presence of proven drug prevention messages and information.
The majority of the Match requires media outlets to donate a matching amount of media time and space for qualified Public Service Announcements (PSAs). The balance of the requirement can be fulfilled with other in-kind public service efforts. In-kind public service efforts are communications activities that fall outside of what would be considered "advertising" or "public service announcements," but which are deemed by message and audience specialists to reach the campaign's key audiences with core messages in creative and effective ways. Examples include production of educational materials, development and maintenance of Web sites, publications, public service ads with Network talent, additional time and space in purchased media and many others. The goal of the donated media time and space, together with the in-kind public service efforts, is a communications campaign the sum of whose influence is greater than its individual components.
For the period beginning January 1998 through September 2001, the total value of the pro-bono match is projected to reach $524 million, eighty four per cent of which was donated air time and space. Never before has such an enormous amount of free media time and space been successfully negotiated and implemented. The pro-bono match was negotiated using paid advertising valued at $485 million. Additional "in-kind" corporate contributions of $72 million, bring the total value of the Anti-Drug Media Campaign to over $1 billion. Eligible PSAs are those that aid in drug prevention by encouraging activities such as mentoring, greater parental involvement, after-school programs, raising young people's self-esteem, and other nationally relevant youth-related issues such as underage drinking and juvenile crime.
ONDCP has contracted the Advertising Council to serve as the clearinghouse for the pro-bono match. Organizations' public service messages that meet the established guidelines for the match are encouraged to submit their pre-produced PSAs for review by ONDCP's Media Match Task Force. PSAs that qualify for the match receive a minimum of three months of highly visible free media exposure on television, radio, and the internet. The match has been dispersed across every major media type, from national and local TV and radio to newspapers, magazines, in-theater onscreen advertising, billboards, subways, as well as an extensive in-school campaign. The highlights of the match from June 1998 projected to September 2001 include more than 20,377 national TV PSAs, 522,975 local TV and radio PSAs, and more than 244,599 PSAs secured in major broadcast media. More than 84 national organizations have benefited in this way.
One aspect of the pro-bono match component of the campaign which was discontinued in May 2001was the practice of granting strategic message credit for programming content. Based on advice from the campaign's Behavior Change Expert Panel and other public health organizations, the campaign recognized that accurate, on-strategy programming is more effective even than ads in shaping behavior and building understanding about issues (advertising does the job over time). Television programming and magazine features deliver campaign supportive messages within a context, and in a longer, more detailed form, using compelling plots and stories, often with familiar characters. Accordingly, strategic message credit (SMC) was added to the options available to media outlets to satisfy their match obligation. However, media use of the SMC feature has declined over the past year while anti-drug messages have continued to get into programming as a result of media roundtables. For these reasons, and to preclude any perception of improper involvement by the federal government in the creative process of the media, we have ended this policy. In order to honor contractual commitments made while purchasing media time last year, program submissions by broadcast and cable outlets will be accepted for evaluation and potential credit through September 30, 2001 (the last day of the broadcast media year and the end of the previous contractual period).
The campaign is reinforcing the efforts of local anti-drug community coalitions
We are encouraged that the effects of the campaign are being felt at the grass-roots level. The following quotes are illustrative of local perceptions of our communications activities:
Marilyn Wagner Culp of the Miami (Florida) Coalition for a Safe and Drug-Free Community: "Based on surveys taken in the Miami-Dade County, the majority of youth drug use has decreased. There is no doubt that the Media Campaign has been effective in reducing youth substance abuse."
Mary Ann Solberg of the Troy Michigan Community Coalition for the Prevention Of Drug & Alcohol Abuse: "The Media Campaign has helped maximize local dollars because local people have seen the Media Campaign and they are willing to allocate local money to a local campaign with the same messages."
Rhonda Ramsey Molina of the Coalition for a Drug Free Greater Cincinnati Ohio: "Students reported that the Media Campaign commercials they have been exposed to are relevant and strengthen their choice not to do drugs."
Christopher Curtis of the Oregon Partnership in Portland: "The Media Campaign has legitimized the importance of drug prevention among youth. It has also helped the Oregon Partnership to organize activities because the youth see the ads and want to respond to them."
Judge Michael Kramer of Drug-Free Noble County in Albion Indiana: "The Media Campaign has changed being drug-free, from seen by youth as conformist, selling out your generation, being a "goody two shoes" to being "hip," popular, and accepted by other young people."
Creative aspects of the campaign are garnering awards
The campaign's online activities have received nine awards this year for effective and innovative use of Web sites and interactive tools, including a top honor at the June 2001 Cannes International Advertising Festival for the WhatsYourAntiDrug.com Web site. Other awards include:
Certificate of Excellence, Creativity in Public Relations Awards (CIPRA) for Press Conference Outreach: Get Smart About Drugs.
