Vitae launches campaign to help women, save lives in KC

The Vitae Foundation launched an advertising campaign in the greater Kansas City area in December, which will continue for six months. The media campaign includes Google paid search and mobile advertising.

“We’re thrilled to be able to help women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant and not sure where to turn,” Vitae Chief Operating Officer Anne Carmichael stated. “These messaging strategies target specific age groups when they go on the computer or their phone to look for pregnancy and abortion-related information.”

Search advertising is a method of placing online advertisements on web pages that show results from search engine queries. Search advertising is sold and delivered on the basis of keywords (i.e., abortion related words). The user (abortion-vulnerable woman) of a search engine (Google) enters keywords to make queries. A keyword may consist of more than one word, like “symptoms of pregnancy.” Once an ad is selected, the user is taken to a landing page where they are able to make a call to a Pregnancy Help Center (PHC) or schedule an online appointment.

Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile (wireless) phones or other mobile devices. In addition to standard mobile display banners, a growing trend is to include rich media execution within the banner ads. This includes banners that would expand to a larger size, offering advertisers a larger display to communicate their message. This feature is offered as a part of this campaign to allow for the user to interact with the ad to find the PHC nearest their location. Ads will appear on the mobile devices of women ages 15-17 years old. They will receive the creative “Are You Pregnant?” and women 18-24 years old will receive the creative “Thinking Abortion?”. The ads will appear in areas where the demographic is heavily populated—schools, colleges, shopping malls.

There are six collaborating PHCs in the Greater KC area taking part in this campaign: Advice & Aid Pregnancy Center, Alternatives Clinic, Rachael House, The Women’s Clinic, Parkville Women’s Clinic, Liberty Women’s Clinic.

Funding for this campaign is made possible by the Meet Life Campaign, a program of the Missouri Knights of Columbus and the Vitae Foundation.

Vitae Foundation is a national non-profit organization which uses mass media campaigns to reach women facing unplanned pregnancies. Vitae pioneered the research that provides a results-driven approach in using media to address the abortion issue. Vitae’s presence in the Kansas City media market has included ads on television, radio, Internet, outdoor billboards, and buses. Vitae ads also run on the Cardinal Radio Network and the Missouri Tiger Network during MU football and basketball games.