As part of the Week for a Tobacco-free Quebec, Avenue 8 was asked to develop a digital strategy to be included in the global advertising campaign scheduled for January 18th to 24th, 2015. The objective was to increase awareness of the campaign among youth, a highly sought after, mobile, and fickle group.
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Organized every year for more than 20 years, the Week for a Tobacco-Free Quebec aims to raise awareness of the dangers of tobacco, for smokers, ex-smokers as well as non-smokers. In 2015, a shocking campaign with the theme “Tobacco causes suffering before killing the victims” was deployed. It was necessary to create a striking digital component that remained coherent with the TV, print, and press relations activities.
We wanted to capitalize on the large Facebook community we had built in previous campaigns. A human, authentic, and poignant approach was used to challenge the page subscribers, to make them real ambassadors and to raise a wave of awareness throughout social networks.
We designed three videos presenting the lives of tobacco victims. Presented with sensitivity and emotion we brought the image of the tobacco victim beyond the anonymity of the characters featured in TV advertising. Broadcast on the smokefree.ca micro site and social platforms, these capsules highlighted the reality of real individuals in order to touch people emotionally and stimulate reflection and action.
Inspired by the shocking videos, internet users were invited to share their own story using the hashtag #QuebecSansTabac on social networks. The community was very receptive to the idea of helping other people that are struggling with smoking. Some stories were incorporated into informative graphics and then distributed to subscribers.
A 2.0 public relations campaign by bloggers, a Facebook and YouTube advertising campaign and collaborative work with the group’s spokesperson, François Massicotte, were planned. We then offered exclusive content on Facebook, including a live chat session with M. Massicotte.
To complement the integrated campaign, graphics with shocking statistics on tobacco and its victims were developed in order to garner a reaction from Facebook subscribers. The disease and its consequences in everyday life were discussed extensively by the very receptive community.
Since 2013, we have had the pleasure of collaborating with the brilliant team at Avenue 8. Their creativity, responsiveness and humanity coupled with the exceptional quality of their products have undoubtedly contributed to exceeding our goals and making our Facebook page the largest Francophone web community committed to the fight against tobacco!
The 2015 campaign was remarkably successful, clearly exceeding the average notoriety for large-scale awareness campaigns, between 55 and 65%. With the second highest rate in the history of the CQTS, it reached a large number of internet users, 31% of whom were between the ages of 18 and 24 years old.
