Data shows anti-vaping campaigns with traditional approaches will go up in smoke
Applying a public health campaign mindset of the ’90s and Noughties to the modern day vaping crisis would be a car crash.
The data shows fresh thinking, powered by rapid, credible research of the vaping community, will power greater cut-through and more effective messaging, argues Dan Richardson, head of data and insights, at Yahoo AUSEA.
For decades, road safety ads’ ‘shock and awe’ tactics were the modus operandi of public health campaigns. They often featured young men speeding or drink driving, winding up in a gory accident that killed themselves or their mates.
These were big budget multi-million dollar campaigns sought after by the hottest advertising agencies, and often scooping up plenty of silverware and accolades along the way.
The problem was, as Campaign Edge ECD Dee Madigan once pointed out, they never really worked; it turns out that ‘invincible’ young men were not worried about wrapping their parent’s Toyota Camry into a light pole; a far more effective approach was a speeding ad that poked fun at their manhood.
Years of blood, guts and gore could have been replaced with far more effective work if those responsible had done their homework and used insights to inform them of messaging that cuts through.
