Access has won a five way pitch to develop a campaign to combat smoking by pregnant mothers and their partners for Smokefree Northwest and stakeholders, including all 24 PCTs in the Northwest.
The project will complement a national campaign that promotes the benefits of stopping smoking when pregnant for both the woman and the unborn child. The campaign needs to be up weighted in the Northwest, as the problem is a particularly prevalent in this area (for instance statistics show that up to 50% of all pregnant women in Blackpool smoke).
Access will deliver a through the line campaign targeting not only pregnant women, but their partners, family and friends. The mainstay of the campaign will be terrestrial TV advertising, which will speak directly to this demographic, highlighting the effects on their lives and health as well as those of the unborn baby.
Access will manage the production of the advert from casting through to editing, working with production partners. The Central Office of Information (COI) who conducted the pitch process on behalf of Smokefree Northwest are also working with Access to develop the TV campaign and will oversee the placement of the media.
This project follows on from two large NHS projects Access delivered earlier this year; ‘Our Life in the Northwest', a 64 page report by the Regional Director of Public Health which set out a strategy for sustainable improvement to the health of everyone in the region, and a 40 page report ‘Addressing Health Inequalities: A North West Breastfeeding Framework for Action' aimed at encouraging health workers across the Northwest to promote the benefits of breastfeeding.
Simon Landi, Managing Director of Access comments on the project: "I'm so proud of the team for winning this one - it was certainly challenging. The timescales for delivery of the TV shoot were incredibly tight and because of this we had to put ourselves in the place of these young women very quickly to understand what would motivate a change in behaviour (maybe a little easier said than done for my male colleagues), so it was a steep learning curve for all involved, not to mention a very emotive subject. We put a lot of time and effort into the research phase and are now already well on with the execution, but it's great to work on a project which will help people and change attitudes. We're not here to judge, but we want to motivate and support these young women to give up!"
