- March 10, 2023
- Gambling
The state of Illinois recently launched a new advertising campaign aimed at creating awareness for problem gambling. We sat down with John Harris, President of a5 digital consultancy to better understand the meaning behind the campaign. While the campaign is designed to create awareness and encourage those with gambling issues to seek assistance, what we ultimately learned is that “Are You Really Winning” is a message of hope. More information can be found at: www.areyoureallywinning.com
Call Gateway Foundation: 855-723-0963
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER
Transcript:
WAGER DANGER EPISODE 11: ARE YOU REALLY WINNING – JOHN HARRIS, a5 BRANDING & DIGITAL
Host: Shane Cook
You. Hey. Shane Cook with Wager Danger and Gateway Foundation, the state of Illinois, and more specifically, the Illinois Department of Human Services. The Division of Substance Use, Prevention and Recovery recently launched a statewide campaign called are You Really Winning? This campaign is designed to raise awareness about the symptoms of gambling disorder and share ways in which individuals can access information and resources to learn more about gambling disorder through hotlines, including 1800 gambler and by text. By texting. GAM GAMB to 83234. And today we’re joined by John Harris, the principal at A Five branding and digital based out of Chicago. A five. Branding is brand marketing strategy firm that worked with IDHS Super to develop are you really winning?
Campaign and is working with mental health care providers such as Gateway Foundation throughout the state to activate this campaign through various outreach activities, including conferences, local health fairs, various college and professional athletic events, radio, television, and print advertising, as well as social and electronic advertising platforms. Welcome to the show, John.
Guest: John Harris
Thank you, Shane. Glad to be here.
Host: Shane Cook
All right. Hey, I’m excited to have you on the show today because I think the campaign itself is a memorable campaign. It’s one that I think people it creates a bit of curiosity when people see it. I think that was by intent, but we’ll get into that. Tell me a little bit about why A five Branding and Digital is a natural fit for developing this gambling disorder campaign.
Guest: John Harris
We are a Chicago-based brand and digital agency that is focused on creating healthy, sustainable communities. So everything that we do, all of our patients at A Five, we’re working to tell stories on behalf of our patients to promote triple bottom line sustainability so that’s economic development, its environmental effectiveness, and its social equity. And this campaign, this effort with the state of Illinois, with IDHS, with Gateway Foundation way back in Nakasa, other providers, is really about making sure that people who might have a gambling issue are aware of and feel like, they have the opportunity, without judgment, to get or to seek or get help and do it on a very easy and quick and confidential 24/7 sort of way. So for us, this is really mission.
We are mission-driven as an agency and this is clearly an important mission, particularly in today’s world, where there’s just been such a proliferation of betting, gaming, and gambling opportunities in Illinois and frankly, across the country, our focus is Illinois. But this is something that’s happening all across the country, right?
Host: Shane Cook
And that’s something we speak about consistently on this show, is the availability and the access to gaming and gambling. It’s off the charts these days. Everybody is walking around with a casino in their pocket. And you and I have had that conversation as well. So very timely in terms of this campaign. It’s a new campaign that the state has launched. I say new. It’s probably within the last two months that it’s come online. There are all sorts of activities around it. But give us a sense of the message development and how you got to are you really winning, and what does that imply? What does it mean? What is the intent that the receiver gets from that campaign slogan?
Guest: John Harris
Yeah, in coming up with the campaign concept, and are you really winning? We listen to a lot of folks, people who have had and are battling gambling issues. A lot of providers, such as Gateway, and the way back in, we listened to the state, and went out to the National Council on Problem Gambling last summer and learned a lot from Keith White and his team and what’s happening across the country. And one of the things that was really fascinating to us is that people don’t necessarily think of themselves as gamblers today. I think sort of the old idea of Grandpa betting on the ponies. It’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, as you just said. It is in your pocket, it is in your hand. It is instant. There are little to no barriers. You’re supposed to be legal.
