Case Study
Carry Narcan
How we educated 26,000+ young adults on opioid overdose prevention through a stigma-reduction campaign built for Gen Z
At a Glance
Client:
The Nebraska Collegiate Prevention Alliance is a coalition working across Nebraska’s college campuses to reduce substance misuse and expand access to life-saving harm reduction resources.
What We Did:
Comprehensive strategic communications and creative services for a multi-channel stigma-reduction campaign. Campaign strategy, messaging and copywriting, creative asset development, paid digital ad design and placement, print materials and vendor coordination, and performance reporting.
Headline result:
1 million+ impressions and 26,000+ young people educated on Narcan access.
The Challenge
Opioid overdose is one of the most urgent public health crises facing young people today, and Narcan is one of the most effective tools we have to address it. But Narcan access is still wrapped in stigma, and the 18-24-year-olds best positioned to carry it and use it are the same audience most likely to scroll past traditional harm reduction messaging.
The Nebraska Collegiate Prevention Alliance needed a campaign that could break through, reduce stigma, and translate critical harm reduction information into content college students would actually stop for, share, and act on.
The Gallery
The Work
Campaign strategy and content infrastructure
We built the campaign from the ground up, leading stakeholder onboarding, developing the strategic framework and content calendar, and managing the project end-to-end across campuses and channels. The result was a multi-channel campaign architecture designed to run from launch through May 2026.
Specific, tailored targeting
We maximized impact by carefully targeting the audiences most likely to benefit from the campaign. To make the advertising budget go as far as possible, we targeted young people ages 18-24 who reside in the same metropolitan areas as participating universities. During the stigma reduction portion of the campaign, we specifically targeted individuals in Nebraska with applicable interests including higher education and parenting.
Culturally fluent and trend-responsive content
We produced content that influenced our audience to stop scrolling by leaning into the visuals Gen Z is drawn to: bright, playful aesthetics, concise copy, and trending meme formats. Every asset was designed to translate harm reduction messaging into something that felt native to a college student's feed.
Thoughtful platform selection
To engage as many students as possible, we housed our content where young people actually show up. We focused paid distribution on Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram, where our target audience was most likely to interact with the content.
Creative asset development across digital and print
Beyond paid social, we designed the full ecosystem of campus-facing assets: posters, stall sheets, campus signage, social media graphics, editable templates, and paid digital ad creative. We also prepared print files and coordinated with vendors and contractors for production and distribution across participating campuses.
Reporting and optimization
We tracked regional performance throughout the campaign and delivered a reporting package with key performance metrics, insights, and optimization recommendations to inform the campaign's continued run through Spring 2026.
The Results
1 million+ impressions.
Despite tightly targeted distribution, the campaign garnered more than one million audience-specific impressions across paid posts and ads, delivering impactful facts and statistics on opioid usage that reduced the stigma surrounding Narcan.
26,000+ young people educated on Narcan access.
Targeted content drove thousands of young adults to the campaign landing page, where they accessed life-saving information and instructions for preventing opioid overdoses and accessing Narcan.