Case study: Quit Smoking

Discover how the Central Office of Information used newspapers to encourage readers to quit smoking.

This case study from the NMA UK shows how the COI took advantage of the high level of influence as well as the trusted relationship that the readers had with the newspaper.

Summary  

The COI ran an eight page Giving Up Smoking pull-out in the News of The World's Sunday magazine on 18 December 2005. The pull-out featured real life case studies from former smokers as well as helpful tips for smokers hoping to quit.

Objectives

To highlight the dangers of smoking and suggest ways in which smokers can give up the habit.

Why newspapers?

33% of Sunday magazine readers are smokers, higher than the national average of 27%.  The pull-out feature in the News of The World enabled the COI to take advantage of the high level of influence and trusted relationship that the Sunday magazine's team of high profile experts have with their readers.

The results

Research was carried out to measure the effectiveness of the pull-out. The News of the World reader panel was used for this research.

Recall was exceptional:

  • 38% of readers spontaneously recalled the activity and this number rose to 50% amongst loyal readers
  • At the prompted recall stage, 40% of readers remembered seeing the activity, rising to 54% amongst loyal readers

The pull-out clearly achieved cut through amongst Sunday readers:

  • Spontaneously, Sunday magazine readers were able to recall individual sections of the pull-out and key communication messages

Readers clearly found the feature very interesting as many read individual articles within the pull-out:

  • Of those who recalled the pull-out, 38% claimed to have read the lead article about how celebrity 'It Girl', Tara Palmer-Tomkinson gave up smoking.

The Call to Action element of the campaign was excellent. Of those who recalled the activity:

  • 37% (which equates to 421,978 smokers) claimed that they would visit the website detailed in the feature to find out more information
  • 13% (which equates to 148,200 smokers) said that they would pull out the feature from the magazine to keep for future reference
  • 10% (which equates to 114,000 smokers) claimed that they would quit smoking as a result of seeing the feature
  • 9% (which equates to 102,600 smokers) said that they would phone up the NHS smoking helpline detailed in the feature for advice
  • After the campaign, nearly half of all smokers who recalled the pull-out were very likely to give up smoking - 50% higher than all smokers 

Source: NMA UK: COI encourages News of The World readers to 'stub it out'.