Age is 21 and over. Our lottery is 18. But there are very few barriers to entry here. And of course, there’s just a ton of marketing. So one of the things that we really did here, and by the way, it’s across the spectrum in Illinois, we have roughly 13 million people, and the HRIA study says that 400,000 people in the state of Illinois have a gambling issue with another roughly 700,000 at risk. That’s 810 percent of our population. And what we learned is it could be 18-year-olds again, even though they’re not legal age, could be 25-year-olds. It could be an 80-year-old woman in the Chicago suburbs whose husband passed away, and this is a real story. Husband passed away, left her $400,000. She was lonely. She filled her time by betting.
And this is the key point, not gambling or gaming in her mind, but by betting. And she lost it all. And it was by the grace of God and a provider that she happened to go in and seek some rent assistance in the community in which she lives. And she said under her breath, now if I could only stop bedding. And the person picked up on that and said, hey, we know a place where you could get help. And she credits that person and the help that she got with literally saving her life. So to us, that was big. And the other part was that you want to catch people’s attention and you need to connect with them, but not shame people.
I think it’s important that we don’t know as an agency how people are really feeling or thinking or what they’re doing or what’s motivating them. All we know is that this has taken hold and taken root somehow. So the idea of are you really winning? Was if you because all of the platforms out there, the gaming betting, gambling platforms are all about you as that winner. We said, well, okay, if you can’t stop betting nonstop, if you are thinking about gambling off the time, if you are spending too much time, say, at the slots, and if you find yourself having trouble with your relationships, with your job, and you find yourself losing more than you win, then are you really winning? So it’s a process, and it’s an educational process with that hook of are you really winning?
The visual, the associated visual is a badge or a shield. Are you really winning? The words are encased in a badge or a shield. So we wanted to also visually be in the game with the gaming betting platform provider. So we needed to make sure we didn’t look like a nonprofit, a low-budget operation that we looked like if you put it next to all a draft king Caesars FanDuel that it looked like it was part of. The same sort of environment or lexicon in that way and take it very seriously and do it in a very professional and educational way.
Host: Shane Cook
Right. I love that about the shield. That’s part of the branding logo as well. The other part that I really appreciate about this is it forces the individual receiving the message to be self-reflective.
Guest: John Harris
It does. Right. And you’re going to see some of the ads that we’re going to be rolling out at bus shelters and digital ads is if you find yourself and it says gaming, gambling, betting, obsessing, lying, losing, then are you really winning? So to your point, it becomes sort of a progression. And by the way, very few people get there overnight. So that’s a build. So this is a build as well to recognize that you who might have the issue, but also your friends and family to start to understand the signs.
Host: Shane Cook
Right. It’s classic in that way because it’s one of the first questions I get when I talk to people, hey, what are the signs of disordered gambling? And this campaign lays it out, and it’s not beat you over the head with them. It’s just are you obsessing. And that’s probably the big one that people have to come to terms with is how much time am I spending gambling? How much time am I spending looking at my phone, checking the odds, checking the wagers that are currently active, which is time that I could be spending with family, friends, and so on and so forth, or with my job.
Guest: John Harris
Right. Figuring out what’s really important. And as you know, as a provider and working with people who are in need of help, it’s also about starting that conversation and destigmatizing this. So it’s okay if you’re there, then you’re there. And to your point, if you can recognize the signs or we can educate people, friends and family, then they can say because I don’t think gambling disorder, and alcohol issues have been around a long time. Drug issues have been around for a long time. This is really starting to take hold because of the proliferation of gaming and gambling. And by the way, nobody’s saying that gaming, gambling, or betting is wrong or bad, but if it does start to take over your life if you can’t stop betting nonstop, if you’re obsessing, et cetera, and you’re losing more than you win, then yes, are you really winning? Right.
