Case Study: Alcoólicos Anônimos achieves 20% increase in support-group participation with Facebook Messenger

Reaching new audiences with a bot for Messenger

Alcoholics Anonymous Brazil wanted to extend its reach—especially to young people and women—and make anonymous, fast, centralized information and access to local support groups easier to find. The challenge was helping people who struggled to identify as alcohol-dependent to seek help in a secure, non‑invasive way.

Working with J. Walter Thompson, AA launched the “Anonymous Friend” Facebook Page and a Messenger bot that shares recovery stories, offers 24/7 chat and an emergency button, and uses geolocation to locate nearby groups; targeted video ads on desktop and mobile drove awareness. In two months the bot helped increase support‑group participation by 20%, reached 30% more people in areas without AA groups, generated 10× more leads, and provided new audience insights (70% of users were women).

Alcoólicos Anônimos

Alcoholics Anonymous

Chairman of the General Service Board