Digital Media Team has teamed up with the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and creative agency, Dinosaur, to create online marketing campaigns to help people in Greater Manchester stop smoking.
Following growing concerns around the increased risks of coronavirus to smokers, the You Can Stop Smoking campaign was launched on 1 May to encourage and support smokers to #QuitForCOVID,
We created a bespoke marketing strategy for Facebook, Instagram & Google, whilst Dinosaur produced all the campaign design and imagery to go alongside it.
Together, we have reached over 500,000 people in the Greater Manchester region by raising awareness of the dangers of smoking, the associated benefits of quitting, and where to get help.
Cameron Scott, Paid Social Executive, said:
“We’ve seen some really brilliant results for our Cost Per 1000 impressions (CPMs), which is a true testament to the creative design from Dinosaur, who have adapted the brief to the current climate.
“We’ve received nearly 1.5 million views from the adverts we’ve released, highlighting just how relevant this campaign is, even during lockdown.
“We’ve put a real focus on mobile users and bringing the message into the home. This decision was made by the team very early on, so we could reach our target audience without becoming intrusive.
“The main aim was to serve as a gentle reminder to the public that help is always available and that it’s always a good time to quit smoking.”
Samantha Neville, Communications & Engagement Manager for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, said:
“Record numbers of people are stopping smoking in Greater Manchester. But for those who continue to smoke, the impacts can be serious – and potentially fatal.
“Mass-media campaigns play a critical role in reducing smoking uptake and helping smokers to get the support they need to quit, but the coronavirus outbreak meant we had to review the effectiveness of our channels and messaging.
“With lockdown restrictions affecting the impact of out of home, and critical public health messaging needing to take priority on TV and radio, we decided to focus our efforts on highly targeted digital channels and turned to DMT for their expertise.
“For just a fraction of the cost of our traditional methods of advertising, we’ve managed to achieve a substantial amount of web traffic through strategic paid social and PPC.
“We’ve been really impressed with the results to date and look forward to our continued collaboration to support more people to get help to quit.”
About the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership
The Partnership comprises all the NHS organisations and local authorities in Greater Manchester, including Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, representatives from primary care, NHS England, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, Healthwatch, Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
The Partnership’s aim is to see the greatest and fastest improvement to the health and wellbeing of the 2.8 million people of Greater Manchester. Under our unique Taking Charge devolution deal the Partnership brings together the leadership, decision-making and long-term planning needed to achieve this goal.
About the You Can stop smoking campaign
The You Can stop smoking campaign aims to motivate and support smokers to stop smoking as part of the GMHSC Partnership’s ambition to make smoking history. The digital campaign launched on 1 May and will roll out across radio, TV and video on demand (VOD) from 18 June until 18 July. Since the first burst of the campaign launched in March 2019, smoking rates in Greater Manchester have dropped at a rate and pace faster than anywhere else in England.
According to analysis by King’s College London and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) of YouGov’s COVID-19 tracker , at least 300,000 people in the UK have quit smoking successfully, a further 550,000 have tried to quit and 2.4 million have cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoke as a result of concerns about coronavirus.
Smokers in Greater Manchester can visit YouCanGM.org to find information and details of stop smoking services and support across all 10 boroughs or call the NHS Stop Smoking helpline free on 0300 123 1044.
The survey was conducted between 15th and 21st April. It was an online survey using the YouGov panel with 1,004 respondents. For more information see the YouGov COVID Tracker. Calculations are by Dr Leonie Brose at National Addictions Centre, King’s College London. The proportions in the YouGov survey are applied to the most recent available ONS population estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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