AMTA Wins 2019 Gold Circle Award for Excellence in Association Communications

AMTA has been recognized by ASAE with a2019 Gold Circle Award for the Advocacy Campaign: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic with Massage Therapy. The Gold Circle Awards competition is the premier association marketing, membership and communications award that recognizes excellence, innovation, and achievement in association/nonprofit marketing, membership and communications programs. This year’s competition received a record-breaking number of 200 entries across 15 categories.

“We are thrilled to win a prestigious ASAE Gold Circle Award for AMTA’s advocacy campaign on massage therapy as an alternative to opioids for pain management. The outstanding work on this campaign is a shining example of how AMTA is continuing to advance our profession and serve the public,” said AMTA President Christopher Deery.

“The Gold Circle Awards is an opportunity for the community to recognize the important role marketing, membership and communications play in associations,” said ASAE President and CEO John H. Graham IV, FASAE, CAE. “Congratulations to the winning organizations. You have shown that combining creativity, design, technology, and metrics leads to campaigns with lasting impact.”

About AMTA’s Award-Winning Advocacy Campaign

Americans are now more likely to die of an opioid overdose than a car crash. As the United States struggles with an epidemic of opioid use and its devastating effects on lives, society and the economy, AMTA believes it’s important to consider the role massage therapy can play in pain management. 

AMTA’s Advocacy Campaign: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic with Massage Therapy is focused on reaching out to legislators, insurance companies and collaborators in the health care profession to discuss the current science behind massage therapy as an alternative to opioids for managing pain.

This integrated campaign includes an economic modeling analysis which indicates that as many as 5 million people in the U.S. could potentially benefit from massage therapy, while reducing the number of people with opioid addiction disorder by over 111,000 per year.  In addition, AMTA published a 45-page report and educational tool “Massage Therapy in Integrative Care & Pain Management”, and developed an opioids web landing page (serving as a central location for housing updates on campaign initiatives). 

AMTA also talked with key pain organizations, participated in national healthcare panels, and wrote to 700 Medicare Advantage programs encouraging them to work toward including massage therapy for pain management. In addition, the association issued multiple press releases to national consumer, business and healthcare media on research showing massage therapy as an alternative to opioids, reaching 80 million people and over 240 media outlets. 

About ASAE

ASAE is a membership organization of more than 44,000 association executives and industry partners representing 7,400 organizations. Its members lead, manage, and work in or partner with organizations in more than a dozen association management disciplines, from executive management to finance to technology. Together, they create a vibrant community that makes the world smarter, safer, and better every day. With support of the ASAE Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge, and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession and provides resources, education, ideas, and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. Visit ASAE at asaecenter.org.