Smoking a kingsize problem.

Transcription

1 23969 Commuter Card XL 280x1218.indd 1 22/12/10 15:40: Smoking streetliners.indd 2 8/3/11 16:45:13 Day 1 i'm mark. after 23 years, i've just put out my last cigarette. i'm determined to give up and this Quit Kit feels like i've help from the very start. 2 months later i'm still getting cravings, but nicotine gum helps. 4 months in the guys at the smokers' helpline are great. it's good to have someone to talk to now and then about quitting. 6 months i don't think about smoking so much now. there's more to life than cigarettes. Stopping smoking requires willpower. For help quitting and your free Quit Kit, call Never give up on giving up. Smokers Things you could do before you die Say goodbye to your loved ones To give up before it s too late, call or visit want2stop.info Smoking can ruin lives PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY Smoking a kingsize problem. Strategic Category: 1. 2 Marketing Planning Resources, Research and Insights Author: Brian Coane The Leith Agency Charlie Crawford MediaCom Word count: 2001

2 INTRODUCTION Smoking kills around 2,300 people each year in Northern Ireland. It s the largest preventable cause of ill health and premature death. And is also the principal reason for the gap in life expectancy between the most affluent and poorest in our society i. At the time the campaign was being developed, the prevalence of smoking amongst professionals had more than halved over the previous 20 years. But had dropped by only a fifth amongst unskilled workers ii. These dramatic statistics made our task clear: To keep up the momentum behind reducing the levels of smoking. With thousands of deaths each year, there was still a lot of work to do. To address the growing divide between the rich and poor. We needed a campaign that would work to close the gap between rich and poor in terms of the health inequalities that smoking causes. Our campaign objectives The campaign launched on 5 January 2011 and ran until March To meet this challenge we set three specific campaign objectives: 1. To continue to raise awareness of the health effects of smoking. 2. To encourage smokers to request and make use of the new smoking Quit Kit iii which was available in Northern Ireland for the first time. 3. To increase the number of smokers making a quit attempt. In our initial investigation it became clear that we were not talking to one, but to two groups. There were people who still needed to be made to want to quit. And people who wanted to quit but still needed the support and confidence to take that journey. The latter group represented the most immediate low hanging fruit. But we also needed to deliver a pipeline of smokers with the desire to quit, to meet the Government s longer term vision for health and equality. Therefore, a key early strategic decision was to produce separate strands targeting each of these attitudinal groups (rather than risking a mixed-message campaign that served neither audience effectively). An international review of anti-smoking campaigns revealed that this is often a strategy that arises by default a hard-hitting health campaign runs for a period of time, followed by something around supported quitting. We took the innovative decision to plan, research and run these two strands of the campaign together from the outset. This allowed us to maximise the individual effectiveness of each, very different, element: i Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Ten-Year Tobaccos Control Strategy for Northern Ireland. February The why providing the motivation to want to quit smoking. The how supporting the best chance of a successful quit attempt. ii Prevalence of cigarette smoking by sex and socio-economic group, 1983 to taken from Continuous Household Survey carried out by Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). Over the last 20 years (1990 to 2010) the prevalence of smoking amongst professionals has more than halved (16% to 7%). In comparison, the prevalence amongst unskilled workers has reduced by only a fifth (42% to 36%). iii Quit Kit contain materials designed to help people stop smoking and support, advice and details on all the support options available.

3 THE WHY. THE HOW. The major challenge here was to come up with a new way of getting people to engage with a health message. As people were seeing unparalleled levels of graphic (and potentially distressing) health messages on packs, there was little point in just replicating this. Our strategic planning focused on identifying where advertising could contribute something unique and that was feeling and emotions. We focused on making smokers connect with what the health risks would actually feel like (physically and emotionally). The proposition we briefed the creative teams at Leith with was: this is what ill health from smoking FEELS like. The objective for this strand was to encourage people already interested in quitting to make an attempt ideally using the Quit Kit and other cessation support services such as Smokers Helpline (given this has been shown to significantly improve people s chance of success over cold turkey ). Our review showed other campaigns effectively listed all the supports available but often lacked any emotional support or motivation suffering as a result. Similarly, others showed ex-smokers waxing lyrical about the benefits of being smoke-free, but these risked little connection with someone at the other end of that difficult journey. We didn t need to give these people more belief in the value of being smoke-free. For this audience, the biggest barrier to making a quit attempt was the perceived unpleasantness of the quit process and the fear of failure. Therefore, we focused our strategy on building people s confidence. Showing them that with the right support, they could have a credible chance of long-term success. The proposition we chose was: with willpower and the right support, you CAN be smoke-free. We pointed the creative teams towards advertising for the likes of WeightWatchers with their credible success stories, rather than at conventional smoking advertising.

