Australia – As quitting smoking has been proven to be a challenging effort for many, the South Australian Government has designated May 2021 as the ‘quitting’ month, and in line with this launches the new ‘Quit Your Way in May’ campaign, done in partnership with advertising agency Showpony Adelaide.
The ‘Quit Your Way in May’ campaign took a different approach to promote anti-smoking by using bright colors, quirky characters, and a stick-in-you-head jingle, which is unusual to many anti-smoking campaigns that confront people with negative ads highlighting health risks.
The advertising agency has worked with renowned illustrator Timba Smits, who has collaborated with some of the biggest brands in the world, including Apple, Airbnb, Canon, and Disney. The campaign has launched across TV, digital, social, and press, as well as radio, with the event running throughout May this year.
According to Kirsty Mudge, the senior project officer at Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia, “Quitting smoking is hard, but smokers learn something new from every attempt. We wanted to create an opportunity for people to try quitting as part of a supportive, communal event.”
Meanwhile, Rory Kennett-Lister, the creative director of Showpony Adelaide, said, “Inspired by some of the great public health campaigns of the past, like ‘Life. Be in it’ and ‘Slip. Slop. Slap.’, ‘Quit Your Way in May’ is positive, inclusive, and light-hearted, empowering quitters by instilling them with confidence.”
“Working with Timba was a delight. From the moment we pitched the idea to him he was excited about the possibilities. His illustrations really captured the positive, inclusive spirit we were trying to bring to life,” added Chris Kim, the senior art director of Showpony Adelaide.
