Press Advertising.pdf - Overeaters Anonymous

Type of Project:
Radio and newspaper community notices, tear-off tag posters, bus posters, leaving business cards at doctors’
surgeries/offices, speaking opportunities and answer phone service.
Project Name:
Public Outreach/Professional Information
Project Goal:
The goal for these projects is to carry the message that Overeaters Anonymous exists and can help.
Organizing Service Body:
Canterbury Intergroup, New Zealand
canterburyoa@yahoo.com.au
.
Contact Information:
Canterbury Intergroup
Public Information Chairperson
canterburyoa@yahoo.com.au
Resources Needed (budget, volunteers, materials, etc.):
No budget is needed for public information announcements as most are free in local papers and radio stations.
You will need a volunteer to write notices and to contact paper or radio station. Email is helpful, but not
necessary.
All posters and business cards will have printing/ink costs involved. You will need volunteers to create posters
and business cards as well as to contact bus companies for best rate. In their area, one bus company allowed
them to put posters on their buses free of charge.
Volunteers are needed to seek out places to speak at and to share their experience, strength and hope there.
Implementation Process (including length of time for planning and implementation):
Radio and Newspaper Community Notices
A volunteer from Canterbury Intergroup will email the paper and radio station contacts every two months with
the ad already written. Example notices are below:
For Newspapers
“Overeaters Anonymous: Is food a problem for you? Are you suffering from anorexia, bulimia, obesity
and/or
compulsive eating? Call xxx-xxx-xxxx. Meetings held weekly. All welcome.”
Please print the above at your earliest convenience.
Thank you,

(Name and contact info here)
For Radio Stations
Please could you air the following information in your community notices at your convenience.
“Is your eating a problem? OR Is food a problem for you? Are you suffering from Anorexia, Bulimia or
Compulsive Eating? Call Overeaters Anonymous at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Thank you in advance for your attention.
Kind regards,
(Name and contact info here)
Tear-Off Tag Posters
A volunteer from Canterbury Intergroup printed the existing flyer and made it available to members in OA to
distribute. The flyers (link to example flyer) are on bright yellow paper and cut into strips at the bottom for the
interested person to tear the phone number off from. Members are reminded to ask permission before hanging
a flyer first and to bring tape or thumbtacks with them. A list of suggested drop off places are provided:
Community centers
Educational institutions
Churches
Coffee shops
Health food stores
Exercise places
Book stores
Dentist offices
Secondhand stores
Bus Posters
Canterbury Intergroup created a poster to be hung inside busses. It is also printed on bright yellow paper.
Research different bus companies in your area as some charge to hang them and some allow you to hang them
yourself for free. Volunteers were required to hang the posters at 7am in the morning. Canterbury
Intergroup do this twice a year and have found it best to do this in spring and autumn.
Business Cards Left at Surgeries/Doctors’ Offices
A volunteer from Canterbury Intergroup collated a list of all the doctors in the area. All of these doctors were
sent a letter and then contacted by telephone to ask permission to leave OA cards. Canterbury Intergroup
placed plastic card holders and cards in their waiting rooms and continue to re-stock them at regular intervals
three times a year.
The message on the cards created by a Canterbury Intergroup volunteer says:
OVEREATERS
ANONYMOUS
Is your eating causing problems
in your life?

Phone (xx) xxx-xxxx
Anytime
Speaking Opportunities
OA volunteers have contacted various public institutions and now speak regularly to medical students and
treatment centers throughout the year to share their experience, strength and hope.
Answer Phone Service
Canterbury Intergroup offers a public phone number with a recorded message that has member’s personal
numbers and an answering machine service. While not strictly a PI activity, Canterbury feels it is an important
part of carrying the message providing the opportunity to organize 12 step calls.
Additional Comments (including things of which to be mindful):
None.
Results:
Canterbury has created a statistics sheet (link to statistics sheet example) and ask volunteers to fill it out on a
monthly basis. The statistics sheet is used to record the number of calls received and to gain a list of where
people have heard about OA from.
The following is a written report given from Canterbury Intergroup’s PI Committee prepared in 2008:
“We have looked through where the contacts came from. As expected they come through: - friends in OA
or AA;
family members; phonebook; and Internet. It is also great to see that people come though the places where
PI (and Intergroup) spend a lot time and effort like: newspaper advertisements; tear-off tags; radio; bus
flyers; doctors surgeries/offices; library and the mental health directory. It is most exciting to see that we
also have had referrals from: Canterbury District Health Board Mental Health Services; treatment centers;
counselors; University Health Services; Lifeline and Catholic Social Services.”

