The South Dakota Advertising Federation is responding to the state’s new meth prevention campaign.
The campaign is drawing widespread criticism across media landscapes, but state officials say they were looking for an ad agency that would get noticed.
In a statement delivered the day after the “Meth. We’re On It” public service announcement premiered, the South Dakota Advertising Federation wants to remind the public the state awarded a large advertising budget to an out-of-state company.
The state contracted with Minneapolis, Minnesota, based ad agency Broadhead for a nearly $1.4 million dollar meth prevention campaign.
Maggie Saugstad is the executive director of the South Dakota Advertising Federation. She says state dollars could have gone to an agency that delivers a message by South Dakotan’s to South Dakotans.
“Given an opportunity, with our local agencies, we would have been able to find a message that resonates with who we are and knowing our target markets, knowing those people that we are talking to because we are those people,” Saugstad says.
Saugstad says the in-state talent is in tune with the opportunities and challenges the state holds, and are acutely aware of the problems affecting South Dakota.
But Director of the Department of Social Services Laurie Gill says the state wanted to make an impact.
“We were looking for a campaign that fit with the messaging and the vision that we needed and working with the governor as well, something that would get the attention of South Dakotans,” Gill says. “That’s what we were looking for. What was the proposal that was most in line with what our goals were.”
Given the controversy surrounding the new ad campaign, state officials insist it’s working.
The governor's office says, "We chose Broadhead because they went beyond typical drug awareness campaigns and focused on empowering South Dakotans to take ownership of the issue and work together to make a difference.
"For additional context… the Department of Social Services published RFP #1730 on June 4, 2019. Twenty-two proposals were received, and five were chosen to present information about their proposals in person, including South Dakota companies. Broadhead’s winning proposal was selected through a competitive bid process. A register of proposals is available on open.sd.gov which contains a listing of all vendors that submitted proposals."