THE AGEWISE
MAINE INITIATIVE
An Educational Campaign with
Statewide Reach and Regional Elements
Maine has five Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), each serving a distinct region of the state. In 2023, the organizations together received a federal grant to conduct vaccination clinics and promote the importance of immunizations for overall wellness to an audience of older Mainers.
They engaged fluent at the beginning of the outreach effort and we recommended creating a cohesive brand for effective statewide messaging. The ideal brand would encompass all five organizations while also allowing for effective regional messaging to elevate the recognition of individual AAAs as local health and wellness resources.
With the extensive reach of this campaign, from the urban centers of southern Maine to the rural pockets of Aroostook County, we also knew a multi-pronged, varied approach to outreach would be needed.
We identified key messaging and the target markets for our outreach (Mainers age 65+, Mainers with disabilities, and caregivers of individuals who fell into those categories).
We crafted an entirely new brand identity, AgeWise Maine, bringing together visual and language elements to convey a positive, active, and encouraging message to the target audience. Under the umbrella of this new brand, we developed an integrated education campaign that includes the following elements:
Website (agewisemaine.org)
Templated Resource Kit
Statewide PSA
Digital and Print Advertising
Communications and Earned Media
Each of the campaign assets was created after a significant amount of research. From the website domain name to the words used in collateral, we intensively looked into the language element for this brand and outreach package. As part of this process, we held conversations with interested parties beyond our clients who work with older Mainers to discuss the best way to speak persuasively to the target demographic. We consulted with Maine’s Office of Aging and Disability Services as well as a representative from the University of Maine Center on Aging.
The resource kit was created for use by each AAA, providing them with both educational and promotional materials to hand out and send directly to their day-to-day community connections. Recognizing the need to reach New Mainers, we had the resource kits translated into several different languages. This grassroots effort allowed us to leverage the vital role that the AAAs play in their communities.
Each Resource Kit Includes:
3 information sheets in 4 languages
1 social media tool kit with 8 post templates
1 editable event poster and event handout
1 vaccination card
The website our team created for the AgeWise campaign serves a dual purpose - informing the public while driving the efficiency and functionality of the campaign. Each individual AAA has a log-in for accessing the templated resource set and can tailor it as needed for their local purposes. For the public-facing design, ease of use for the target demographic was a key consideration. It was a fairly complex website to build, but the fluent team designed, developed, and launched it quickly to ensure it was available for the timely seasonal messaging around immunizations.
Once the landing page and collateral were created, we turned to a mix of earned and paid media to raise awareness, drive traffic to the website, and ensure attendees at clinics around the state. While fluent managed statewide media outreach, each regional AAA was provided with a press release template and empowered to follow up with their community papers and organizations.
12,000
Web Visits
9,106
Vaccines Administered
2,561,076
Ad Impressions
1,044
Event Registrations Through Website
The launch of the campaign saw strong interest from traditional media. A piece in the Portland Press Herald resulted in a significant traffic increase to the website. A WABI TV package demonstrated the efficacy of the statewide and regional approach - the story focused on a vaccine clinic at the Eastern Area Agency on Aging but noted the event’s affiliation with the larger AgeWise initiative.
Radio and television PSAs scripted and placed by the fluent team through the Maine Association of Broadcasters both educated Mainers and encouraged them to visit the website to find an immunization clinic. Digital paid media efforts drove significant traffic to the website. This comprehensive approach to marketing outreach supported AgeWise in exceeding all of its stated objectives in terms of outreach and education across the state.