As a primary agency for the Maine CDC, and the Vermont Department of Health’s Agency of Record, the Rinck team has spent years working alongside the CDC, public health organizations, local community partners, and others educating high-risk populations in New England about social issues including tobacco and alcohol-use, mental health, cancer, nutrition, physical health, and substance use disorder, as well as the resources available to help these populations. We’ve utilized proven media tactics that engage and drive action and have changed the story for our State of Maine and more recently for our neighbors in Vermont.

Recently, Rinck team members headed down to New Orleans to present at and participate in the National Conference on Tobacco or Health. Nikki Jarvais, SVP, Group Account Director, and Lisa Ardia, Associate Director of Media, shared insights and strategies in their “Audience Segmentation for High-Risk Populations with Evergreen Strategy through Digital Media Platforms” presentation. In other words, they shared with audiences around the nation doing similar work in their own states and communities how to target and really connect with the people who need services.

It’s why I love what I do. I read and hear their stories everyday sharing how we have supported them on their journey to get the support they need.

While being able to network and learn with people IRL was a nice change of pace from our Zoom-packed world, the presentation itself was the highlight of the trip as audience members shared that they really enjoyed and learned a lot from the methodologies shared by the Rinck team and were excited to implement them in their own locales.

I recently caught up with Jarvais and Ardia to learn more about their work and the Conference presentation.

First, Nikki, please share a little about Rinck’s relationship with the CDC in Maine and the Vermont Department of Health.
NJ: Our relationship with the Maine CDC spans over several years of partnering to develop strategic best-practice marketing, mass-reach health communications, and

counter-marketing campaigns that create measurable social and behavioral change in areas ranging from tobacco cessation, youth vaping prevention, secondhand smoke, and lung cancer screening and education, to alcohol use, substance use disorder, adult marijuana use, stimulant use, and substance exposed infants, as well as infant safe sleep, lead poisoning, radon awareness, nutrition education, behavioral health, and adult and youth suicide prevention. We are excited to bring this experience to our neighbors in Vermont, working with the Department of Health on similar areas that affect communities in our own backyard.

This is such important work, trying to address these big challenges. How do you measure success of campaigns like these?
NJ: We want to make sure our messages meet the individual where they are in the moment. We know not everyone wants to take the same action. For this reason, our goal is to understand the needs of each population and provide them with the option they need when they are looking to make a change – often this is to increase enrollments through phone services, online enrollments, or individual services.

That makes sense. Lisa, would you please share more about the segmentation strategy approach and the tactics Rinck has used to reach the audiences who need this information and achieve these objectives? 

LA: Sure! One example is our work with tobacco cessation. To ensure we were delivering tobacco counter messaging to Mainers who needed services while also fully supporting high risk disparity populations, we leveraged a layered targeting + platform approach to segmentation.  

 This approach allowed us to tailor messaging and imagery to the audience being reached. Leveraging this personalized experience strategy can drive higher engagement, as users see themselves in the scenario and identify their need for resources. 

So smart. I imagine it has to be so rewarding to see even one person who has been able to get the help they need from these resources. What kind of results have seen from this approach?  

LA: With this campaign we were able to track immediate results, with over 2,000 clicks-to-call directly from ad units. And then with an additional 12,000 users clicking to enroll once on the website. In all, we helped 15,000 individuals to start or continue their quit journeys! I (and the whole Rinck team) couldn’t be more proud of this work.  

 NJ: And, while the results and numbers are impressive, I can’t lie. It’s more about the people impacted. It’s why I love what I do. I read and hear their stories everyday sharing how we have supported them on their journey to get the support they need. And while I would love to take all the credit, we couldn’t do it without a collaborative team statewide working to support these efforts. 

Making an impact and doing what you love! Can’t end on a better note than that! Thank you both for sharing this work and for your commitment to serving your communities in this way.

To see the National Conference on Tobacco or Health presentation, please click here.

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