IS FOOD A
PROBLEM
FOR YOU?
Do you eat when you’re not hungry?
Do you go on eating binges for no
apparent reason?
Is your weight affecting the way you live
your life?
Call
OVEREATERS
ANONYMOUS
PH: (03) 365 3812.
LISTED IN THE HELP SECTION OF THE
PHONE BOOK

OA PI Answerphone Calls
Comparison of Total Calls 2005 - 2008
30
25
25
Total 2005
Total 2006
Total 2007
Total 2008
20
18
15
10
11 11
12
14
10
9
10
11
13
12
9 9
9
13
2005 = 66
2006 = 55
2007 = 49
2008 = 74
7
6
6
6
7
6 6
5
4
0
Dec/Jan Jan/Feb Feb/Mar Mar/Apr Apr/May May/Jun
OA PI Answerphone Calls
Comparison of 12 Step calls 2005 - 2008
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
9
7 7
7
6
6
5 5
5 5
5
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
0
0
Dec/Jan Jan/Feb Feb/Mar Mar/Apr Apr/May May/Jun
12 Step 2005
12 Step 2006
12 Step 2007
12 Step 2008
2005 = 25
2006 = 16
2007 = 23
2008 = 29

Type of Project:
Newspaper Article
Project Name:
Dear Abby letter
Project Goal:
To inform the public about OA
Organizing Service Body:
Dallas Metroplex OA Intergroup
331 Melrose Drive, Suite 116
Richardson TX
http://www.oadallas.org/
Contact Information:
Dolores
ACDC1322@aol.com
Resources Needed (budget, volunteers, materials, etc.):
OA person willing to share his or her story
Implementation Process (including length of time for planning and implementation):
The Intergroup’s Public Information Director sent a letter to “Dear Abby” saying that she was alive because in
one of the “Dear Abby” columns in which the contact information for Overeaters Anonymous had been
provided. That information, given in the column, planted a seed in her and when she did attend her first
meeting about two years later, it changed her life. When she wrote this letter, she had been in recovery from
compulsive overeating for 32 years. “Dear Abby” used her letter by sharing it with a lady who was also
struggling with food and hoping to get help. There was no cost but thanks and gratitude from OA member.
The article can be seen on pg. 3 at this Website:
http://www.crowleypostsignal.com/Post%20Signal%20PDF%20folder/060308CPSA-web.pdf
Results:
“Dear Abby” is one of the most popular and widely syndicated columns in the world, so the seed was planted
for countless people who read the letter and are suffering from the disease of Compulsive Overeating.

Type of Project:
Diner Placemats
Project Name:
Diner Placemats
Project Goal:
To inform the public about OA
Organizing Service Body:
Westchester United Intergroup (WUIG)
(Westchester/Putnam County) NY
www.oahelps.org
Contact Information:
Carol B.
cbbooth@optonline.net
Resources Needed (budget, volunteers, materials, etc.):
Volunteers to develop an “ad” to be used on the placemat. Volunteers to contact local diners to investigate
whether they have placemats with advertising and to negotiate the cost of placing an “ad.” Volunteers to
monitor the project, ensuring a rotation of diners throughout the county.
The total cost of the project was $275 per month for approximately 83,000 diner placemats distributed to 4 – 6
diners per month.
Implementation Process (including length of time for planning and implementation):
It took one year to plan and develop the project and a committee of 5 volunteers to execute the project. At least
one volunteer (along with a committee for consultation) is needed to monitor the project when a new contract
needs to be signed (ie every month or three months).

The ad was originally developed as a movie slide to be shown in local theaters. However, due to cost and
production concerns, the project lasted only 3 months and attention was then focused on placing the ad on
diner placemats. In developing the ad, WSO was contacted and approval was obtained to use the OA logo.
In March 07, a three-month contract was signed to place an OA informational ad on placemats in 5 local
diners. The cost was $300/month for distribution of 83,000 placemats. Over the course of almost two years,
the “ad” has appeared throughout the county. The cost was reduced to $275/month with a commitment of
only one month at a time so that it is possible to skip a month if funds are low or any other reason. This project
has been on-going for the past two years.
Additional Comments (including things of which to be mindful):
WUIG recommends that the “ad” be placed on one of the upper corners of the placemat or along one of the
edges so that when a plate is placed on the mat, the ad can still be seen.
Results:
WUIG has gotten positive results from the project with several people having come into OA as a result of
seeing the ad. Financial support for project has been positive with several groups passing around a second
“basket” for PI donations. The Intergroup continues to support this project.