Using a Media Buyer To Promote Poison Center

Background: The Washington Poison Center held its first Poison Prevention Week Mr. Yuk poster contest for 3-5th graders. To increase participation and awareness of the Poison Center, the prize included featuring the winning poster on billboards throughout the state. Grant funds to purchase billboard space were very limited. Case Report: Due to the complexity of the task, the Poison Center contracted with a local media buyer to negotiate the best billboard rates, ensure optimal billboard placement, and act as an intermediary between the center and billboard owners. Case Discussion: The media buyer was able to purchase 36 billboards in 4 major market areas. Because of the center's nonprofit status and the buyer's experience, she secured over half, 53% (19), of the billboard spaces as donations. The media buyer obtained $44,289 worth of billboard advertising, using only $16,714 of grant funds. She allowed the center to purchase more than twice the planned number of billboards for the budgeted funds. The final cost was $464.28 per billboard. The billboards were viewed an estimated 489,573 times per day for a total of 13,708,044 "impressions" over the 28 day period they were contracted. Several of the billboards remained up past the contracted time, producing an even higher impression count. The Washington Poison Center received many positive comments from the general public about the billboards. Conclusion: Using a media buyer to secure billboard space for promoting the Poison Center resulted in a higher than expected impact on the community. Other Poison Centers should consider the use of a media buyer when purchasing advertising to provide the best use of limited funds.