Antismoking Campaign: Fighting Fire With Fire

Smoking is a huge public health problem, and it’s one that lingers pretty heavily among young adults—particularly those who might consider themselves hip.

How do you fight that? According to the behavior-change agency Rescue, the best strategy might be to borrow some of the same ones that the tobacco industry is using. That’s the idea behind the Commune  (opens in a new tab) program, which has used its funding to launch events in local venues targeting hipsters—think live bands, DJs, art shows, and pop-up shops. These strategies evoke efforts by the tobacco industry to tie itself to the music industry—something that generated major controversy after Camel used the names of numerous popular indie bands  (opens in a new tab) in a 2007 Rolling Stone ad, without the artists’ approval.

Rescue, according to Fast Company, has received more than $5 million in funding for the public health  (opens in a new tab) program, which avoids beating people over the head with antismoking messages, along the lines of the Truth Initiative  (opens in a new tab), an effort also aimed at young adults that is partly funded by the 1999 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

“The messaging is subtle, rather than overt: Artists, for instance, might showcase posters or other works to highlight issues that hipsters care about, like how smoking leads to deforestation,” Fast Company’s Christina Farr explains.

The campaign, which recently finished up in San Francisco and San Diego, is now focused on two Minnesota-based hipster hotbeds: Minneapolis and Duluth.

“The most important thing we want is for people to think our events are cool,” Rescue Executive Director Jeff Jordan noted.

When Things Aren’t Connecting

Is your membership marketing not working like you’d like it to? 3 hidden problem: https://t.co/Oefnl1MbHt  (opens in a new tab) #ASAE  (opens in a new tab) #AssnChat  (opens in a new tab)

— Amanda Lea Kaiser (@AmandaLeaKaiser) November 28, 2016  (opens in a new tab)

Your member marketing is hugely important as a tool for your association, but if it’s not connecting, it’s worth pondering why. At Smooth the Path, Amanda Kaiser offers up three potential areas  (opens in a new tab) where your marketing is missing the mark: the channel, the story, or the product.

But Kaiser says the problem probably isn’t where you think it is.

“Most times we assume the channel is the problem but most times it isn’t,” she writes. “Most times the problem with our marketing is in the story and/or the product. One or both are not connecting with members.”

Other Links of Note

In case you needed more evidence that the PC industry is in transition, word from Computerworld is that Samsung  (opens in a new tab)is looking to drop its personal computer business. Here’s some other evidence from the company’s biggest mobile competitor, Apple.

Event trends to watch: What’s coming in 2017 that your association needs to keep an eye on? The Event Manager Blog has a list to get you going  (opens in a new tab).

Interesting tool of the day: The platform Toggl, which is free for personal use  (opens in a new tab), makes it easy to properly track your time with the help of apps and a simple interface.

(via the Commune Facebook page)