And that becomes the self-reflective part, the self-actual self-awareness part that, as you said, is really critical.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah, I really appreciate that, John, because anytime that we can get individuals in the mode of self reflection, it’s a good starting point for that person to be willing to explore it a little bit further. And it just so happens that at the bottom of every advertising platform, there’s a quick opportunity or a very bold opportunity to put out. How do you get in touch with somebody, whether that’s 1800 gambler or the ability to text somebody, which starts the process of having that conversation for somebody that may be searching at that point, or recognizing that, hey, it’s probably a good idea that I talked to somebody.
Guest: John Harris
Yeah, the call to action has to be there. And to your point, we have to do it very quickly. So we’ve got a fair number of ten and 15 2nd live reads and ads, and there’s a lot to pack in there. But to your point, you can call, you can text, you can go online, it’s 24/7, it’s confidential. But do it, and do it now so that you can get the help that you need.
Host: Shane Cook
Right, well, that’s actually an area that I wanted to explore a little bit further in terms of the content platforms that are available. Could you kind of walk us through where are people likely to come in contact with this campaign? I think that’s one aspect of it. Once they do come in contact with it and take action, where does that lead them? And what type of activities or resources is the individual able to engage with once they do take that action?
Guest: John Harris
Yeah, the website is at areyoureallywinning editv final. There are resources there and a direct connection to the providers across the state. The 1800 gambler line is answered twenty-four-seven, and you can get connected. As you know, that’s a national hotline. It’s routed directly to those who are serving and providing in Illinois. And the text line just goes to that call center, the 1800 gambler call center. So that’s where people land and where they can get the resources and the help that they might need. And in terms of pushing out and getting in front of people, it’s a statewide campaign, and it is a mix of digital assets, so over the top. So if you’re watching Netflix or Paramount, plus you’re watching Yellowstone, for example, you might find an ad served up through what’s called OTT or streaming on Are You Really Winning?
That directs you to the website and to the campaign. There are all kinds of traditional broadcast avenues, so TV and radio, certainly a ton of social media. And there will also be outdoor billboards and bus shelters, both digital and static boards across the Chicago area and the collard counties. And then also downstate, we also are making sure that we’re at or near, outside either in or outside major arenas where sports take place. So whether that’s Wrigley Field or I still call it Kaminsky Park as a Sox fan or Wrigley Field or Soldier Field, there will be both. Digital it’s called Geofencing captures there. But there will also be bus shelters and outdoor billboards, et cetera. And one of the other key there are a couple of other key partnerships.
One is with an organization called Learfield Sports, which has NCAA contracts across the country, but in the state of Illinois, particularly seven universities within Illinois. So that’s Northwestern Loyola University of Illinois State, northern Illinois, Southern Illinois University and Bradley. And so we are doing digital ads, and we’re on their radio broadcast. So if you listen to a U of I basketball or football game, you’ll hear the Are you Really Winning? Ad. We’re also doing activations at these games or tabling or just going out, right? And we go out, we set up a table. We set up our banners. We have our chotskis or giveaways there for people, whether that’s a piece of chocolate or it’s mints or it’s hand sanitizer or it’s beanies, but giveaways that people can grab.
And we want to get people to scan the QR code that’s on the banners so that they’re getting the information directly. And then we’re going to make sure that they’re going to be seeing our information. Often you got to get to people five, 7910 times. And that’s why even with our budget, we’re trying to be in a lot of different places. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and it’s going to take a lot of time. We don’t have the budget that the gaming platforms have, right. We have to be smart about it. So a couple of things you’re going to see in the coming months. We’ve started a Chicago Wolves partnership playing at the Allstate Arena.
Host: Shane Cook
That’s the hockey team. Chicago Wolves.
