Cancer Research UK is the biggest charity in the UK and exists to save lives from cancer. This paper tells the story of an unusual behaviour change campaign that could ultimately save thousands of lives from cancer.

The campaign aim was to lobby the UK Government to introduce 'plain packaging' (the removal of all branding, colours and typefaces, leaving standardised packs retaining simply the brand name) on tobacco products. To do this, we needed to show public support for the initiative in the form of 55,000 signatures on a petition, with a very limited budget. The proposed plain packs would make smoking more unappealing and - after the introduction of the smoking ban in public places across the UK - we expected our task to be easy.

We were wrong. Non-smokers were apathetic and smokers were indignant towards the proposal. In order to gain a representative spread of signatures we needed a silver bullet approach that could persuade both parties that plain packaging was worth supporting. Through research we learned that the only thing both groups could agree on was the desire to prevent more people from taking up smoking. And the one group of people who needed particular protection: children.

The campaign task then became to prove that plain packaging would prevent kids from trying cigarette products. Whilst most people could accept that branding may play a part in many product decisions that kids make, when it came to cigarettes they were sceptical. Ironically, since the prohibition of advertising for tobacco companies, people imagine the potency of the brand on-pack to have diminished. People were clear with us: the branding had lost its power.

So we had to do something quite strange for an advertising agency: prove the power and thus potential danger of branding. Using a focus group of kids, we created the simplest of all films where we honestly and openly put tobacco products in front of them and asked for their reactions. Even we were shocked by the result, as were all who saw it.

We far surpassed our target number of signatures. The campaign succeeded in reaching millions of people. And in March of this year the Guardian announced “Ministers are to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes this year along the Australian model, after becoming convinced that branding is a significant factor in why young people start to smoke.”