Continuing the tradition of questionable online marketing practices by addiction treatment centers — which are a huge and growing industry — the company behind American Addiction Centers (AAC Holdings, Inc., ticker: AAC) over the summer acquired a little online marketing company that virtually nobody had heard of: Referral Solutions Group (RSG). The company was acquired by AAC for $32 million in cash in addition to stock.
Referral Solutions Group (now known as Sober Media Group) operates a whole bevy of websites, including everything run by Recovery Brands. But on most websites run by this group today, you won’t see any mention of who owns or operates the site.
Why would a company seemingly want to hide the fact that they own or operate a particular website? It’s anyone’s guess, but it appears such actions are meant to make it seem like a website is independent and not associated with any particular treatment center.
This illusion of independence is important, in my opinion. As a consumer, if you go to a website and believe it’s not affiliated with a treatment center, I suspect you’re more likely to use its treatment referral hotline or directory. And if you’re on one of these websites operated by AAC Holdings, you may even get a referral to an American Addiction Centers treatment facility.
