Ophelia Health, a virtual substance use disorder provider responsible for one the industry’s edgiest campaigns, advocates cutting through the noise of industry jargon to help overcome the stigma surrounding addiction.
“Addiction is … one of the few diseases that is very misunderstood,” Jenni Friedman, vice president of marketing at Ophelia, said during the Behavioral Health Business Sales and Marketing Summit. “There’s a millennium of taboos and stigmas. We are constantly facing an avalanche of political, social, and cultural discourse around the whole category of addiction. So our role as marketers is pretty complex.”
New York-based Ophelia Health offers virtual substance use disorder care, including medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The company has raised over $68 million in funding.
In 2023, the company launched a new marketing campaign titled “Fu*ck Rehab,” which caught the attention of the SUD industry. Friedman noted that the campaign was quite short, but the conversation around the effort has continued, which is a testament to its effectiveness.
At the heart of the campaign, the company highlights the importance of MOUD treatment.
“Opioid use disorder is a huge problem. It’s the number one cause of death for Americans under 50,” Friedman said. “There is a proven treatment medication. Unfortunately, fewer than half of all rehab programs offer any medication and this landscape is pretty unregulated. … So we thought we needed to break through all that. This is a very growing problem. Everyone I speak to knows someone who’s been affected or is personally affected. So, at the core of the campaign was that people are dying at an alarming rate. There is a treatment that works and it’s easier to get than you think. We were pretty angry, and we wanted to start that conversation.”
It was a great conversation starter, according to Friedman. She noted that some in the industry, mostly those not employing MOUD, were mad about the campaign. Still, the majority wanted to engage in a meaningful discussion afterwards.
“The campaign was just the start for us. It got people’s attention,” she said. “It got us talking. We heard from patients saying, ‘That was… rad. I never thought someone would speak for me and the struggles I went through.’ … We expanded the campaign and leaned into other things. We leaned into testimonials when people are willing to go public.”
Getting patients to talk about their experience in treatment publicly is important for breaking down stigma.
But SUD tends to be a private disease because of the taboo around it, said Friedman. Many patients don’t want their employer to know about their condition.
“That being said, we ask patients to do a Google review without incentive. We just said ‘Hey, like we’d love to hear from you,’ thinking we get like one person here and there,” Friedman said. “We have almost 1100 to 1200 reviews from people who wrote their name on the internet to talk about the care they’ve gotten with us, which has been really amazing and beautiful to watch. We were really surprised by that too.”
Using patient testimonials in marketing can help build a community for patients dealing with substance use disorder. Since there are often many barriers to care, it can be helpful for patients to see that others have gotten help and had success.
“Getting people to even go into treatment is a challenge, not just to choose Ophelia, but to pull the trigger and know they can do it,” she said. “So if they’re searching and then they see all these people who are able to do it, it’s motivating for them.”
