Lift The Label

Amélie worked with the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration to create a campaign with the power to destigmatize opioid use disorder by speaking to those suffering from addiction, their loved ones and professionals.

Cut to the Chase

Challenge

In 2017 more than 67,000 Coloradans needed, but didn’t receive, services for a substance use disorder. Many cited that stigma was the primary barrier to seeking help. Amélie needed to develop a campaign to peel back the stigma around opioid addiction in order to help those suffering seek treatment and get the support of their loved ones.

Solution

Using storytelling as a catalyst for stigma reduction, we interviewed Coloradans about their harrowing experiences with OUD and how they ultimately found long-term recovery from addiction. These stories became the foundation of the campaign’s strategy. In 2018, Amelie launched the “Lift The Label” campaign designed to encourage people to “lift the label” of addiction.

The campaign featured grassroots initiatives that drove enormous success including, the Opioid Memorial Wall, 2Generation Toolkits and the Recovery Cards Project.

Results

The Lift The Label campaign ignites conversations about addiction, highlighted the stigma around opioid use, and reminded people of the imperative need to practice empathy in relation to the opioid crisis:

379 million impressions across paid media, social media and earned media channels
Over $1 million in earned media publicity value
More than 90 million earned media impressions generated in the two months following the campaign’s launch
The campaign was cited by the American Journal of Public Health as an example of how structural components of stigma can best be addressed in public health communications

View More Work

We created a line of recovery cards, because somebody had to do it.

We house-trained people to care about fellow humans.

We helped a local epidemic by understanding a global pandemic.