CIPRA Certificate of Excellence for Effective Uses of Research in Publicity: Positive Uses of Time.
Bronze SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) Award Winner for the "TheAntiDrug.com Redesign and Relaunch." Awarded by The Holmes Report, a publication for public relations professionals.
National Addy Award for the "WhatsYourAntiDrug.com" Web site. Sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, the ADDY® Awards are the nation's largest advertising competition.
Silver Anvil Award of Excellence for "Public Service by a Government Entity: Youth Outreach." Awarded by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Silver Anvils recognize complete programs incorporating sound research, planning, execution, and evaluation.
PRSA Bronze Anvil Award of Excellence for "TheAntiDrug.com: Teaching Parents How to Raise Drug-Free Kids." The Bronze Anvils honor the best tactical solutions to public relations challenges.
Thoth Award of Excellence for "TheAntiDrug.com: Teaching Parents How to Raise Drug-Free Kids." Awarded by the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
Bronze Telly Award for Non-Network TV Programming, Straight Scoop Documentary. The Telly Awards recognize outstanding non-network and cable commercials.
Bronze Cyber Lion Award for the "What's Your Anti-Drug?" Web site at the International Advertising Festival.
A Creative Excellence Award for the "Music Banner, International Web Page Awards" which was created for the launch of the Media Campaign's youth branding initiative to reach kids with a specific interest in music.
IV. Ongoing/New Initiatives
Branding
The establishment of a product brand is a characteristic of effective advertising. Extensive research provided new insights on parent and youth attitudes towards drugs and helped shaped the parents' "The Anti-Drug" and youth "My Anti-Drug" brands. Through various creative executions such as "Parents: The Anti-Drug," "Communication: The Anti-Drug" and "Truth: The Anti-Drug," the parents brand positively delivers to parents the empowering message that it is their own actions that can make a difference in their child's life. The "Anti-Drug" parent's brand launched in September 1999 and continues to be the brand signature for all parent-targeted messages, across all mediums.
The "My Anti-Drug" brand for youth was launched in August 2000. We determined that the question "What's your Anti-Drug?" caused kids to consider what in their own lives was important enough to keep them away from drugs. Youth from across the country were asked to submit their "Anti-Drugs." Some submissions were later featured in national advertising. The entire August 2000 - January 2001 youth brand launch was a fully integrated multimedia campaign whose widespread presence helped to seed "My Anti-Drug" as a brand. Visual recognition of the "Anti-Drug" message among youth has increased to 58%, far outpacing normative expectations. Post launch, "My Anti-Drug" continues to be the brand signature for all new youth work moving forward. To date nearly 130,000 youth have registered their own personal anti-drugs in the campaign's Freevibe Web site.
Children of Substance Abusers Program
The Children of Substance Abusers Initiative, which we will launch in September, will target a sizeable and vulnerable population. Parental addiction affects at least one in four children under the age of 20 in the United States. Children of addicted parents are the highest risk group to become drug and alcohol abusers due to both genetic and family environmental factors. This initiative will bring awareness to the issue, let young people know they are not alone, and give information on where and how to access resources to learn more. The initiative will use posters, Web sites, and national clearinghouses as resources for information and help, along with adults who influence the lives of young people on a daily basis (school counselors, nurses, coaches, etc.).
Workplace Program
We have developed a comprehensive Workplace Program designed to provide online and print materials to assist employers in providing parents, grandparents, and other caregivers with drug prevention messages and tools in the workplace. Our objectives include:
Generate awareness among human resources professionals, employee assistance professionals, and small business owners about the importance of providing youth focused drug-prevention information to employees.
Educate employees (parents/adult influencers) that they have a leading role in preventing youth drug abuse.
Increase the number of organizations that offer such information and resources to their employees.
Community Drug Prevention Campaign
Together with the Ad Council and volunteer advertising agency Avrett Free & Ginsberg we have developed new public service advertisements (PSAs) for the Community Drug Prevention Campaign that launched in August 2000. The PSAs receive national donated media support through the campaign's public service media match component. Set to launch in the Fall of 2001, the new PSAs carry the tagline "You Get More When You Get Together" and will run concurrently with the earlier round of PSAs, "I Can Help" and "Campfire." The variety of TV and radio PSAs address the different roles that individuals and groups can play in youth drug prevention by raising awareness for coalitions and the successful strategies they bring to communities across the country. The PSAs include a call-to-action that encourages the audience to call a toll-free number or log onto a Web site being developed specifically for the new PSAs to find a coalition in their community. Respondents will have the option to receive information on a local or national coalition or a federal agency, as well as information on how to start a coalition, or improve an existing coalition.
