DON’T BE THE ONE. NEVER QUIT QUITTING. SMOKING KILLS.
We’re all familiar with provocatively titled ‘stop smoking’ campaigns from over the years but the fact remains that smoking is the single biggest cause of preventable illness and premature death.
The situation has improved but declines in prevalence are stalling – with Greater Manchester identified as one of the worst offenders across the country (15.4% of adults smoke vs 13% avg. for England). 5,700 people die each year from smoking-related causes and a further 24,000 are admitted into our hospitals. Smoking also costs Greater Manchester’s economy £910m per year, including £115m in NHS healthcare costs.
Greater Manchester – via its ‘Make Smoking History’ strategy – has demanded action. The ambition is to be a smokefree city by 2030 (<5% smoking prevalence) with an interim target of 9.1% by 2025. And it’s a very ambitious challenge that has been set. So what can be done?
The task for ‘Make Smoking History’ was two-fold. We needed to blend high impact, mass reach channels (video-led for maximum engagement) with tactical digital media and informed OOH placements to drive greater consideration of quitting amongst the most relevant audiences.
Linear TV, Broadcaster VOD and YouTube worked alongside radio and digital audio to ‘inform’ the audience and drive reach, frequency and fame.
An array of OOH formats helped ‘intercept’ moments of greatest smoking temptation and encouraged immediate consideration / action, taking over key transport networks around the region and leveraging cultural moments (i.e. the Manchester derby).
Targeted display and social used till data to isolate the parts of Greater Manchester with the highest cigarette sales.
Community-focused channels such as beer mates and pharmacy bags then led the conversation at a grassroots level to try and ‘influence’ the narrative moving forward.
We’re under no illusion that change happens overnight but the early signs are promising for the 2030 deadline and the ‘What Will You Miss?’ campaign.
90% of respondents said that they would take action as a result of seeing the campaign, with 16% claiming they would quit smoking altogether.
35% claim to have reduced how much they smoked, 24% have seriously considered lifestyle changes and 20% have switched to a vape or e-cigarette.
96% of user of the Smoke Free app also set a quit date – a significant spike vs the ‘norm’ as average weekly downloads saw a +2441% increase compared to non-campaign periods (May – Oct 2023).
Sophie Williamson – Senior Project Manager, Make Smoking History (NHS GMIC):
“The ‘What Will You Miss’ stop smoking campaign is a brilliant example of turning insight into actioned intelligence.
“From the beginning, Republic of Media got under the skin of our brief, going above and beyond to explore the lives of entrenched smokers across Greater Manchester and devise innovative touchpoints from which to drive capability, opportunity and motivation, inspiring quit journeys across the city-region.
“The team’s knowledge in digital and traditional media planning, enthusiasm and responsiveness has driven us to exceed all benchmarks for the campaign and helped to transform lives.”
