1. Vaping – a public education campaign
Good afternoon,
Sue Slater & Russell Duncan
October 2019

2. Our context
Associate Minister of Health asked us to produce public education information around the benefit of vaping for people who smoke.
4% current use. Most are smokers/ex smokers (NZHLS 2018)
Ministry of Health position statement:
“...vaping products have the potential to make a contribution to the Smokefree 2025 goal and could disrupt the significant inequities that are present”
For those who don’t know The Health Promotion Agency is an NZ government agency.
The most recent data tells us that 4% of Nzers are current users with most of these being smokers or smokers.
We were asked by our Minister to produce information for the public on the benefits of vaping for smokers.
We overlayed this requirement with our knowledge and focus on our priority populations. Reaching Māori, espcially Māori women, is one of our main aims in all of our work.

3. Google Data Graph
In considering this challenge, we took into account a number of factors.
HPA has a partnership with Google, which privided us with lots of data and information about search trends in vaping – search keywords etc.
This graph shows the volume of searching for vaping information vs quit smoking. In 2014 volumes were relatively the same. But since 2017 there has been a definite growth in vaping to where we are right now. Quit smoking searching has stayed around the same over this time.
So we knew there was a huge unmet need for information.
Importantly, when people were searching there were no NZ sites with reliable, factual information.
Results would include media from around the world, online retailers, and some interesting narratives.
Parallel to this work...
we also commissioned a Māori research company, to do 73 interviews with Maori women to also inform our thinking.
Extremely valuable exercise.
One of the key out-takes is that this audience is also looking online for trusted information.

4. Click to launch website walk thru vid
SO, the first part of our strategy was to develop a credible, authoritative source of information about vaping for a NZ audience.
Be that someone who smoked, a concerned parent, a business owner.
This is Vaping Facts, launched in June this year. We’ve been getting about 4000 visitors a week to the site, close to 60,000 since we launched.
These are predominatly from mobile – so the website is mobile first.
The website has a set of videos, a cost calculator and quiz to test knowledge.
The assets are designed to be engaging and used in stand alone digital channels.
We tested the website with people who smoke, but also for unintended consequences – so with our non-smoking and young adult audiences.
You‘ll see that it has a government url, and the logos upfront and visible. This was really important in our testing – people wanted information that they could trust.
Whats also important is what you don’t see on the website:
No product referrals
No pictures of clouds
It’s pretty focused on being for the consumer – its a not a sector facing, or an academic website.

5. Brochure layup pic
The website has been complemented with more traditional health information.
You’ll see this brochure in GP and hospital settings.
This continues the framing of vaping as possibe solution for people who smoke.

6. Still from the TVC
This is the next phase of our work.... A behavioural change campaign, motivating our priority populations to consider vaping as part of their quit journey.
The big insight from our campaign conceptual work – the ad’s need to be less about vaping, more about self-efficacy..... “tell me I am supported in my decision to be smokefree, and the journey to get there.”.
This framing of the ad also controls the narrative that it’s for smokers-only.
The ad is solution-focused and strengths-based.
To make the ad, we drove around NZ – and filmed 60 different personal stories. The people in the ad aren’t actors, these are real people supporting their friends and whanau on their quit journey.
We look forward to sharing it in the months to come. The parliamentary process around vaping legisation is very imment, and that will determine exactly when this will go to air.
THANKYOU