How can we support parents whose kids are about to start smoking? Parents read newspapers, so we asked prominent columnists to write about teenage smoking. How did we get columnists to write about a given subject? Let us explain: 'Järkikuoppa' – the 'intelligence gap'. The Cancer Society of Finland found out that kids entering eighth grade are likely to fall into the trap of stupidities. It’s in the 8th grade when the need to be cool is peaking and it’s during that year that kids are most prone to start smoking – if they don’t start then, they probably won’t start at all. We suggested that columnists would write about this 'intelligence gap' together with potential victims: 14-year-olds. All the columns would be collected to järkikuoppa.fi where we would present the gang of writers and the phenomenon to parents. The majority of the columnists said yes to our idea and we gained media space for the cause worth tens of thousands of euros.

The campaign planning started in August 2011. We started off by mapping all the potential newspapers and magazines in Finland. We then narrowed down the selection so that it represented a varied view of what parents with different backgrounds actually read.

The next step was to start contacting both the columnists and their editor-in-chiefs. We made personal calls and sent information packages and follow-up letters. We also helped the journalists to pair up with the teenagers. The majority of the columnists and editor-in-chiefs were excited and said yes to our idea.

The campaign was timed to take place from January to March 2012 to also allow for long-lead media to be included. The website was launched in early January 2012 when the columns started appearing in the media.

For the event:- We would get under 5 columns;- We also had a plan-B campaign option.

Our aim when starting the campaign was to get 5 columns along in the initiative.

So far we have 12 columns; altogether 19 newspapers or magazines have committed to the initiative and more are coming in all the time. The summed distribution for the newspapers and magazines this far is 2,498,800 and the readership reaches a calculated total of 4,483,600. That is a lot in a country of 5m people.

The Intelligence Gap campaign clearly stirred up a discussion. During the campaign period several articles that dealt with the theme teenage smoking appeared in media and as letters to the opinions pages. Thus far we already have 31 press clippings relating to the subject. The parents' role in supporting their kids has been highlighted in the discussion.