Mike Pond and Maureen Palmer of Bountiful Films have partnered with a discoverability specialist to leverage the duo’s memoir and an accompanying digital hub to drive audiences to their upcoming addiction doc Wasted, set to bow on CBC’s The Nature of Things on Jan. 21.

Pond and Palmer initially pitched the doc to CBC in 2014, following the release of the first edition of the memoir. With a new publishing deal and a second edition of the book with additional content making waves in the conversation surrounding addiction – and Palmer proposing an interactive hub to launch in tandem with the doc – the CBC greenlit the project a year ago, with Palmer enlisting the services of discoverability specialist Moyra Rodger, who heads up online marketing agency Magnify Digital.

Overall, the documentary aims to change the conversation around substance abuse and addiction through the story of Pond, a psychotherapist and former alcoholic who has been five years sober. Getting the relevant information and support to those affected by addiction, and their families, has been a central aim of the digital project, with Rodger and Palmer conducting a “rigorous audit of the topic” to discover what materials were already available online and how best to reach its intended audience. The pair compiled at 60-page strategy proposal, which used the book to attract interest in the documentary and detailed the social media strategy, as well as the specifics of the interactive guide.

Two weeks out from Wasted‘s air date, the project’s corresponding website has attracted over 10,000 visitors, with more than 2,000 people signing up for the site’s online newsletter. The website points to the more thorough interactive guide, which will be launched in tandem with the documentary’s broadcast. The digital resource will allow visitors to sign in as either a parent or partner of a substance abuser, giving a range of the most commonly faced scenarios and how to deal with them. The digital component also encourages visitors to leave their phone numbers. During the broadcast, exclusive content that correlates to what the viewer is seeing will be pushed to viewer’s phones.

This is the first time Magnify Digital has attempted a strategy of this nature, said Rodgers. “I want to see if we can align the two delivery mechanisms [the broadcast and the content delivered to people’s phones] and see what happens – it could be that it doesn’t catch on, or it could be an ‘aha’ moment,” Rodgers told Playback Daily. In addition to the digital strategy being deployed by the filmmakers and Rodgers, Pond is also a regular columnist for the Vancouver Sun, which is another channel through which he can reach his audience.

The documentary portion of the project is financed by the CBC, while the interactive hub is funded through the Telus Fund. The doc airs on CBC at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21.