Company: GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare
Agency: CKPR
Timeframe: 2006-2007
To kick off the national rollout of Nicorette Fruit Chill, developer GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK) enlisted Chicago-based public relations agency CKPR
to create a campaign that would encourage smokers to kick the habit. Subsequently, the independent CKPR agency recruited an even larger team of participants--one million to be
exact.
CKPR developed "The Nicorette Fruit Chill Million Challenge," a nationwide movement to encourage and help one million smokers to quit. The multi-faceted campaign consisted of
advertising, mobile marketing, a $1-million sweepstakes and Web site, all designed to alter smokers' stereotypes about nicotine replacement therapies and garner awareness of
Nicorette Fruit Chill as an effective--and tasty--nicotine replacement.
Same Old Story?
While the need for effective programs to help smokers kick their habit is dire, the anti-smoking conversation has been ubiquitous for many years, making it an important story
without much of a hook.
"A challenge was that, in general, new flavors of nicotine gum were not of particular interest to the media," says Patrick Seiffert, senior brand manager of Nicorette at GSK.
"So we tried to find a bridge between the new flavor and the broader public health issue--smoking--and the fact that smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death in
the country."
Comprehensive primary and secondary research offered the team insight into smokers and their habits, including failures to comply with nicotine replacement therapies, and the
roles of influencers, the media and the competitive landscape. Research also helped the communications team decide on the "for smokers by smokers" campaign concept--offering
smokers an approach to quitting that combined counseling with nicotine replacement therapy. Concurrently, the campaign would set up Nicorette Fruit Chill as a key element in
smokers' efforts to quit.
With a two-pronged approach to its target audience, the team focused on smokers, aged 25-44, who were attempting to kick their habit, as well as concerned loved ones of smokers
and key influencers, including government officials and health organizations.
To ensure campaign objectives didn't go up in smoke, the team established a broad strategy list:
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Immerse consumers in the brand and build awareness of it as a new, effective form of nicotine replacement therapy;
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Create an environment where smokers feel supported and comfortable seeking the help needed to quit;
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Educate smokers on the barriers to complying with nicotine replacement therapies and communicate the brand differentiators;
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Recruit a panel of physicians, psychologists and other smoking cessation experts to: offer input on campaign tools, materials and messaging; serve as credible, third-party
spokespersons; and counsel smokers one-on-one;
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Set a goal that would garner media attention, such as supporting one million smokers to quit smoking;
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Obtain the knowledge and insights of current and ex-smokers to discover the "proper campaign tone and tenor;" and,
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Gain the support and buy-in of key influencers.
At the campaign's core were grassroots consumer events, including "pop-up" smoking cessation centers designed, managed and publicized by CKPR. Dubbed "Nicorette Stop Shops,"
the centers appeared for one week in select cities, offering smokers free professional counseling, tools to quit and health assessment tests.
Old Habits Die Hard
One campaign challenge was creating the most effective approach to reaching smokers, Seiffert says. "There were several strategies, but they were all anchored in the Stop Shop.
We felt that by connecting with smokers one-on-one in the context of what came to be known as the 'Stop Shop' with trained counselors who could help them to quit with the help of
this new flavor--that would offer the bridge between the commercial story and the broader public health problem that we're trying to solve."
The inauguration of the Stop Shop launched in New York's Times Square. More than 50 members of the media and various influencer groups attended the launch.
"The Stop Shop was basically the opportunity to connect with smokers one-on-one in person," Seiffert says. The Stop Shop only ran in five cities, however, so the team created
the Fruit Chill Million Web site, where smokers could log on and acquire much of the same context available at the Stop Shop. The Web site "gave the local on-the-ground program a
national footprint through online," Seiffert adds.
CKPR wrote and published "FCM: Fruit Chill Magazine" to provide participants with tips to quit in an easy-to-read format. Wallet cards offering tips for getting back on track
after a relapse and postcards that offered Stop Shop visitors a guide to all available tools rounded out the collateral materials. Street teams distributed postcards that invited
smokers to visit Stop Shops and participate in the Take the Challenge Campaign.
CKPR also created a mailer highlighting "tools" available to smokers through the campaign and mailed them to national, major-market and long-lead media. The mailer included
press materials, Fruit Chill placebos, a product demo DVD and a branded tool belt.
