Dinosaur is behind a hard-hitting Stop Smoking campaign for NHS Greater Manchester.
What Will You Miss focuses on the human cost of smoking – not just the smoker themselves, but their friends and families.
With 5,700 people dying each year from smoking-related illness in Greater Manchester, Dinosaur came up with the messaging to reach smokers who would “do anything to rationalise their addition.”
“The strategy was pretty clear once we got our heads around the audience and their relationship with tobacco, so we set out to prick the bubble of denial that surrounds smokers, stop them clinging on to flimsy truths from their own lives, projecting stats on to others and convincing themselves they’d be one of the lucky ones,” explained Mark Beaumont, Chief Creative Officer for Dinosaur.
“Smoking will kill most smokers, and many of those deaths will occur in middle age. These stats, framed in the context of the moments that matter most in life and combined with the deadly serious tone of voice, stopped even the most cynical of smokers in their tracks. When we researched this concept, we saw them instantly begin to imagine the hole that smoking would leave in their world, and the ad will leave them in no doubt that there are things in life they’ll miss far more than they’d miss smoking.”
The campaign centres around a “deliberately heart-wrenching, impossible to ignore” TV advert.
“Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable death and ill-health in Greater Manchester – with everyone knowing someone who has been affected by it,’ added Andrea Crossfield from NHS Greater Manchester.
“Most people who smoke get addicted as children and desperately want to stop. This new campaign emphasises that people who smoke won’t escape its harms.
“We need to continue our work to make smoking history by 2030 and that includes helping residents who need the most support. This campaign is testament to the effectiveness of mass media behavioural change campaigns, and we are proud of its impact so far.”
The campaign will also include social and out of home.
