Applying Account Planning to Smoking Cessation: The NHS Smokefree Campaign
Next week the authors of the short listed papers for the UK’s Account Planning Group’s (APG) Creative Strategy Awards will be presented to the judges. We’d like to cast an early vote for the National Health Service Smokefree Campaign. Here are a couple of reasons: It challenged conventional wisdom. Both in the UK and the [...]
July 22, 2011User-Generated PSAs: Creating a Distinctive Voice on the Internet
Had any of us ever heard of user-generated content (UGC) ten years ago? We had by 2006. That’s when Time Magazine made “you” — translated: us — the Person of the Year, because we “control the Information Age.” And while the announcement left some of us scratching our heads, now it’s hard to imagine a [...]
June 30, 2011Decreasing Cigarette Smoking: Are Graphic Labels the Answer?
Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proudly announced a bold public health initiative to impact smoking behavior. Nine new graphic pictures, with warnings, will be required on every pack of U.S. cigarettes sold and in every cigarette advertisement by September, 2012. “These labels are frank, honest, and powerful depictions of the health [...]
October 6, 2010What can PSA’s do to help limit America’s cancer risk?
Is anyone in America unaware that cancer is a significant risk to our lives? If we don’t know someone personally affected, we’ve read about Patrick Swayze or Michael Douglas. September played host to national awareness for at least five different forms of cancer. This month is devoted to National Breast Cancer Awareness. But even as [...]
July 6, 2010Getting your PSA groove on
The other night I had the pleasure of going to a jazz club. I think jazz is a particularly wonderful form of music. So, once there, I sat back to enjoy the evening and marvel at all those musicians playing to beat the band. They all have to work with the same basic musical tools [...]