2019 Awareness Day Final Report 2019_ADay_FinaReport_FINAL_pages | Page 12

Media Strategies
Hit the Mark
SAMHSA’s plan to advance messages of suicide prevention—from data to
personal stories and from community-level successes to federal initiatives—
concentrated on tailoring the media strategy so that outreach focused on national
and local outlets that were interested in covering suicide prevention efforts.
This year’s Awareness Day observance lent itself to myriad opportunities for
engagement around the country in large measure because it was webcast and
livestreamed on social media, bringing the event and its rich content to thousands.
In one high-profile example, NBC’s Today show
published a video on May 9 titled “Teen shares
mental health journey to advocate for others
struggling.” In the video, Today show hosts
acknowledge Awareness Day by highlighting
the story of an Ohio teen with lived experience
of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidal
thoughts who now advocates for others who
are experiencing similar conditions.
An important cog in the media wheel was SAMHSA’s continued relationship with
NBC4 Washington—which once again served as the official Awareness Day media
partner. In addition to livestreaming the event, the news organization distributed
pre-promotion messages and images about Awareness Day and the topic of suicide
prevention in several ways, from on-air broadcasts to digital advertising on their
website to social media posts.
Nineteen 15-second spots ran on NBC4, which yielded more than 1.6 million
impressions. Their digital advertising was likewise significant, with more than
600,000 impressions achieved. NBC4’s Facebook content about Awareness Day
reached more than 5,000 people.
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2019
NBC4 Washington also ran two
articles about youth suicide and the
Awareness Day event leading up to
the observance, along with two PSAs
about the event webcast, which ran
on the network:
1. 3 Keys to Preventing the
Tragedy of Youth Suicide,
created in partnership with
SAMHSA and published on April
29, 2019
2. Experts to Discuss Suicide
Prevention Among Youth,
created by NBC4 Washington and
published on May 4, 2019