BARMER's smoking prevention campaign #doitforeveryone

Smoking is a leading health problem in Germany, even though people have been warned about the risks for decades. BARMER took action and revealed an uncomfortable truth: smokers are destroying the planet! Their addiction supports deforestation, pollution of the oceans and CO2 emissions. The #TuEsFürAlle (#DoItForEveryone) campaign confronted smokers with these facts – and was able to help half of them quit the bad habit.

Customer
BARMER

Industry
Health & Insurance

Portfolio
#Craft Ideas
#Brand & Communication Strategies
#Performance Media

„Through our campaign, we want to make people aware of the negative impact of smoking without repeating the same old messages. With the additional focus on sustainability and social impact, we're adding an extra element to think about when smoking and a reason to quit.“ Maurizio Barucca, Head of Marketing at BARMER
Impressions, visibility within the young target audience.
35  Mio
Completion rate of the Instagram story survey about personal use.
84 %
Video views on YT, FB and IG.
6  Mio
Community growth with the posting of the hero film on IG.
936 %
Engagement rate on the FB and IG videos.
20 %

Not just passive interaction with the video by viewing alone, but also active interaction by commenting. 

Challenge

Don't just explain it, change it!

One of BARMER's stated brand goals is "to maintain health as humankind's biggest asset". This also means effectively confronting the issue of tobacco use. But how can that be done when even the most shocking images barely have an effect on smokers – and are even ignored? 

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Solution

New perspectives in place of the usual admonishing routine

In order to get smokers to listen and to quit, BARMER went down a radical new route. Rather than advising on the consequences of smoking for your health, they took a different route: how smokers are destroying the environment! After all, the manufacturing and use of cigarettes are jointly responsible for deforestation, water and soil contamination, as well as high CO2 emissions. The target audience of 16 to 35-year-olds in particular care about safeguarding the environment, climate change and sustainable living. These concerns were used as a lever in the campaign to draw attention to what quitting would do to help the environment for the target audience.

In partnership with influencer and former smoker Visa Vie, BARMER confronted smokers with explanatory films and information posts about the shocking environmental impact of tobacco use. The message: When you give up smoking, you're not just doing it for yourself, you're doing it for the planet! 

Results

Success: Half of people quit smoking because of the campaign

The campaign had an incredible impact: In addition to almost 35 million impressions, Barmer's community grew by up to 930%. The campaign had another positive effect: half of the smokers who saw it quit smoking.* 
 
* Survey with 6,315 participants on instagram.com/barmer. 3,147 (49.8%) stated they had given up smoking because of the campaign.


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