4 Our creative approach On the why side of the campaign, research led to the discovery of our breakthrough creative insight. Smokers were well-versed in writing-off smoking-related health risks for themselves (taking a fatalistic if it happens, it happens view). But they found it much, much harder to come to terms with the idea of their own ill-health having a negative effect on the people they care about. WHY SMOKERS. THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE TV advert can be viewed Things to do before you die I ve never thought about how it affects my family. I think that the message about the family members is the most powerful. The rest of it we have already heard, about all of the health things. You don t really care about what happens to you, it s the guilt that you feel when you think of the effect that it has on your family Find out you ve got cancer. Struggle to breathe. Smokers, C2DE Leithal Thinking Research, November 2010 We refined the creative work to make sure it was focused around this key insight. Have a stroke. Say goodbye.

5 On the how side research revealed that a warts and all testimonial of a quit journey helped people to imagine themselves moving along that road, and built credible interest and belief in cessation supports. But testimonial advertising can be a bit predictable. We rose to this challenge by putting a new and engaging twist on the testimonial idea a quitter s journey told in reverse chronology, showing success but also the challenges which had been overcome. We created both male and female versions to ensure they resonated as effectively as possible. HOW MARK S QUIT SMOKING VIDEO DIARY TV advert can be viewed Mark I don t think about smoking so much now. There s more to life than cigarettes [sighs] Mornings are tough. But I m just off the phone to Mary at the Smokers Helpline it helps having someone to talk to. Still getting cravings, but having nicotine gum gets me through the day. After 23 years, I ve just put out my last cigarette. The first step s the hardest, but I m determined and getting this Quit-Kit feels like help straight away. We see Mark hold the Quit-Kit up and then put it down on the cabinet so that we can clearly see the top of it. Mark stands up and walks out of shot.

6 HOW KATHY S QUIT SMOKING VIDEO DIARY TV advert can be viewed Kathy When I was giving up before, I d be fine until I d had a drink. This time s different though. The girls always said Kathy loves a smoke. but not as much as I loved telling them I d stopped. I never thought I d come this far. But look at me now, I have my coffee with a friend, not a fag. So, today s the day. I ordered this Quit-Kit and I m ready to do it right this time.

7 Media implementation. There were two critical elements involved in the targeting of our media. Audience we used media that was targeted to our core C2DE Adult audience in order to have the most impact. Behavioural - we also needed to ensure that the media selected reached our audience when smoking was front of mind. Timing and environment were used to do this. WHY? HOW? Driving awareness of the health risks associated with smoking. We chose TV as the core channel for this strand targeting programming that was highly relevant to our core audience. This focused approach delivered a reach of 96% vs our core C2DE audience. Whilst there were some seasonal patterns that we needed to acknowledge, this campaign was an ongoing task. So we planned our weekly weights to provide sustained support, as much as budget would allow. Providing encouragement. In addition to more traditional broadcast advertising we delivered the powerful personal testimonies in editorial formats. Working with UTV, we developed a series of four hardhitting mini-programmes that aired straight after UTV tonight, the main news programme dedicated to Northern Ireland. These ran during the week of No Smoking Day in March This format was a media first for Northern Ireland and provided a powerful combination of hard-hitting medical facts with the emotional feel-good factor of success. We also worked in partnership with the Sunday Life and Sunday World newspapers to develop a series of advertorial pieces to show how and why real people had stopped smoking. The level of engagement delivered by this format was unparalleled and the rich nature of information on the support network available to smokers would not have been possible with straight spot advertising.

8 HOW? Triggering action Arming our audience with tactics and tools. Our media activity also targeted our audience at times of the day and in environments where they were most likely to be considering lighting up. This gave us the opportunity to direct them to the campaign website or smoking cessation helpline to get help with their quit attempt. Radio was targeted to increase message frequency just before times when smoke breaks are most common. We used the same tactic with online, but here we had the added advantage of plugging our audience directly into the smoking cessation digital resources. Smokers Things you could do before you die Find out you ve got cancer Why Posters To give up before it s too late, call or visit want2stop.info Smoking can ruin lives Smokers Things you could do before you die Say goodbye to your loved ones To give up before it s too late, call or visit want2stop.info Smoking can ruin lives Out of home formats helped us infiltrate smokers routines. We used 6 sheet posters and bus media to reach our audience when out and about either travelling to work or on their way out at night. These were tightly targeted to C2DE communities to increase relevance. We added washroom panels to reach our audience when on a night out. Day 1 i'm mark. after 23 years, i've just put out my last cigarette. i'm determined to give up and this Quit Kit feels like i've help from the very start. 2 months later i'm still getting cravings, but nicotine gum helps. 4 months in the guys at the smokers' helpline are great. it's good to have someone to talk to now and then about quitting. 6 months i don't think about smoking so much now. there's more to life than cigarettes. Stopping smoking requires willpower. For help quitting and your free Quit Kit, call Never give up on giving up. DAY 1 I'm Kathy. I've been a smoker for 20 years. But today's the day I've decided to stop. And this Quit Kit seems like a good place to start. 1 MONTH LATER I've been going to a stop-smoking group. You know, it's great knowing there's help and support when you need it. 2 MONTHS IN I've been using these patches. They really help reduce my cravings for a cigarette (I never thought I'd hear myself say that!). 6 MONTHS That's 6 months without a cigarette. It feels great! I did it - you can too. Stopping smoking requires willpower. For help quitting and your free Quit Kit, call Never give up on giving up. How Bus media

