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Happy New truth®: youth smoking prevention campaign unwraps new campaign elements, gets “Styl’D” with MTV, wins props from AdWeek readers

12/16/2009

MTV Styl’D is a new reality series on the popular entertainment channel that follows five young adults working as junior assistant stylists at the prominent Margaret Maldonado Agency. The five toil for three glamorous, high-end celebrity stylists, trying to prove they have what it takes to make it in the styling industry.  MTV and truth^® asked these junior assistants to take a break from pulling together clothes for celebrities and try their hand at creating original fashion for truth^®.  Three mini-episodes follow three different junior assistants as they work with a graphic designer to come up with a new t-shirt design based on a fact about tobacco.  The mini-episodes will air weekly during the new episodes of Styl’D starting December 8^th.

“One of the most tangible parts of the truth^® brand is the apparel we distribute to tens of thousands of teens each summer.  We create gear that features artistic and graphic representations of tobacco facts, in a form that teens want to wear.” said Eric Asche, SVP of Marketing for Legacy, the national public health foundation that directs and funds the  truth^®” campaign. "Our recent collaboration with MTV allows us to speak to a broader audience using design as the means to communicate the truth^® message in a relevant way.”

The Styl’D integration with MTV continues a long working relationship between the two youth-centric brands. Since the campaign’s inception in 2000, truth^®’s edgy, iconic advertisements have been an established fixture on the channel, and MTV has provided additional opportunities to extend truth^® advertising through broadcast, online and outdoor advertising opportunities:  

• In 2008, truth^® and MTV created a tongue-in-cheek spin-off of The Island, called The Blaze, seen during weekly episodes of the show. The Blaze pitted fictional contestants against one another in challenges that mirrored those on The Island, but that illustrated the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry and the dangers of tobacco use.
• In 2009, another integration called “The Infectors” followed two young men that represented the typical MTV hosts as they explored facts about tobacco. In all five spots, a crowd of people interrupt innocent bystanders in everyday experiences to illustrate some of the claims made by tobacco industry executives. 
• Most recently in October 2009, MTV aired truth^® -related mini-episodes based on its popular show, MADE, that followed two young adults trying to make it on the truth^® tour crew. MADE is a series that offers young adults the opportunity to make their dreams come true with dedication, hard work and a little help from MTV. The “MADE: the truth^® rider challenge” segments showed just how hard the truth^® crew works to help save lives, by making the campaign’s messages approachable and fun for teens who interact with the crew each summer in the truth^® zone. 
• In addition, crew members – young people in their 20s – from the summer truth^® grassroots tour have been interviewed on the MTV program “Total Request Live.”  In early 2008, cartoon characters from the “Sunny Side of truth^®” advertising campaign frequently popped up on-screen during episodes of The Real World XX: Hollywood to humorously comment on what was happening and to share information about tobacco and the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.

NEW truth^® CAMPAIGN ELEMENTS: Videos

The current advertising campaign from truth^®, the nation’s largest smoking prevention campaign for youth, continues to explore the kinds of decisions tobacco industry executives undertake – decisions that make for a successful, but deadly business. The ad campaign, called “Do You Have What it Takes?,” asks real-life job-seekers whether they would be willing to participate in the types of decisions and situations that tobacco industry executives have made or encountered.

“Do You Have What it Takes? launched in June 2009 but new campaign elements continue to grow and expand the campaign, in the lead-up to truth® celebrating its tenth anniversary in February 2010. 

For “Do You Have What It Takes?,” truth^® set up a mock recruiting office in New York City and invited real-life job seekers to interview for executive-level positions. Once in the interview, the candidates were questioned by a trained improvisational actor posing as an employment recruiter. The interactions were recorded by hidden cameras and, though many of the questions were scripted, the candidates’ reactions were real. Participants were connected to real recruiters after their interviews.

• In Banana Phone, the job candidate is faced with a dilemma when the recruiter picks up a banana after his phone rings. He attempts to tell the person to whom he thinks he is speaking that he can’t hear them, but, well, he’s talking into a banana, as the candidate points out.  The interviewer then praises the candidate for having a “good game face”, implying such a skill would come in handy as an executive. Banana Phone will be available for viewing online only, starting the week of December 14^th. 
• “Suppose the product that your company sells kills a certain number of people in the U.S. every day” – that’s the scenario the candidate in the new Stop Me spot is asked to consider. The recruiter writes the number 1200 (the actual number of tobacco-related deaths in the U.S. every day) at one side of a white board and the number one at the other and, while drawing a line from 1 to 1200, asks the candidate to stop him when he gets to a number that the candidate would be cool with. The candidate declares firmly, “One isn’t even good,” and tells the recruiter the number should instead go to zero.  Stop Me will also be shown online, starting the week of January 4^th.

Where to see it:

·         All videos from the DYHWIT campaign can be found at thetruth.com/videos or on the campaign’s YouTube page.

AWARDS:

AdWeek Media online readers recently voted the truth® campaign as the “Ad Campaign of the Decade.” In an online readers’ poll, the campaign received 18 percent of the vote to capture the top spot. A separate editors’ pick poll from AdWeek chose Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign as the Campaign of the Decade.  For more information, visit:
http://www.bestofthe2000s.com/creative3.html

BACKGROUND ON THE truth^® CAMPAIGN

truth^®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truth^® allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products.

Legacy^SM is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the national public health organization helps American live longer, healthier lives. Legacy develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth^®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as having contributed to significant declines in youth smoking; EX^®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; and research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit www.legacyforhealth.org.

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Contact: Stephen Winkler, 215-525-1106, swinkler@ad-itive.com; Patricia McLaughlin, 202-454-5560, pmclaughlin@legacyforhealth.org