Multicultural outreach
The Media Campaign includes a strong, ethnically diverse outreach component targeting youth, parents, and youth influencers. It is one of the largest advertising efforts developed by the Federal Government, with messages tailored for ethnic audiences. Creative messages are based on behavioral science, and are reviewed by a Behavioral Change Expert Panel composed of scientists from ethnically diverse backgrounds with experience developing behavioral change communications for ethnic audiences, and target audience specialists who market to ethnic communities. The campaign employs ten minority subcontractors to coordinate the purchase of ethnic advertising and coordinate the campaign's multicultural outreach activities. Each agency has substantial expertise in communicating with specific cultural audiences. Multicultural advertising is developed on a pro-bono basis by minority-owned agencies that specialize in creating ethnic advertising. A special effort is made to purchase advertising airtime or space in minority-owned media.
Ethnic audiences include African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Asian Americans (including Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese and Cambodians) and Pacific Islanders (Filipinos, Guamanians, Hawaiians and Samoans) Alaskan Natives, and Aleuts. Messages are delivered in multiple languages including Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Cambodian, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and American Indian dialects. The Media Campaign also includes advertising and outreach in the U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico.
More than $30 million in paid and negotiated pro-bono advertising messages and outreach programs aimed at youth age 11-17, parents, and other youth influencers, are directed towards ethnic audiences each year. African Americans and Hispanics receive the largest share of multicultural advertising exposure - more than 75 percent of the ethnic paid and pro-bono investments. A number of multicultural organizations have taken advantage of pro-bono match opportunities by submitting their own PSAs. As of February 2001, The United Negro College Fund, the National Action Council for Minority Engineers, and 100 Black Men of America, collectively received over 5,800 placements of their TV and radio drug prevention related PSAs.
Outreach to faith-based organizations
Research indicates that religious faith and a strong moral sense play vital roles in preventing illicit drug use among youths. The Media Campaign has several initiatives to provide the faith community with substance abuse prevention information. Outreach efforts include developing drug prevention materials, curricula, articles, and information to (include in religious publications) and engaging national faith-based organizations to elevate substance abuse prevention on the national faith agenda.
V. Program and Contract Administration
Contract Awarding and Administration
From the campaign's inception, ONDCP has contracted with other federal agencies to provide administrative contract support for the campaign's advertising contracts. We made this decision because of our conclusion that neither ONDCP nor the larger Executive Office of the President (EOP) had the contract administration capabilities necessary to support the extensive contracting efforts required to develop and implement this unparalleled public-health communications campaign. Administrative support provided by other agencies includes, among other things:
Managing the contracting process through solicitation and selection.
Awarding and modifying contracts.
Overseeing the execution of contracts.
Reviewing vouchers for allowability and allocability.
Although ONDCP uses administrative contract support from other agencies, we have remained responsible for ensuring that all contract terms meet the campaign requirements. We have shared responsibility for selecting contractors, ensuring all contracts (and modifications to them) are in accordance with ONDCP's media plan, and rendering determinations on the reasonableness of media advertising costs.
In April 1998, ONDCP entered into an interagency reimbursable work agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Program Support Center (PSC) to provide administrative contract support for the Phase II advertising efforts, including award of the contract to an advertising agency. In December 1998, the HHS agreement was amended to cover Phase III paid advertising efforts through December 1999. In January 2000, HHS and ONDCP entered into another agreement to cover the first option year under the contract, and HHS issued a contract modification for about $133 million to Ogilvy to extend the contract through January 3, 2001. On December 1, 2000, ONDCP and the Department of the Navy entered into an interagency reimbursable work agreement that transferred administrative contract support responsibilities from HHS to the Department of the Navy's Fleet and Industrial Supply Center in Norfolk, Va. In addition to their established expertise with cost-type contracts, the Navy also introduced daily DCAA oversight to assure more scrutiny over costs.
ONDCP has been responsible for withholding payment of millions of dollars to Ogilvy because the reasonableness and allowability of costs billed had not been established to our satisfaction. When we became concerned over rising labor costs, we hired an outside expert to review business plans submitted by Ogilvy to ensure cost effectiveness. We used the expert's conclusions to reduce ad-related costs, including labor.
ONDCP has always taken allegations of wrongdoing and rising labor costs very seriously. We have consistently taken swift and appropriate measures to protect the public purse and contain expenses. Our ad agency labor costs are now less than at the beginning of the campaign's first year.
General Accounting Office (GAO) Review
The Media Campaign's contract administration procedures were recently reviewed by the General Accounting Office in a June 2001 report to the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government. This report focused on charges to the government by Ogilvy for labor costs and the government's management of contracting issues. The report concluded that Ogilvy "did not properly charge the government for some of the labor costs claimed under the contract and did not have an adequate accounting system that could support a cost-reimbursement government contract of this value." Key GAO findings related to the contractor's billings were that some charges were unreliable, non-billable, and incorrect.