9 The burning question How did the campaign do? Results show that the campaign has been highly successful against all three objectives set. 1. continuing to raise awareness of the health effects of smoking Why. In an independent research study iv 75.8% of all respondents had seen at least one campaign element of the Why strand. Looking at smokers specifically, 94.2% indicated that they found it to be very or somewhat thought provoking and 80.3% indicated that it was very or somewhat relevant to them extremely high figures for a long-running public health topic such as smoking. How. 64.5% of all respondents had seen at least one campaign element previously. Again, looking at smokers specifically, 79.8% indicated that they felt it was thought provoking and 72.2% indicating that it was relevant to them. 2. encouraging smokers to request and use the new Quit Kit The chart below displays the weight of media activity over our campaign period mapped against Quit Kit requests. In total we generated 19,453 requests. On average, we generated nearly three times as many Quit Kit requests when the campaign was live than when it was off air. Refinements to the media in Q delivered 30% more Quit Kit requests than the equivalent period the previous year using marginally less GRPs. But we also needed to get the Quit Kits into the hands of the right people. Did the campaign generate a response amongst C2DEs? An independent survey commissioned by the PHA v amongst 1,000 people who had requested Quit Kits showed that it did: 58% of requests were from the historically hard-to-influence C2DE audience. 2% higher than the natural population. Moreover, we were reaching people who hadn t previously used smoking cessation services: 37.4% of same sample had previously not used any service or stop smoking aid to help in any previous quit attempts. Overall uptake of smoking cessation services increased by 67% over 2009/10 when the campaign had not been developed vi. iv A research study was commissioned by the Public Health Agency (PHA) to evaluate the awareness, impact and outcomes of the 2011/2 anti-tobacco PHA public information campaign among a representative population of Northern Ireland adults with particular emphasis on the impact and outcomes of the campaign on smokers within Northern Ireland. A quantitative survey approach using a face-to-face methodology and a pre-tested questionnaire was used to meet the requirements for the research. A sample of 1,000 adults aged 16 years old and above, representative of the Northern Ireland population was secured. In addition, boosted samples of year old smokers (200 additional cases) and smokers aged years old (300 additional cases) were achieved. v A research study was commissioned by the Public Health Agency to evaluate the impact of the Quit Kit. A quantitative survey approach, using a face-to-face methodology was used. A sample of 1,000 people who had requested a Quit Kit was achieved. vi Overall uptake of smoking cessation services (as recorded by the Northern Ireland Government through the 2011/12 period during which the campaign was launched) was higher in comparison with 2009/10 when the campaign had not been developed (39,204 in 2011/12 in comparison with 23,383 in 2009/10, representing a large increase of 67.6% in uptake).

10 3. increasing the number of smokers making a quit attempt The high level of awareness and very strong levels of action have translated into a significant number of people attempting to quit smoking. vii As a result of seeing the Why strand of the campaign: 79% of smokers felt that it had made them think about their current smoking behaviour. 24% indicated that it had made them try to reduce the amount that they smoked. 5% indicated they had tried to quit smoking as a result of seeing the advertisement. For smokers who had seen the How strand of the campaign: 71% indicated that the advertisements had made them think about their current smoking behaviour. 27% noted that they had tried to reduce the amount that they smoked. 5% indicated that they had tried to quit smoking as a result of seeing the advertisements. In the survey amongst smokers who had requested a Quit Kit, 74.7% of respondents had attempted to quit smoking. At time of interview, 26.7% of respondents indicated that they were recent ex-smokers. Based on total Quit Kit requests, this equates to an estimated 14,531 quit attempts and 5,194 recent exsmokers for all smokers who requested a Quit Kit. With a total campaign spend of 883,494 this means a cost of 61 per quit attempt and 170 per quit. It is estimated that the hospital costs of treating smoking-related illnesses in Northern Ireland are in the region of 119M each year. With an adult population of 1.4M and a smoking prevalence of 24% there were approximately 343,570 smokers in This is the equivalent to 346 per year for each smoker. With 5,194 quit attempts, from Quit Kit requests alone, the campaign is estimated to have saved 1.8M within one year. Smoking cessation services recorded large increases in quit attempts in 2010/11 & 2011/12 when the campaign was running, in comparison with 2009/10 when there was no campaign. Total uptake Quit numbers at 4 weeks Quit attempts v 2009/ /10 23,383 12, /11 34,386 17,951 5, /12 39,204 20,299 8,257 These figures clearly demonstrate that campaign was a highly successful investment to reduce the number of smokers in Northern Ireland. vii As footnote v.

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