The primary audience was health care professionals, patients and caregivers. But it is also aimed at the compassionate community.

Because this is an unbranded disease awareness campaign, no US pharmaceutical restrictions apply.

The core idea of the campaign is that accidental addiction is like a vicious monster, that robs its victims of their jobs, families and dignity. The idea is introduced through a dark and haunting animated short which we seeded on key digital platforms. The film led viewers to outthemonster.com, an information led site where they could learn the facts about accidental addiction as well as medically assisted forms of treatment, namely Zubsolv. The site also gave victims and their loved ones the opportunity to show their support through various social media activations.

Our goal was to de-stigmatize the problem of accidental addiction. Its victims are not people who dabbled in drugs recreationally. As a result of injury or chronic pain, they found themselves in a situation they never dreamed would affect them -- addiction. If we bring attention to the issue and spread the word on how pervasive the problem is, we could change opinions that accidental addiction is a morality problem. Zubsolv is a medical solution to a medical problem.

The campaign kicked off with a :15 trailer that was pushed through a paid social media campaign. This teaser directed viewers to the full film as well as the multi-tiered site for additional background on the problem and treatment solutions. As we were bringing our target’s attention to the issue, we armed doctors nationwide with 50,000 fully illustrated, hard cover books which told the monster’s story. With these in hand, medical professionals were able to initiate a difficult conversation with their patients. Animated banners put statistics in the hands of viewers and asked those sensitive to the issue to join us in de-stigmatizing the problem.

While just getting started, “Out the Monster” has already begun to impact the social perception of accidental addiction. Doctors nationwide have begun distributing the hardbound book to their patients as a solution resource. Fans and followers saw an immediate increase across all social media channels.

We made a conscious strategic decision to focus on unbranded campaign elements. Our challenge was much greater than just increasing sales. We needed to begin a conversation around a very sensitive topic. Our target does not want to see themselves as our target. They don’t want to believe they have an issue with addiction. We needed them to see their story reflected in the horror of the film. If they identified with the idea of living with a monster, we could then begin the conversation around Zubsolv.

Every year, thousands of people who are prescribed painkillers become accidentally addicted. But because of the stigma that addiction carries, victims are reluctant to even discuss the problem. “Out the Monster” focuses on erasing the shame and starting an open conversation about treatment options like Zubsolv.