U.S. Awards Ogilvy & Mather $129 Million Anti-Drug Ad Contract

Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, a unit of WPP Group Plc, won a $129 million contract to manage an anti-drug campaign, the Clinton administration said.

The campaign is part of a five-year, $1 billion National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign that began in July, and focuses on preventing and reducing drug use by middle-school children. The campaign will run as paid advertising rather than as public service announcements.

Barry McCaffrey, President Clinton’s adviser on anti- drug policy, said Ogilvy & Mather will help the Office of National Drug Control Policy target television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor billboards and the Internet.

There are four one-year renewal options; during those four years, plans call for annual budgets of $132.7 million, $136.6 million, $140.8 million and $145.1 million, according to the New York Times.

“Our goal is for 90 percent of young people to see an anti- drug message at least four times a week,” McCaffrey told Bloomberg News.

McCaffrey said most of the campaign’s creative will be developed for free by ad agencies working though the Partnership for a Drug- Free America.