Choose Life

Background

Most smokers know the dangers of smoking. Reinforcing them has a limited effect. The brief was to give smokers an impossible-to-ignore reason to seriously consider quitting smoking – and to turn that consideration into action by calling the Quitline for advice and support.

Idea

The agency wondered whether they could inspire smokers to quit rather than scare them into it. Hope, they thought, might be a more powerful message than fear. They created future scenarios through ‘dialogue copy’, portraying some of the wonderful things that could be waiting for you later in life. The messages were placed at ‘point-of-puff’ using Adbins - public ashtrays sited outside pubs, bars and cafes. Because they were smoking a cigarette, smokers had time to read the copy.

Results

The campaign boosted call volumes around the Christmas/New Year period but since the work was still running at time of writing, final results are not yet available.

Our Thoughts

What I love about this is the media as much as anything. What better time to talk to people about the perils of smoking than when they are actually drawing heavily on a Marlboro. Using the ashtrays was a good idea. The strategy – tease the reader into imagining the brilliant future – was good. And lastly, the executions - the skilful use of dialogue to create a sense of immediacy - were good too. Three goods must add up to terrific, don’t you think?