Guest: John Harris
Correct. The Chicago Wolves AHL hockey team. And they’re in Rosemont at the Allstate Arena. And they get 10,000 people a game, and they have a TV contract. And it’s just a tremendous environment. They’re a wonderful partner. We’re also going to be doing the Chicago Fire. While gambling will affect really anyone in the state of Illinois, particularly, we’re trying to reach particular populations also, and a Spanish-speaking population is one of those. And the Chicago Fire soccer team, which plays at Soldier Field, is going to be a great opportunity starting here in March and through October, November, where we’ll be at Soldier Field, and they attract about 20,000 fans. They’re on the radio, they’re on TV, and they’re also in the community building their network. So we’ll be at community clinics.
We’ll be working with former coaches and players to spread the word, to make sure that we’re in the communities and not just on the air. So we’re trying to combine a lot of different things to get people really engaged and aware, and again, making it simple for them to get the help that they need.
Host: Shane Cook
Right. And I really appreciate that as well. I know other agencies like Gateway, we’re out in the community on a daily basis, whether it be one at various locations, whether it be at a health fair, on a campus somewhere, speaking with the healthcare professionals there, out engaging with employee assistance programs for some of the larger employers across the state. So having resources available to us to also promote this on a statewide basis is very helpful.
Guest: John Harris
That’s a critical point. It’s a multiplier effect to have Gateway as a partner, to have the way back in, to have Nakasa, to have Maha, the Midwest Asian Health Association, the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling, of course, just a tremendous resource and a tremendous champion. And to be able to take a campaign that’s statewide. And there’s sort of the air cover, if you will, campaign, but then also to have your agency and other agencies on the ground, literally having those direct conversations with people and by having a shared set of values and a common language. This idea of if you can’t stop betting nonstop, are you really winning? Enables us to spread the word and to be consistent in our approach.
Host: Shane Cook
Right. Wow. I love it. One of the things that you touched on was the website as a resource. And going through that website, it’s actually it’s concise to the point, but has a lot of self-help tools that people can access through that website, including self-exclusion, registration, and things like that. I have to assume that is by design.
Guest: John Harris
Yeah. And that’s a credit to our friends at the state of Illinois and to HRIA who actually developed that website. And we all, as you know, work as a team here, and it’s a great team that’s been assembled, but they’ve done a great job of, like I think you captured it accurately. It’s quick, it’s to the point, it’s easy to grab what you might need. Will there be more there? Absolutely. For example, coming up in March with Problem Gambling Awareness Month, we’ll be creating an art competition. So artists across the state of Illinois, 21 and over, could be amateur artists. People with lived experience could be professional artists, can submit by April 12 to a platform the information will be up on are you really winning here?
In about a week, the website and then the website will have that information, and then artists will be able to submit their works and have an opportunity to win a cash prize, and then to have the artwork displayed publicly. And we’ll be unveiling. It’s a juried competition. We have professional jurors along with a person with lived experience. And about May 17 or 18, at the state conference in Mundelein, those winners will be unveiled, and then the artwork will be displayed. So that’s another aspect of what’s going to be coming. And it’ll be visible on the website. It’ll be visible in the campaign as well.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah, perfect. So as we take a forward-looking approach to this, what is it that you envision? And I love the idea of engaging the community directly through the website by way of this art competition, artist competition, how do you see this evolving over time? Not just the website, but this campaign itself seems to be tailor-made as something that can evolve as people’s awareness levels grow, as people understand gambling disorder a little bit better. It’s certainly a starting point, but one that will allow for growth and true exploration of gambling disorder at perhaps maybe a bit deeper level.
Guest: John Harris
That’s a great point, and, yes, I see it taking two directions, at least in terms of, as you said, the depth or expansion of this one is on the destigmatization side because it’s easy for people to think, oh, you can just stop. Well, if you could just stop, whether it was alcohol, drugs, or gambling, then there wouldn’t be any need for anybody to provide all the help. It just magically occurs. It doesn’t because this does something to your brain. The idea of digital dopamine, it is just it physiologically impacts a person. So we have to do more to educate people broadly so that they can be aware that there should be no shame in this. If it is happening to you, it is okay to ask yourself questions, to self-reflect, as you said earlier, and to go out and seek help. Destigmatization.
