Digitas Health

My Time to Quit

Digitas Health

BRAND Chantix CLIENT Pfizer

What if you broadcast to the world that you are going to quit smoking? You should be more successful, right? And when do people commit to quit? New Year's Day, of course.

FROM LEFT (TOP): Peter Ng, VP/director technology enablement, Cheryl Horsfall, lead creative, Ashish Verma, VP/group creative director, (BOTTOM) Alissa Kaplan, VP/group marketing director, Jackie Stone, VP/group director promotions, Dan Stein, VP/group director strategy & analysis

That's exactly what Digitas Health did for Pfizer as part of its unbranded campaign "My Time to Quit," getting smokers to give up the pack. The best part? It was completely interactive, allowing consumers to take an active role in the ad. The concept was simple: Smokers proclaimed that they were going to stop smoking, uploaded a photo to the Web site (or had it taken in Times Square), and within seconds a photo of their face appeared on the massive digital billboard in Times Square for the world to see.

"There's a really simple insight that if you tell people that you are going to quit before you quit smoking, then you are more likely to succeed," says Graham Mills, executive product director at Digitas Health. "Our focus as an agency is about helping, not selling. So it's not just about 'try this drug;' here's some real help to motivate you to do what you need to do. Campaigns like this help people be more successful in their outcomes."