Sheffield City Council
A smokefree generation, in their own words.
Behaviour-change campaigns for Smokefree Sheffield, built around young people's own stories and grounded in social norming.
01 / The challenge
What needed to change.
Five children a day were starting to smoke in Sheffield. In South Yorkshire, 12% had started before they turned 12, and 48% before they were 15. The brief was clear: reach young people before they start smoking, or just as they begin experimenting. The harder goal: do it without sounding like every public-health campaign that came before.
02 / The insight
The reframe that opened the door.
Young people who smoke are now a minority. That fact, properly told, is more persuasive than any warning. Social norming, showing peers choosing the smokefree option, on their own terms, was the unlock.
03 / The approach
What we made, and how.
We asked young people to tell us, in their own words, why they don't smoke or why they want to quit. We designed ten of their best quotes into typographical posters and digital assets, ran the campaign on Snapchat and Instagram, and distributed 350 posters across Sheffield schools, youth clubs and sports clubs. Winners got their own digital poster.
The most persuasive anti-smoking voice in Sheffield is a teenager telling another teenager why she doesn't.
04 / The outcome
What changed.
157
entries to the youth-led competition
44,551
average individuals reached per advert
50,000+
people reached per week