Specialist social marketing agency, The Hub has picked up an IPA Best of Health Awards 2009 for its groundbreaking ‘Lose the Fags’ smoking cessation campaign.

Commissioned by Stockport PCT with the National Social Marketing Centre (NSMC), ‘Lose the Fags’ was developed in close collaboration with the community it is being used to target.

Stockport PCT was chosen as a Learning Demonstration Site by the NSMC with the aim of pioneering new ways of tackling health inequalities resulting from nicotine addiction. The campaign focused on the close community of Brinnington—a borough of Stockport in which 52% of adults smoke, against a national average of 24%.

‘Lose the Fags’ was developed as a brand and campaign that the local community could take ownership of and participate in. By bringing real Brinnington residents into the heart of the campaign, the work effectively engaged with authenticity and impact, giving considerable momentum to a long-term behaviour change programme.

Commenting on this latest accolade, Helen Johnson, Managing Director of The Hub, says: “’Lose the Fags’ is a perfect illustration of how the power of social marketing can be leveraged to reduce health inequalities and forward the preventive health agenda. By working closely with the audience in the development of their own intervention we have created a campaign that is authentically by Brinnington, for Brinnington.

“The fact that this approach has been recognised with an IPA award is not only testament to the power of our campaigns, but also to the rapidly rising profile of social marketing as distinct, highly specialised discipline.”

The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) will present the Best of Health awards on Thursday July 9th at Gilgamesh Studios in Camden, London. The awards celebrate the best creativity in Healthcare advertising.