Host: Shane Cook
I just want to tag on that because we learned from Dr. Napier, if a rat can be taught how to gamble and do so compulsively, that’s a pretty good indicator that it has to do with the brain. It’s not the individual. It’s not that the individual can just stop. Right. You’ve been conditioned to a certain extent.
Guest: John Harris
Right? Exactly right. And it’s exciting. It’s interesting. It’s fun.
Host: Shane Cook
Sure.
Guest: John Harris
I was at a Bulls game recently with a couple of people, and one of the younger members of our group had a layered bet, I think, on five different items, and ultimately he needed the Bulls to win. But the four things before that was, does this player sink X number of three points in the third quarter? Does this player get X number of rebounds? And so he was constantly watching the game for these things to occur at the end of the game. It didn’t matter unless the Bulls won. They lost, by the way, to the Clippers, as they too often do these days. But all of those things had to come together in order to win. And just sitting with this person, it was easy to get caught up in that excitement.
And yet, when you think about it, the excitement is really about being there with your friends and family and having that shared collective experience with 20,000 other people, watching a game, watching a competition. So it was fun on some level, but it just was like you find yourself getting caught up in that instead of absorbing the environment and the moment that you’re in, and it becomes very much about maybe you and your experience instead of that shared experience. And that’s just relating to the Super Bowl with 100 plus million people in America and then across the world watching the Super Bowl. Now, that is the one event that really brings a lot of people, a big number of people in America, together. And look at the amount of money that is spent on that game.
By the way, we just made sure that were there on that game across the state. So were on Rockford TV, Peoria and Bloomington in Chicago and making sure that were there because the gaming platforms were there. But we all know that, again, people are there and eyeballs are in. So our ads in Chicago, on Fox Sports actually hit about 3 million. It was 3 million impressions. It’s just a huge number of people. So it was about a million and a half people in the Chicago area watching the 3 million impressions with four different ads that ran over certain time periods during the day, right? And then we got to keep that up and just keep rolling along the number of impressions that we have to create.
So we’re in front of people a lot because like you said, you got to get their attention, then you got to get them to think about where it is that they are. And that’s the other thing. So back to answer your question, is destigmatization a sort of education about the impact of this on you and your brain and your life. And then the other piece is the story of people in places. So the story of this 80-year-old woman who gambled away all of her money, but she got help. She got the help that she needed. So going forward, we will have stories of success, of people who sought and received help from Gateway, from Nakasa, from Maha, from way back in.
And we’ll be sharing those stories to the extent there are privacy issues, to the extent that the individual wants to share, and or we can sort of mask their identity, but making sure that people know that help is available and you can change your life. And that’s another big part of this campaign, is ultimately, it’s hopeful when we photographed ten people at the outset, they actually are models. They’re paid models. They don’t really look like models. But we got people from all walks of life, so young and old, men and women, and different ethnicities. And we shot them in two ways. One, looking somewhat concerned, thoughtful, thought-provoking, introspective, self-reflective, to use your term. And we also shot them as looking hopeful, like they had received the help, and they can get the help.
And so that’s a big part of our campaign, too, is we want to show that people this is something that impacts them and could impact them greatly. It’s also an uplifting story because help is available.
Host: Shane Cook
Right. Well, that’s so important, too, because many times when people are at that point where they’re seeking assistance, or at least open to seeking assistance, they’re anything but hopeful at that point. So to be confronted with a message that does convey there’s hope here, it’s not the end of the line, it’s not the bottom. There’s a way out. And I think that’s important to convey in the message. And I think you all have done a really good job with that.
Guest: John Harris
Thank you. And that’s part of the next phase or next step is to continue to build on that with real people and real stories and testimonials so that people can see, oh, that person hit rock bottom, and that person today is okay.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah. Great. Well, I appreciate it. John, is there anything else that we haven’t covered through the course of our conversation here that you would like people to understand.
