Many of the employees at Idea Engineering, like most people in America, have been touched in some way by drugs or suicide. It makes the work of the Santa Barbara communications firm all the more meaningful, and all the more effective.
“We really do care,” said CEO Simon Dixon, rolling up his sleeve to show the “STAY” tattoo on his forearm, the name of the company’s new suicide prevention campaign. “If we were in this for the money, we’d be selling cars and candy bars.”
Dixon and his team produce what they call Turnkey Campaigns ― ready-to-launch public education packages that address some of the deadliest issues affecting communities across the U.S., including the scourge of fentanyl. Here in Santa Barbara County, the number of fentanyl-related deaths increased by nearly 300 percent over the last two years.