Caroline Fox Head of Smokefree Marketing Campaign, Public Health England
Wendy Manuel Public Health England
Abstract
Stoptober was a ground breaking new 28 day mass participation event, launched in 2012, to help England’s smokers stop.
Stoptober aimed to create a positive mass quitting attempt, give people a new ‘hook’ to quit in the Autumn and recreate the ‘January effect’, to create the feeling that ‘everyone is having a go’ at stopping smoking.
The campaign used a new insight (you’re 5 times more likely to stop successfully if you make it to 28 days) and ideas from behavioural economics including ‘chunking’ and social norming to persuade smokers to join in.
Stoptober aimed to be a ground up rather than top down campaign. We engaged local partners in the design of the campaign, provided materials for local use and sent teams out to help run events around the country to create a buzz on the ground. Paid for advertising on TV, radio and in the press provided air cover and led people through the 28 day journey. Stoptober was also our first campaign to truly ‘live’ in social space, using Twitter, Facebook and You Tube content as an integral part of the campaign.
In this session we will share the Stoptober strategy, results and plans for 2013.
