Ocean County Health Department Chooses Purplegator to Promote Programs

Marketing Agency Purplegator Awarded Third Project to Support Ocean County Raising Awareness About Opioid Abuse and Response for Area Residents

Toms River, NJ: Ocean County Health Department (OCHD) has awarded Purplegator, a marketing agency that lifts clients’ campaigns through targeted promotional strategies, its 2nd and 3rd programs to promote the OCHD opioid response plan in Ocean County. Not only will Purplegator’s campaigns help Ocean County residents increase their awareness of the opioid pandemic and reduce the stigmas surrounding addiction, but they will also encourage residents to explore the resources available through OCHD to anyone struggling with opioid abuse. Another equally important campaign objective is to assist in OCHD’s efforts to spread the word about the availability of free Narcan to Ocean County residents who need the life-saving drug.  

2022 Campaigns

Purplegator will execute these media plans through a multi-pronged, multi-channel approach. One significant piece of that plan is a stigma awareness survey that will analyze perceptions of substance use disorder before and after the advertising campaign that will educate residents about substance use, including resources for help and how to get and use Narcan if someone experiences an overdose. 

“There are lots of moving parts with a program of this breadth and scope. Having an agency partner that can handle the market research that was required, along with all the moving parts of setting up and managing different advertising campaigns across several platforms has made this process so much easier on our team than if we had to work with multiple vendors, ” said Kimberly Reilly, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Coordinator, OCHD. 

“Our experience running opioid abuse awareness campaigns in the state of Maryland gives us the confidence that we’ll deliver the results Ocean County is seeking,” said Vice President of Purplegator Barb Breeser. “With all that we’ve learned from our past opioid abuse awareness campaigns, we have some new and improved tactics that we’ll be employing this time around. We can’t wait to share Ocean County Health Department’s campaign results with everyone.”  

“This project required a lot of careful planning to schedule the various focus groups and online surveys that were needed, because we wanted to make sure we listened to those who live and work in Ocean County and develop campaigns that addressed their specific thoughts and ideas,” said Business Development Manager of Purplegator Steven Czyrny. “Furthermore, being sure we targeted different audiences throughout the county with unique messaging has really yielded some great results across many advertising mediums. This has been an enjoyable project to work on, because helping those who need help and changing the stigma is so important, and I think we are doing that.”