Maryland Cannabis Association:
Youth Prevention Campaign

To talk to teens about cannabis use, parents need the facts first.

Data indicates that youth can easily find access to cannabis, with some of them using it for the first time before the age of 13. The Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) determined that these statistics called for a campaign that conveyed the short- and long-term damage cannabis can have on still-developing brains.

We knew that parents are the #1 influence on youth substance use and, with the right resources, they could play an impactful role in prevention. Our job was to equip parents with the knowledge they needed to have crucial conversations with teens.

Using experts to spread our messaging.

We put medical professionals in front of the camera to convey facts about cannabis use on young minds, so that the messaging would be coming from a place of directness, experience and credibility. It was important not to preach or judge, but rather maintain a friendly, informed tone that focused on positive outcomes.

These videos and the rest of our messaging appeared on a landing page, social media posts and streaming TV networks across Maryland, as well as broadcast TV stations in the Baltimore area.

People were ready to listen about the risks of youth cannabis use.

With over 25 million impressions, our social campaign had a 4.5% engagement rate on awareness and a .75% click-through rate on social media.

After starting our message, viewers typically stuck around to listen to it, with a 98.56% video completion rate on streaming TV and a 95.25% audio completion rate on digital radio. Our audience followed our message to the landing page as well, which got over 12,000 page views — not counting the views to our Youth Prevention brochure PDF, to which many of our campaign assets were driving them.