The national media launch included a remote SMT that aired live on 27 stations; a B-Roll newsfeed that gained 60+ airings; an ANR that produced 680 hits; targeted pitching to
national and major market-outlets; and a mat release that extended the story to media in second and third-tier markets.
Kicking Butts
The team's well-rounded campaign obliterated all pre-planned objectives: More than 2,100 print, broadcast and online stories were generated, resulting in about 204.6-million
unweighted media impressions. The result exceeded the low-end target by 212% and the high-end goal by 100%. Results also included 99.8% of brand coverage, and 99.2% of coverage
that conveyed at least one message, versus target goals of 90% for both sectors, respectively.
The campaign surpassed expectations, boosting Nicorette Fruit Chill sales almost immediately, according to client-supplied Nielsen Scanner Data, which were collected during
four-week periods ending immediately before and after key campaign milestones. The campaign exceeded every weekly Nicorette sales forecast during the course of the project.
Nicorette Fruit Chill sales surpassed weekly sales predictions by 28% during a period when all marketing activities, excluding public relations, were dormant. National sales rose
221% post the campaign media launch and prior to TV ads airing, while sales in the select cities that hosted Stop Shops increased by 25%-1,029% post Stop Shop.
The campaign was successful from both a media and a consumer engagement perspective, Seiffert says. The campaign caught the media's attention driven by the fact that the Stop
Shop "was a service they could offer their viewers, listeners and readers," allowing their audiences to stop by and receive free, easily accessed information, Seiffert says. "[The
media] were keen to cover the story from that perspective."
From a consumer standpoint, the campaign was successful and "gratifying," Seiffert says. "I personally spent a lot of time at the Stop Shop in several of the cities, and it's
always interesting to see how anxious smokers are to speak to folks who really understand the challenges of quitting," he says. "So often smokers are meant to feel like social
pariahs, but quitting is the hardest thing that most smokers will ever do. Where there's a trained and sympathetic voice for them to engage and to gain new, meaningful information
and tips on how to quit, they are truly appreciative." PRN
Editor's Note: CKPR representatives declined to comment on the campaign, as it is no longer active.
CONTACT:
Patrick Seiffert, 888-825-5249
Finding The Balance
It can be tricky finding that fine balance with a multifaceted campaign such as GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK) and CKPR's "The Nicorette Fruit Chill
Million Challenge." This particular campaign, developed to market the launch of GSK's Nicorette Fruit Chill nicotine gum, included "two big [objectives]," says Patrick Seiffert,
senior brand manager of Nicorette at GSK. "One of the challenges was trying to balance [both of them]."
One objective was to build awareness of the product as a new, effective and palatable form of nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine replacement therapies may provide the help
needed for smokers to quit, but the unpleasant taste sometimes prevents smokers from completing the course of the treatment. "We knew that smokers who tried the new fruit flavor
preferred it significantly over the other products that were available" so the team needed a successful strategy to convey "that flavor message," Seiffert says.
The second objective consisted of garnering significant attention for the campaign so smokers would visit the "pop up" smoking cessation centers, nicknamed the "Stop Shop," to
learn about their smoking habits and how to quit. "Try to remain single-minded despite the fact that there are two different things happening," Seiffert says.
The campaign, which started as a branding initiative, went further to "find a bridge between the new flavor and the broader public health issue," Seiffert says. When
approaching a similar effort within your own organization, he recommends this:
"Find the intersection between the two and develop a platform around that."
A Little Research Goes A Long Way
Before campaign partners GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK) and CKPR could kick off "The Nicorette Fruit Chill Million Challenge," the team dived in
to in-depth research initiatives to fully understand smokers and their habits. Research findings played a critical role in developing tools and messages that would influence
campaign participants. Below is some of what the partners did.
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Established a panel of experts: The team established a smokers' panel of current and former smokers nationwide who provided essential input on campaign elements.
The team also interviewed leading smoking cessation experts, which helped guide the creation of program tools, messages and materials.
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Evaluated data: The campaign team assessed 10 years of behavioral research, and evaluated Nielsen Scanner Data and research on local anti-smoking legislation and
geographic prevalence of smoking. Findings helped to define markets and timing for local events. The team also fielded a national consumer study to grasp the pressure smokers feel
when they try to quit.
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Probed the media (and the competition): A media audit helped confirm the news value of campaign elements and identified inconsistencies in smokers' understanding
of what it takes to quit. Analyzing competition offered insight into ways to differentiate Nicorette Fruit Chill within its sector.