Leading social marketing agency, The Hub has been appointed by the Central Office of Information (COI) to collaborate on a groundbreaking behaviour change initiative to tackle the purchase and supply of illegal tobacco across the North of England.
The social marketing campaign – the first of its kind in the UK – will form a key element of The North of England Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Programme. This is the first programme of its kind in the UK and is collaboration between Smokefree North West, Smokefree Yorkshire & the Humber and Fresh Smoke Free North East and other partners, including Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs and local authority trading standards teams.
The work aims to shift social norms at a community level in order to reduce the prevalence of counterfeit and smuggled tobacco. In doing so, it will reduce opportunities for young people to start smoking, decrease numbers of adult smokers and help combat the crime and disorder associated with illegal imports and sales.
Far from being a victimless crime, Cancer Research UK estimates that illicit tobacco kills four times as many people as smuggled illegal drugs. In addition to negative health consequences, illegal imports can exacerbate social problems in some of our most disadvantaged communities and create opportunities for young people to start smoking at an early age.
Appointing the agency prior to Christmas, David Wiggins, Interim Strategic Programme Manager and Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the Programme, said: "Illicit tobacco is a hugely complex problem and an issue that needs tackling from a multitude of different directions. Given that these practices are deeply ingrained in our communities, the social marketing element of this campaign will be essential in raising awareness, shifting attitudes and changing behaviour.
"The Hub team understood and responded to this complexity with intelligence and creativity and we are looking forward to developing a campaign that will make a real difference to this important issue."
The appointment follows a competitive process involving COI framework agencies.
Helen Johnson, Managing Director at The Hub said: "We're delighted to be selected for this project. The brief is extremely complex, but our extensive experience of social marketing behaviour change campaigns with similar audiences means we’re perfectly placed to rise to the challenge. David and his colleagues are totally committed to making a difference in this area and I'm looking forward to working with them to make the most of this opportunity.”