Guest: John Harris
The depths of how serious this issue is? And I think the other piece of this is that the state of Illinois, through IDHS and providers such as yourself, really working to raise awareness of gambling issues and that there is hope and there are strategies and you can get help. I think we’ve noticed there’s just a tremendous commitment on the part of the state to get people to help and also build the provider network. We’re working on the awareness, the marketing, the communication side, and building that story and telling that story and getting people engaged. And as you know, there is a great need for more people who can provide help to those affected in the state.
And so I think that’s part of it is that the state is really working to build a system and a network as well so that when somebody does pick up that phone, there is somebody at the other end of the line who can help.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah, and I think that’s an important aspect of this as well. For me, when I look at the overall landscape around gambling itself and then take it to the level of understanding gambling disorder, I think we’ve got still a bit of a runway in the state. And what I mean by that is we have a runway of, by my estimation, and some of the people that I talk to, we probably have about two more years here to really lay the groundwork and the foundation, and we’re able to assist people. But in a couple of years’ time, if we’re following the same trends that we’ve seen in Europe and Australia, we’re going to take note of people that are seeking this assistance here.
After a couple of years from now, a couple more years of online sports betting is available and accessible, video gaming terminals that are right down on the street corner from where you live, I mean, all of these things are just going to continue to compound and create an issue where accessibility is key in helping people develop. That’s probably not the best way for me to put it, but accessibility is at least a contributing factor for people that eventually develop gambling disorders. Years ago when they had to get in the car, drive to Vegas, drive to New Jersey, or hop on a plane, take a flight into either of those destinations, the accessibility is not really an issue. Right, right.
Guest: John Harris
The bull story I told, it just really threw me for a loop when this young man was telling me of the bets that he had placed, and I just thought, wow. And as you said, it was so quick. The access is so easy. The barrier to entry is negligible. Another brief story, I’m in Normal, Illinois. I decide it’s a big pizza town. No, it’s not Chicago, but it’s a college town. I’m going to get a pizza. I go into a pizza place, and I said to myself, is this a pizza place or is this a casino? Literally? I could not tell. It almost looked like it was billed as a pizza place. Google says it’s a pizza place. Yelp reviews say it’s a pizza place.
But when you walk into it, I thought I was in a casino that had a little counter with some slices of pizza out there. It really struck me that the emphasis in this environment and increasingly in environments is you mentioned it, the video gaming terminals, the numbers we might need to correct the record here, but it’s something like went from, say, 604 or five or six years ago to something like 44,000 video gaming terminals. So like you said, it’s starting to pop up everywhere, and it’s kind of hard if you’re going to get a pizza at this place and other places, it’s kind of hard to avoid it. And the pull is so strong to just walk over and again, doing it once or doing it occasionally, fine, use it.
My rule of thumb has always been when I go to Las Vegas, I have a $10 limit. Right. And if I play $10 and I lose it all, I chalk it up to $10 of fun and then I walk away.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah, good advice. Well, John, I really appreciate you hopping on the show with us today and having a. Conversation insightful. I’ve enjoyed our conversations offline just as much, and I look forward to many more going forward as we continue to work closely together and get the message out.
Shane, thank you for the opportunity to talk about the Are You Really Winning? Campaign. Are you really winning.com? On Facebook and Instagram as well. And thank you for doing this podcast and for all the great work that you do every darn day in helping people across the state of Illinois.
Host: Shane Cook
Absolutely, we love hearing from you. So please take a moment to like, share and comment on our podcast. You can reach out to us directly via email at wagerdanger@gatewayfoundation.org. Look for us on Facebook and Twitter at Recovergateway, on LinkedIn at gatewayfoundation or through our website@gatewayfoundation.org. Wager Danger is supported through funding in whole or in part through a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery. And remember, recovery is a lifelong process. If you or a family member is struggling with a gambling problem, call Gateway at 844-975-3663 and speak with one of our counselors for a confidential assessment.
