Creating Teen ViralMentalists for an Anti-Tobacco Use Movement

Challenge:

When South Carolina received their tobacco settlement, the Department of Health and Environmental Control was tasked to create an awareness campaign for youth about the dangers of tobacco use. So, they tapped Brains on Fire to tackle a big issue in Big Tobacco's back yard.

Position and Solution:

When we surveyed the landscape, we saw that other states were pumping their money into huge media campaigns with in-your-face TV ads, which got temporary results. Once the ads quit running, the teen smoking rate went back up. There was no place for them to plug in. There was no culture.

We knew we had to go another route and create a sustainable culture.
And we needed to do it using word-of-mouth.

So we singled out 92 teens to own this thing. They're the ones that played a key role in the development of everything -- from the name to the curriculum. We armed them with tools to spread the word and then sent them on their way to find other "ViralMentalists."

The teens led weekend retreats: Festi-Viral events across the state. There's a website where they can check in with each other. A RAGE store where you can get SWAG -- but only if you were out spreading the word.

Results:
A 2005 survey found that South Carolina has had one of the highest smoking rate drops in the nation -- 11.5%. That's with no mass media. No tax increase on cigarettes. And for the past two years -- virtually no budget.

Anti-tobacco budgets are shrinking across the nation. In SC, it has gone from $1.2 million in 2002 to a $50,000 donation from a private organization in 2005. But since we taught those original 92 members how to use word-of-mouth tools and techniques, they passed the 3000-member mark (that's active members) without needing it.

Credit Information
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Client: South Carolina Department of Environmental Health and Control
Agency: Brains on Fire
Budget: Range from $1.2 million to $50,000
Date of Campaign: 2002-Present