Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death in Ontario. It kills 13,000 people annually and costs the Ontario economy $1.93 billion in health care dollars, resulting in more than $5.8 billion in productivity losses.

Instead of going after the hard to convince smoker with ingrained habits, what if we could get people to quit before they became addicted? Over the past decade, a new breed of smoker has been hiding in plain view: The 18-29 year-old Social Smoker. This segment had never been isolated and targeted. Surprising, when you look at the hard truth - 64% of “social smokers” will go on to become regular, addicted smokers. If we could catch them at this crucial intervention moment, then we would be exponentially further down the path of reducing smokers and the drain on our healthcare system.

We set out to create a new debate in the anti-smoking conversation. The danger of “social smoking” was not a conversation being had in any bar, on any night. These people are completely tuned out because they simply didn’t think they smoked. We had to get them to see “social smoking” for what it really was - smoking.

Advertising messages against the harmful behaviour of smoking in Canada have been greatly aided by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorships. Essentially the only smoking related advertising Canadians are currently exposed to is anti-smoking campaigns. Traditionally anti-smoking messages in Canada have been anchored in messages related to the health consequences related with smoking. These often rely on the use of disease and fear to deter smokers. Cigarette packages in Canada are required to state the health consequences of smoking, with many depicting images of blackened lungs and decayed teeth on the pack. Unfortunately, Canadian smokers have become numb to these messages and find it all too easy to tune them out. This important fact played a large role in the ground-breaking strategy we developed for the Quit the Denial campaign.

It’s impossible to avoid the truth when it comes to health and smoking. So the question becomes, if everyone knows about the horrific health outcomes, the financial burden, and the negative stigma associated with smoking, then how is it possible that the pipeline is always filled with ‘soon-to-be’ or ‘newly addicted smokers’ in waiting? The answer is the previously untargeted “social smoker”.

They were completely tuned out to traditional anti-smoking messages – blackened lungs, decaying teeth, and tracheotomies – because they simply didn’t think they smoked. “I’m not a smoker. I’m a social smoker.”

So using humour to disarm them would make them more open to our messaging. The campaign challenged their use of the word “Social” to justify their behavior by comparing it to other ridiculous behaviors like Social Farting. In this way, we played back their own ridiculous excuses in a way they weren’t expecting. Leveraging the use of social analogies also allowed us to finally create social consequences for our seemingly bullet proof target and dramatized the absurdity of their delusion - that “social smoking” was somehow different than smoking. Each creative element showed the ridiculousness of “social smoking” and asked them to “Quit the Denial”.

Our objective was to start a debate, never addressed in any market and shift thinking of “social smoking” as an acceptable behavior. Social engagement was imperative to our success.

• The social debate we began was featured on every major Canadian newscast and in every major daily newspaper.

• Various partners, like Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, joined the discussion, volunteering their time and expertise.

• CNN’s Erin Burnett called it, “Quite possibly the best PSA you’ll ever see.”

• The videos generated over 2,000,000 YouTube views.

• The campaign earned 91,774,023 impressions.

• According to a Sysomos survey, conversation around “social smoking” increased 8,600%

• The debate garnered so much attention that our campaign reached nearly 4 in 10 Ontarians or 456,200 “social smokers” on a limited budget.

• Among Occasional smokers who saw the campaign: 38% talked about or discussed social smoking vs. 14% who didn’t (a 271% increase).

In summary, we achieved our objectives.

1. We built awareness and created a conversation ? 8600% increase in conversation.

2. “Social smoking” IS smoking ? 55% of Ontarians strongly agreed

3. There are negative consequences to “social smoking” ? 65% increase without any health mentions

This is a target that is openly living in denial when it comes to smoking, so using humour to disarm them would make them more open to our messaging. The campaign challenged their use of the word “Social” to justify their behavior by comparing it to other ridiculous behaviors like Social Farting, Social Nibbling, and Social Ear Wax Picking. In this way, we played back their own ridiculous excuses in a way they weren’t expecting. Leveraging social analogies also allowed us to finally create social consequences for our seemingly bullet proof target and dramatized the absurdity of their delusion - that “social smoking” was somehow different than smoking. Each creative element showed the ridiculousness of “social smoking” and asked them to “Quit the Denial”. Given the social nature of our target, we seized the opportunity to create a heavily digital and social campaign. We knew that if we could get them to laugh with us and at themselves, the likelihood of sharing amongst their peer group would increase. Making them not only the target, but also the messenger. With that in mind, we focused on executions that had the potential of going viral and sparking a heated debate.