McCafé “Wake up” takes a very mundane image, an aerial shot of a cup of coffee on a napkin, and combines the elements in such a way that they create the visual of an eye.

Ours needed to be a simple message about a complicated issue. The asterisk — a symbol of omission — was the key design element. But for TV, music was also key — cheery classics from the golden era of Big Tobacco juxtaposed against dark action. For instance, “My Boy Lollipop” plays over young people vaping, leading to the tagline “Wake Up” and url StillBlowingSmoke.org.

As to media, we wanted to drive real-life conversations and devised a three-tiered strategy: go where people get together; go where e-cigarettes are present; go from talk to action seamlessly. We stressed live TV to capitalize on co-viewing. We advertised where e-cigs are sold and used: freeway bulletins, interactive bus shelters, counter clings in convenience stores, gas-pump-toppers. And we kept our message top-of-mind all day with a variety of digital channels — Pandora to Facebook to programmatic TV.

The image was posted on McDonald's local social media channels, which have meager followings. However, the idea resonated with people so much, it gained popularity online, and has accrued 4.7 million online impressions on blogs since being posted.