The first reason why drug users (9 out of 10!) tend to not experiment Narcotics Anonymous’ (NA) meeting is due to the feeling of shame. The shame to be recognized and seen as an addict. To face this issue, we have designed a pilot project: an immersive experience that allows our target, free of shame thank to the avatars, to fully engage with the “brand”.

NAVerse: The First Narcotics Anonymous meeting in the metaverse.

An invitation to share, listen and support each other. Perpetuating the full feeling of fraternity favored by NA’s Experience…But with full anonymity.

Narcotics Anonymous is an international nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. After Alcoholics Anonymous, it’s the second-largest 12-step organization.

Well-known and respected in English-speaking countries, the nonprofit fellowship lacks awareness in France where substitution drugs and cures in rehab centers are preferred.  

After two years of Covid crisis, addiction issues have reached an all-time high. Two years during which Narcotics Anonymous had to close the doors of its physical meetings due to restrictions. It’s an understatement to say that lots of addicts have been looking for a solution ever since.

We were tasked with building awareness around NA and highlighting their method to those in search of a solution: substance users but also their friends and family, public or political entities and health authorities.

At first sight it was an impossible mission. 

One of the rules of the NA is that they are not allowed to advertise themselves, so people have to go to a meeting on their own. 

If they are known in the United States, in France the notoriety was non-existent. 

If they call themselves "anonymous", in a meeting they are exposed and it is this shame that prevents them from physically going to a meeting.

Moreover, we also learned that the approach to treatment almost always came from someone close to the addict (family, friends, public authorities and health authorities) and not from the addict himself.

It was imperative to hit a big media blow to make it a societal issue and reach all the targets and at the same time we had to find a way to overcome the "shame" that prevents addicts from going to a meeting.

Since the Covid crisis, Google searches related to mental health issues and addictions have increased by 69%. Many people are looking for a way out. While NA is an effective solution, the shame of being known as an addict is a deterrent to experiment this solution for 9 out 10 addicts as our meetings with NA, addictologists and all research told us.

November 2021 we had our first professional meeting in the Metaverse thanks to meta and we have all immediately thought “It’s the perfect way to experiment a NA’s meeting without the feeling of shame !”. Moreover, the Metaverse was the buzzword for the media at the time and we saw it as an opportunity to break into the media scene and reach all of our targets.

We never imagined that our clients would buy this operation, but they were themselves technology geeks and followed the metaverse subject closely.

NA told us that the number of addicts seeking for a solution was increasing since Covid and because their first reason to not give a try to NA’s meeting was the shame of being recognized, they had to find a solution to help them. They’ve also told us that they lacked awareness among political entities and French health authorities.

The idea came after our first professional meeting in the Metaverse. It was the perfect opportunity to convince addicts to assist to their first meeting in full anonymity and, also a wonderful PR opportunity since “Metaverse” was the major trend for journalists.

We’ve designed a project: NAVERSE an immersive experience that allows our target, free of shame thank to the avatars, to fully engage with the “brand” and to experiment the full feeling of fraternity favored by NA’s method.

The outreach exceeded our expectations:

81 million people reached: a wide media coverage, both national and international.

350K euros of earned media

a 158% traffic increase on Narcotics Anonymous’ French website;

all participating members joined a physical meeting afterwards.

And most importantly, these meaningful meetings will continue with an upcoming NAVerse meeting in Canada.

Narcotics Anonymous is an international nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. After Alcoholics Anonymous, it’s the second-largest 12-step organization.

Well-known and respected in English-speaking countries, the nonprofit fellowship lacks awareness in France where substitution drugs and cures in rehab centers are preferred.  

After two years of Covid crisis, addiction issues have reached an all-time high. Two years during which Narcotics Anonymous had to close the doors of its physical meetings due to restrictions. It’s an understatement to say that lots of addicts have been looking for a solution ever since.