Okay, I cannot do a blog series on creative social marketing without giving some props to our client, the Michigan Department of Community Health. For over 20 years, we’ve been partners in creating some of the most memorable ad campaigns in the state. One of our agency favorites, is “I smoke when I’m coloring.” Research showed the best way to get adults to quit smoking was to do it through their kids. This campaign swept award shows, lit up the quit line call center and was so successful other states were calling in for it. We even heard that the commercial inspired Whoopi Goldberg to quit smoking. Leo Burnett once said, “There is no such thing as a great advertising agency. There are, however, a few great clients.” MDCH is a great one (thanks for being great partners, guys), and we’re not blowing smoke.
“This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs.” Was there even anti-drug advertising before this memorable spot hit our TV sets in the 80’s? The mother to all PSA’s, this spot has been quoted, copied, spoofed, and lives on in our pop culture. To replay in our social consciousness without paid media, now that is effective social marketing. My favorite of the original versions was the heroine spot below from 1988. And also another classic spot is the one where the dad confronts his son in his bedroom about his weed. “Who taught you how to do this stuff?”, the dad asks. The son screams, “You alright! I learned it by watching you!” Talk about a parental guilt trip. And now a new generation is watching these psa’s on youtube. Decades ago the partnership laid the foundation for the future of social marketing and they are still going strong.
I have been trying to put out cigarettes for twenty years. No need to send me Chantix, as I am not nor ever was a smoker. But my advertising career began baptism by fire helping our agency pitch the Michigan Department of Community Health. We have done a lot of great anti-smoking creative over the years, so I am an aficionado on the subject. Of course, for years “the truth” campaign has been powerful. I loved crazyworld and how it turns common sense upside down to show just how crazy our government and society is when it comes to big tobacco versus how they regulate other things. So initially, I was going to blog about that campaign. To be honest, I wasn’t as big of fan of the new truth tv spots, which are very focused on the big tobacco executives. But as I delved into the microsite, I learned the TV was the result of an elaborate social experiment, where they had a fake job recruiter interview real candidates. Of course, when they learn part of their job is killing 17% of the world’s population, pleading the 5th and poisoning their customers, they are not so into the job. Brutal truth but also very informative and entertaining. Check out the “Making Of” video below and the Urea Collector game. And if you do smoke, try Chantix. It worked for my brother who smoked a pack a day since junior high.
We used to tell teens to “just say no”. It was defense. Now, with this campaign, The Partnership for Drug Free America is making staying drug-free really cool, empowering and inspiring. This campaign is so right on. I’ve seen many of the spots over the years on TV and the whole collection is online. These are my favorites…
I love finding brilliant advertising creative that makes me wish I thought of it. And I especially love it, when it’s for a client that’s trying to make the world a better place. That’s what social marketing is all about. And because it’s only “sell” is to try to get us to change our behaviors or attitudes about something, it can be powerful when done well.
In this blog series, I will write about 21 creative social marketing campaigns I admire. If you have any favorite campaigns to add to this list, leave me a comment and link, and I will check it out.
This past Friday night I was at the rehearsal dinner for a young couple to be married the next day. The party was in the groom’s parents’ lovely home. It was all pretty snazzy. The 45 or 50 guests were gussied up, tan, fit, multi-generational and probably mostly WASP. The menu was authentic Italian cuisine. There was staff. The over-the-top flowers were plentiful and stunningly arranged. A rented bartender served cocktails and champagne for the father’s welcoming toast to the guests and the young couple. Most of the party stayed indoors because the temperatures and humidity were tropical. Rain threatened and then showed up. So who went outdoors in the wilting heat and then the storm? Smokers. Who smokes any more? Not my friends and contemporaries. (I am old.) It was the kids. The twenty-something young professionals and of them, the young women, were the smokers. Hoping to look smart? Hoping to stay slim? Hoping to become addicted to the most dangerous chemicals you can ingest that are proven to be the most destructive to health and well-being? Probably not that one.
I said to one young woman—the hostess’ daughter, “Does your mother know you’re doing this? You shouldn’t smoke, you know.” She said, “No one should!” Laughed. Inhaled. Twirled her cocktail skirt. I felt bad. For the past 25 years, I’ve written and been involved in social marketing against smoking and secondhand smoke. Our agency, working with the Michigan Department of Community Health primarily, has targeted all ages, races, demographics with measureable successes. It’s discouraging to see any one smoking. Did you miss the messages? Apparently. We know the anti-smoking work is never finished. We know it’s tough to counter the glamorous smokers served up in movies and elsewhere. We won’t quit.
You’ll find our award winning and very effective anti-smoking tv commercials on psastation.com
When I see young women sucking on cigarettes in an electrical storm, risking the ruination of costly cocktail dresses, I don’t think smoking looks chic. I think it looks like addiction. And I feel sad. What do you think?
This morning on the Today Show, Matt Lauer did a five-minute segment about New York’s new anti-smoking campaign. One of the spots depicts a child being left on his own; his mother has left him in the middle of a train station. This is an effective metaphor for what the potential results are when parents choose to smoke: They could die and leave their children alone and lost. We’ve been talking about it in our office and I’m sure there are similar conversations going on across the country.
It’s particularly interesting to us at Brogan & Partners–we’ve been creating powerful social marketing messages for over 22 years with many of our efforts focused on anti-smoking.
One of our most powerful campaigns positions young children being affected by their parent’s secondhand smoke. The results of this campaign were overwhelming. We received requests from health departments all over the country to run the campaign–including the state of New York.
From truth.com to state government messaging to tobacco companies, everyone’s trying to deliver that golden message. From kids being left alone, to dead bodies, to really gross diseases, how far is too far? You be the judge.
