Marketing is a Science: The MindMap Campaign Reduces Duration of Untreated Psychosis
One of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on is actually one of my firsts. It was the first time I had ever heard of marketing being part of a scientific study and we were able to prove that marketing plays an important role in public health outcomes.
The MindMap Campaign
The purpose of the MindMap campaign is to spread awareness of psychosis and early detection, as well as reduce the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). In other words the length of time from when an individual begins experiencing psychosis or has their first psychotic episode, to the moment they seek treatment.
The campaign was hosted by Yale University School of Medicine’s Specialized Treatment for Early Psychosis (STEP) Clinic. It was funded by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
It ran from 2015-2019 and was part of a research study that evaluated if an early detection campaign could reduce DUP in a US community. It was the first study of its kind in the US, mirroring a similar study done with the TIPS program in Scandinavia.
Method
The MindMap campaign consisted of a wide variety of marketing strategies. Some of what we (Red Rock Branding) did includes: website build, organic & paid social, social campaigns, email management, tv ads & highlights, radio ads, billboards, bus ads, parking garage ads, postcard mailers, printed materials, video production, and event support.
Please keep in mind that I joined the Red Rock Team on this campaign 2 years into the 4-year campaign. I was asked to refresh the brand identity after the previous artist had left the project. This included updating the website, advertisements, social content, and branded materials. Any work I show here are examples of work that I contributed to the campaign.
Younger me with MindMap staff Maria and Shadie at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU)’s Health & Wellness Fair.
Participating in community outreach events was one of my favorite parts of working on this campaign. Not only was I gathering content for social, but I was also directly involved in psychosis education and awareness.
A bus ad from the campaign. One of the biggest challenges for this whole campaign was that we had a hard time finding individuals experiencing psychosis who were willing to openly participate in the campaign due to stigma. We often resorted to graphics vs. photos of individuals.
This was an interview we produced with Ellen Saks, a women who despite experiencing psychosis since a young age has become very successful and it able to live a “normal” life. We also interviewed with Cecilia McGough who is also well known for her organization Students with Psychosis.
Results
In the marketing world, we use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure success. When we talk about analytics, we talk about running growth experiments or A/B testing. And guess what! The way we measure success in marketing aligns well with research methods in the science world.
70,918 Website Visitors
5,885,000+ Social Impressions
3,176 Quiz Completions
18,000+ Social Engagements
502,936 Video Views
54,000+ Clicks on Social
After four years of the MindMap campaign, 2 of which I participated in, we were able to show how our marketing efforts contributed to reducing DUP in the Greater New Haven area by 65%.
What Happens Next?
Since the campaign ended in 2019, there has been some restructuring within the STEP program. I was asked to create a logo for STEP Learning Collaborative that would work well with the existing MindMap logo.
Following the MindMap study, we were put in touch with Clear Answers to Louisiana Mental Health (CALM). CALM was planning to start its own early detection campaign in the New Orleans area. We have been working with CALM for several years now and have shown once again that marketing campaigns can reduce DUP in communities across the US.
I am excited to announce that I get the opportunity to work on the MindMap campaign as it returns to Connecticut. The campaign has received additional funding to bring psychosis and early detection awareness STATE-WIDE! Stay tuned for updates on how I am taking MindMap out of 2019 and into 2024 with a little bit of an upgrade.
Nothing is more humbling than doing a brand refresh of your own work from early in your career.
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