Healthcare > Health & Wellbeing: Education & Awareness

THE ANTI-CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN

MINISTRY OF HEALTH SAUDI ARABIA, Riyadh / SAUDI MINISTRY OF HEALTH / 2018

Awards:

Bronze Dubai Lynx
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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

Idea

Our idea was to save money that would have been otherwise spent on media placement to create anti-smoking awareness and replace it with real life solutions that are more beneficial to smokers like guiding smokers to health-cessation clinics or giving them advice regarding their situation and investing money in the places that matter and will have the biggest effect like clinics and health centers. And then announce this solution to the public to show that we still care but we changed our way of thinking and our strategy in tackling this public health topic.

Execution

Instead of the traditional campaign launch, we want online with a video of the Health Minister stating that campaigns can’t help anyone quit smoking, only they can do it. So instead of awareness campaigns and fluffy talk, the money that was usually spend on advertising will be used to support smokers be it in health cessation clinics or anywhere else if they need.

The video was shared online with a hashtag in Arabic meaning: #Canceling_anti-smoking_Campaign.

Results

Our campaign became a nationwide success mobilizing people and organization to join the cause. Careem for instance gave discounts and free rides to anyone going to smoking-cessation clinics. Other brands, celebrities, influencers and even famous football clubs in Saudi took our message and start sharing it with their fans and followers, giving us more exposure and reach.

In no time, our campaign reached the media (like MBC & Alarabia channels) and was showcased in news and talk shows who amplified our message further.

The cherry on top was the amazing results in the form of a 231% increase in visitors of cessation clinics compared to 2016 and a staggering $6 million in earned media all while investing 0$.

Relevancy

This campaign is a perfect example of successful use of PR through a smart stunt that was based on a commutation campaign that wasn’t really a campaign. By deciding not to go with a traditional campaign we managed to gain the spot light and highlight our work. It gained us credibility, excellent feedback and fame. And with a 0$ spend on media, we generated $6 million of earned media and PR.

Strategy

We started with the fact that most of the public is aware of the dangers of smoking. And that many anti-smoking awareness campaigns are proving useless with very low ROI. Additionally, many smokers who want to quit are not always aware of all the options available to help them quit and all the support that MoH is doing to support them.

So, our strategy was not to create any traditional awareness campaigns and replace it with a video by the minister of health stating that if smokers don’t want to quit, no one can force them, however if they want help, we are ready and present and the money we save from no launching our campaign will be used to support smokers in health cessation clinics or elsewhere.

Cultural/local climate and regulations

By default, contextually, campaigning communication in Saudi Arabia has to respect the Islamic values and culture. It should carefully address its messages without crossing any red lines or offending the viewer by any means.

Background

Despite all the anti-smoking awareness campaigns launched in Saudi by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other concerned parties, and despite introducing a 100% tax on tobacco products, smoking is still major public health issue in Saudi. According to the Saudi ministry of health an estimated 70,000 people die each year from diseases related directly or indirectly to smoking. And the number of smokers in the Kingdom is expected to rise to 10 million by 2020 (

So our brief for this year was to continue our campaign against smoking but using a different strategy and way of thinking as our previous work had shy results. The objective was to create the biggest buzz and impact possible and to increase visits to smoking-cessation clinics by 30%.

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