On January 4, 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), requiring the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish the National Alzheimer’s Project to create and maintain an integrated national plan to overcome Alzheimer’s disease and coordinate Alzheimer’s disease research and services across all federal agencies. NAPA offered a historic opportunity to address the many challenges facing people with Alzheimer’s disease and their families.

We worked with HHS to develop and execute a comprehensive national, integrated multi-media campaign to educate Americans, who are navigating the Alzheimer’s trajectory, about and connect them to the relevant resources available to them. Our initial efforts focused on developing Alzheimers.gov, a website featuring links to authoritative, up-to-date information from agencies and organizations with expertise on the topics of Alzheimer’s and caring for a family member or loved one with the disease. Once the site was live, our campaign focused on directing people to the Alzeimers.gov resources and the National Alzheimer’s Helpline. Our paid and earned media campaigns included fully integrated TV, radio, print, and digital advertising centered around the concept, “You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers.”

The simple campaign premise is, “You have questions. We’ve got answers.” Research showed that in addition to being overwhelmed with caregiving, the audience was overwhelmed with the unanswered questions they had. We knew that capturing attention while being factual and hopeful was the key to success.

We designed a Web site that, unlike many government sites, was purposefully light on content. The last thing this population needs is another dense Web site that left them wondering where to start. We designed the site around their peers –people who had finance, clinical trial, support group and other questions about Alzheimer’s. To drive awareness, we developed a fully integrated advertising campaign, featuring television, print, radio and digital components that recognize the caregivers’ continuous stream of questions. The tone of the campaign is one of reassurance and hope.

In less than 6 weeks, a full Web site, including personal testimonials, and a completed TV ad for Secretary Sebelius to incorporate into a national press event announcing the National Alzheimer’s Action Plan. The Secretary incorporated Alzheimers.gov and the Web site’s personal stories, as well as the television ad, into her remarks.

The site received tremendous coverage on all major television networks and across all major print outlets. Site engagement was strong with an average of about 3.5 minutes per visit. Based on a tracking study, those who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease are more than twice as likely to have seen or heard information about Alzheimers.gov, demonstrating that our message is resonating most among our intended audience.