Campaign: "Commit to Quit"
Company: Porter Novelli (New York, 212/872-8000)
Campaign Budget: $650,000 (fully utilized)
The Porter Novelli team seized the opportunity to educate the public about SmithKline Beecham's smoking cessation aids, Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ, through the American Cancer Society's (ACS) 20-year-old staple "The Great American Smokeout" (GASO).
Instead of just simply piggy-backing on this annual one-day event, the Porter Novelli team decided to expand the effort to a full month of public health programs, giving birth to an innovative new campaign: "Commit to Quit for the Great American Smokeout." The objectives of this campaign were to:
- Expand the opportunity for smoking cessation attempts beyond one day;
- Raise awareness for SmithKline Beecham and its nicotine replacement therapy brands; and
- Encourage purchases of Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ prior to the day of the Smokeout.
The team used the month-long timeframe to strategically execute two waves of national publicity in the Fall of 1996. It held an Oct. 24 New York press event at the All Star Cafe in Times Square that featured retired New York Mets baseball player and former "pack-per-game" smoker, Keith Hernandez. And on the actual day of the Smokeout, Nov. 21, Hernandez and a representative from the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) participated in a radio and satellite media tour for stations that wanted to do "day of" stories.
The media launch enlisted speakers from the ACS, APhA, and SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare where specific resources of the program were announced: the Commit to Quit brochure (that was mailed to 50,000 pharmacists nationwide), the toll-free counseling hotline, the national GASO advertising campaign, and the accessibility of local pharmacists throughout the country as smoking cessation aids.
National Media Coverage
Throughout the month-long campaign, national media outlets like "CNN Your Health," "The Today Show" and a host of local TV stations successfully relayed the importance of quitting smoking and the significant role that OTC nicotine replacement therapy aids like Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ can play.
Through more than 63 million media impressions, the "Commit to Quit" campaign was a resounding success, resulting in a sales increase of Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ of 21 percent.
"This campaign," according Peter Paris, account executive for Porter Novelli, "successfully turned this one-day event into more than just a publicity stunt by showing that [smoking cessation] is the right thing to do from a public health standpoint."
The Team
Suzanne Gabriel, senior vice president;
Susan Givowicz, senior account executive;
Elisia Greiner, senior account executive; and
Peter Paris, account executive