The GAO report also faulted the government for inadequately managing aspects of the contract award and contract administration. Specifically, the report noted that the government awarded a cost-reimbursement contract to Ogilvy before sufficiently determining that the contractor had an accounting system able to support the type of contract awarded. It also concluded that the government did not resolve "billing problems when they arose or by auditing the contractor."
The report recommended that ONDCP:
Work with the Navy to review the appropriateness of the disallowed costs and other labor charges and determine the amount of money that the government overpaid or should reimburse the contractor.
Ensure that Ogilvy has an adequate cost accounting system for continued performance under the contract.
Effectively coordinate the roles and responsibilities of the contracting officer's technical representative (COTR).
Ensure that Ogilvy has restructured its accounting system before the next option is exercised.
Plan contract alternatives for Phase III of the Media Campaign.
ONDCP believes that the June 2001 GAO report fairly and accurately portrays the complexities of the contracting issues regarding the advertising portion of the Media Campaign, and agrees with the GAO's recommendations. At the time of the GAO report, the Navy had assumed administrative contract support responsibility and along with ONDCP had already taken significant action to address the report's concerns.
Working closely with the Navy contracting staff
Navy brings with it the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), an important addition to the existing measures used to manage and administer the Ogilvy contract. The DCAA works within a system of checks and balances that includes the Navy and the ONDCP. Each invoice must pass dual scrutiny and is simultaneously sent to the DCAA and ONDCP. DCAA reviews invoices for reasonableness, allowability and allocability in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation. ONDCP also reviews invoices for reasonableness. Where costs are rejected, Ogilvy is informed of the reason therefor, and given an opportunity to respond. In addition to DCAA employing this dual scrutiny of invoices, the Navy instituted biweekly meetings to occur with representatives from Ogilvy, DCAA, Navy and ONDCP in order to work toward resolving any current of past billing issues.
Regarding satisfactory cost accounting, Ogilvy hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to review and modify Ogilvy's cost accounting procedures, and has concluded that the revised system is compliant with federal requirements. DCAA is working closely with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ogilvy to ensure that the system will work as designed, and it is anticipated that DCAA and the Department of Navy contracting officer will have recognized Ogilvy's cost accounting system, in writing, shortly. Nonetheless, ONDCP believes it is prudent to review all the circumstances surrounding the advertising requirement to determine whether resolicitation or option renewal is the best course of action. ONDCP has developed a process with Navy that allows us to balance legal and programmatic concerns about Ogilvy's past and present actions and the benefits and detriments of resoliciting the contract. ONDCP and the Navy are conducting market research to determine whether the current contract terms meet the government's needs and whether Ogilvy is best suited to meet those needs.
Under the HHS administration of the contract, the COTR and the HHS contracting officer did not have an effective working relationship, which impeded contract administration. Although the COTR spotted questionable billings, and verbally alerted the HHS contracting officer of these questionable billing suspicions, the relationship with HHS did not provide for resolution of such billings. This has not been a problem under the Navy contract administration procedures. The DCAA and the COTR review the invoices. Where disagreement arises between Ogilvy, the DCAA or the COTR, the Contracting Officer is readily available to make the final decision.
I think it is important to underscore that since ONDCP began the practice of reviewing invoices submitted by media campaign contractors, ONDCP has consistently recommended that the contract administrative office only pay those bills that are both allowable and adequately supported by invoices. This practice resulted in the withholding of approximately $7.5 million of billed costs. Additionally, these withholdings were instrumental in identifying the issues that are currently under investigation by several government agencies including DOJ's Civil Division, DCAA, and the Department of the Navy. As these ongoing investigations reach conclusions, ONDCP will factor their findings into decisions related to administration of the media campaign.
VI. Conclusion
The Office of National Drug Control Policy appreciates the long-standing, broad, and bipartisan congressional support for the Media Campaign. We have worked closely with members, committees, and staff to ensure that we fulfill the congressional intent of creating and implementing a public-health communications campaign that has measurable effects on awareness, attitudes, and behavior. We believe we are seeing strong evidence that the Media Campaign is working as intended – attitudes are changing and drug use by adolescents is declining. We strive to create a campaign that reaches all Americans with science-based messages. We are implementing an integrated communications approach with advertising at the core supplemented by outreach efforts including partnerships and outreach of grass-roots anti-drug efforts.
We would be remiss if we did not recognize the enormous contributions of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA). PDFA has developed some three hundred TV, radio, and print messages that have been precisely placed to target the right audience in the right media.
We look forward to working with the distinguished members of this subcommittee to ensure full accountability of all aspects of program and contract administration.
Last Updated: November 7, 2006
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