After a few weeks of creative development we went back to pregnant smokers and asked them what they thought about advertising concepts we had developed. In planning the campaign we tried to understand what pregnant smokers think and what drives their behaviours. For instance, it’s all too easy to assume that everyone knows about the dangers of smoking, when in fact they don’t. Many partners of smokers don't realise that they too can cause harm around a pregnant woman. We know that most pregnant smokers live with other people who smoke (82%) and this makes it even harder for them to stop. We also know that pregnant smokers often have lots of other things going on in their lives and most importantly, that they are much more likely to quit with the support of NHS Stop Smoking Services and the support of their nearest and dearest.
So the campaign doesn't just stop at advertising. Hertfordshire has made a promise to pregnant smokers who want to quit. It says that the midwives, health visitors, pharmacists and stop smoking advisors that women meet during their pregnancy, won’t judge and will do everything they can to help a pregnant smoker to give up. And that includes targeting partners of smokers and family members who continue to smoke around pregnant women. It is a big shift and promise internally and health professionals across the county have signed a pledge to make the promise a reality. The offer of support is at the heart of the campaign and it aims to reach out to partners and mums and dads of pregnant smokers too.
Since the campaign launched in May 2015, social reach is at around 109,266 and it has featured in several media. Importantly, pregnant smokers and their families are more aware of the support available to them. It is too early to tell if the campaign has led to more people to quit but we do know that one woman, who took part in our research right at beginning of the process called our office to tell us that she did quit smoking after looking at the materials we had developed. Four months into her pregnancy she is still quit. Proof that powerful communications can work...
Check out our portfolio for "Love your Bump" campaign material.
Where did the campaign feature?
Here are a number of links to news websites and other sites that has featured the "love you bump" campaign: