The Cigarette is Dead -- Public awareness campaign at its best

As I have said before, I want this blog to become a treasure box of good and successful ideas as well as provide the right insight to marketers looking to target students. On that respect, public awareness and anti-smoking campaigns do not have the greatest track record when it comes to convincing teens and young adults that cigarettes are not cool.

I feel very strongly about the issue since I have stopped smoking since September 9th, 2008.

The Cigarette is Dead is a great example of a successful way to tackle such issues with teens and young adults. The 'movement' was born in Colorado as an initiative funded by Amendemant 35 and created by STEPP and Cactus ad agency.

The campaign and movement makes use of many channels to create the biggest impact possible: to convince and spread the message! They used some mass-media media to spread the message such as TV and billboards. However, their recipe for success was in part rooted in the fact that they painted murals, stenciled sidewalks and handed out promotional material on university campuses -- guerrilla-style.

What makes this campaign a success?

• The campaign feels like its grassroot and rebellious, which is the feeling many are after when starting smoking.
  
• The perpetrators of such a movement will be perceived to be cool trend-setters in the eyes of the target because the face of the movement are youth (campus teams).
  
• The concept of higher authority being involved (parent organizations or state bodies) does not come into question because of such a deliberate use of advertising channels.
• Claiming that 'the cigarette is dead' uses social approval cues as opposed to rationale which is much more impactful because smoking, in essence, is not a rationale decision.
  

Ambiant Ads

TV ad -- used for TV and projections on buildings