Ogilvy Singapore celebrates quitters in anti-smoking drive

The campaign was conceived against a backdrop of smoking increasing from 12.6 per cent to 14.3 per cent in 2010. 

HPB and Ogilvy & Mather Singapore decided to put a more positive and emotional touch to celebrate smokers who have made the decision to quit smoking. The team arrived at this approach through insights from research that was undertaken in collaboration with Flamingo International. 

Over two weekends in May, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) held roadshows at suburban malls Jurong Point and Downtown East.

The creative team created a symbol (formed by the index and third finger closed together), a twist on how a smoker holds a cigarette, to form a pledge gesture. This symbol identifies quitters as a special group of people who deserve to be celebrated and also creates a unifying gesture to rally quitters and other members of the community together.

Smokers who have or want to quit smoking stepped up to declare their desire to stay cigarette-free and were given an ‘I quit’ t-shirt. A makeshift studio was set up at the roadshows and the smokers were filmed and photographed talking about their reasons for quitting smoking and doing the ‘I quit’ gesture.

The recordings and photos formed the backbone of the creative materials. The 30-second TVC is a collage of the footage filmed while the photos of selected individuals were used for the print ads. The hope is that these will encourage the smokers themselves to keep to the quit smoking path while inspiring other smokers to do likewise.

‘I quit’ clubs have been set up in the physical and virtual world to provide individuals with the tools and the support needed to quit successfully through community centres and Facebook. On the Facebook page, smokers stepped forward to share their experiences and reasons for quitting and to date, more than 4,000 individuals have ‘liked’ the page.

A mobile quit application also offers tailored quit techniques depending on an individual’s smoking triggers and habits. It also serves to socialise a smoker’s quit journey – allowing friends to act as lifelines while promoting a healthy level of competition among quitters.

Commented Troy Lim, creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Singapore, “We made quitters - real people who pledged to stay smoke-free – the stars of the campaign. They served as inspiration and encouragement for other smokers to follow, turning ‘I quit’ into a movement.”

Credits:

Campaign 'I quit'
CD Troy Lim, Jon Loke
|Copywriter Troy Lim, Jeremy Chia, Alex Lim
Art director Jon Loke, Fajar Kurnia, Dali Meskam
Planners Sonal Narain, Tania Chan, Huiwen Tow
Production house Applebox Asia
Director Peter Bannan
Producer Amarjeet Kaur
Post production Blackmagic Design
Audio The Gunnery
Account servicing Shirley Tay, Jamie Tang, Huimin Ng, Harish Nambiar, Kylie Goh
Project management See Yeng Chua, Joanne Ang