Ministry of Health

28 Minutes

Experiential marketing of a deep insight to help smokers quit: on average each cigarette reduces my life by 28 minutes.

Results:

  • Black developed a speculative proposal for a social marketing campaign, presented to the Ministry of Health.
  • An experiential marketing approach puts the message where smokers have never seen it before, so it cannot be ignored.
  • The Ministry commits to trial the concept as a poster campaign in Rotorua, August/September 2011, driving smokers to a quit pack redemption service via phone and txt.

The Story:

Black believes in the power of deep insights. Top-of-mind willpower or determination is not enough to permanently dislodge a compulsion like smoking. It takes a deeper insight, such as 28 Minutes.

28 Minutes is a Black-developed social marketing campaign. Its central insight: on average each cigarette reduces your life by 28 Minutes.

Some smokers have given themselves permission to ignore conventional cessation campaigns. In response, Black incorporated a high degree of experiential marketing in the 28 Minutes campaign concepts: plastering 2-metre poster decals on footpaths in places where billboards and bus shelter posters are normally never seen; and wrapping trees in public places to look like huge cigarettes. It is all about cutting through smoker complacency to present a message that cannot be ignored.

28 Minutes was speculatively proposed to the Ministry of Health. It will be trialled in Rotorua in winter 2011, using the outdoor poster elements of the campaign – driving smokers to a txt and 0800 number, to redeem a quit pack.

The key difference that sets this cessation campaign apart from all others is right there on the posters. It is an insight smokers can use every day for encouragement towards permanent change. With 28 Minutes we’re giving them a truth that will affirm their decision to quit every day. They knew cigarettes were costing them life. Now they’ll know how much. They are not just giving up smoking, they are stopping the loss of their life, 28 Minutes at a time.

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