Brief Explanation

Smoking is one of the biggest causes of premature deaths in Malaysia. It is no secret that smoking is associated with cardiovascular disease, lung disease, cancer and a host of other critical illnesses. The most worrying fact is Malaysian youths aged 18-40, who are the pulse of the nation, make up the highest number of smokers in the country. Bank Simpanan Nasional wanted youths to quit smoking, as it was robbing the nation of valuable young talents.

The Brief

Bank Simpanan Nasional wanted youths between the ages of 18 - 40 to quit smoking, as it was robbing the nation of valuable young talent.

How the final design was conceived

We realized the youths of today love their material possessions and hedonistic lifestyle more than anything else. Hence, we made a simple truth evident to our target audience: They were losing money (which could have been used to acquire other desired possessions) to cigarettes. To dramatize this, we created cigarettes made out of Malaysian currency. Branded it RM, the acronym for our national currency, and distributed the cigarette packs to youths, via product sampling. Inside the cigarette packs, youths also discovered inserts describing how much they could save and the cool things they could own if they gave up smoking.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

In just 8 months, the campaign earned more than 35,000 pledges to quit smoking. And the numbers are increasing every day. We engaged youths with a relevant idea that helped them decide against smoking. This, we believe, could reduce the number of premature deaths caused by critical illnesses associated with smoking. Plus, we also started the youths on the habit of saving.