During Stoptober 2024, the team at Magpie reflects on a decade and a half of dedicated work on smoking interventions, a journey driven by a commitment to public health and the urgent need for transformative change. With new regulations prohibiting smoking for those born after 2009, we stand at a pivotal moment in our collaborative efforts to combat tobacco addiction.
At Magpie, we have always focused on empowering individuals to make informed choices rather than simply telling them not to smoke. As the collaborating agency for the national ‘Breathe Together’ movement, the vision we launched with tobacco control and public health leads was one of fostering a generation where smoking is uncommon. We set out to inspire a smokefree generation by encouraging health professionals, families, and communities to take action in support of a smokefree future. We recognise that most smokers begin their journey as young people, often influenced by complex factors such as family and peer dynamics, accessibility, and media portrayals. By addressing these influences and reducing smoking prevalence in their environment, we can create a lasting legacy for the health and happiness of our children.
Recent data highlights a pressing need for further investment in behaviour change initiatives: the UK’s smoking costs have soared to an estimated £21.8 billion*, affecting health services, local authorities, and lost productivity.
Reflecting on a successful timeline of work with public and third sector collaborators, we’re proud of the power of creative behaviour change in shaping a smokefree future for our children and communities. We thought we would seize this moment to share some key campaign moments as you think about the journey ahead…
2012 – Europe’s largest social norms campaign launched in Yorkshire & Humber
We launched the social norms campaigns across 10 communities in Yorkshire and Humber, targeting areas with the highest smoking prevalence. By challenging misperceptions around smoking behaviours and celebrating positive behaviours, the campaign helped shift community norms and attitudes towards smoking. The real inspiration was in the added social value this project generated; from recruiting local supporting roles in each location to co-creating campaigns that celebrated population and place – communities took pride in this approach which amplified efforts.
2013 – Pinderfields Hospital smokefree entrances social norms intervention
In collaboration with Wakefield Council, we applied the social norms approach to make hospital entrances at Pinderfields smokefree. This intervention saw a statistically significant reduction in smoking near hospital entrances, proving the power of targeted behavioural strategies in healthcare settings. Read the full research article here.
2014 – Leeds Teaching Hospitals smokefree entrances test and learn pilot
Building on the success at Pinderfields, we implemented a similar intervention at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, this time testing five micro intervention pilots in order to determine the optimal solution for driving behaviour change to create healthier, smokefree hospital environments. A mixed methodology of qualitative and observational insights revealed rebranding smoking shelters and using floor markings to create zones around the entrances reduced smoking directly outside entrances.
2014 – Year 8 tobacco reduction projects
An innovative project with two schools, ‘Heard it Hemsworth’ and ‘Minsi Don’t Smoke’, engaged Year 8 students through creative interventions like developing a school newspaper, hosting a celebratory music gigs, and writing a bespoke rap to reduce tobacco uptake. This youth-focused initiative showed the value of creativity in behaviour change campaigns.
2014 – Breathe Together (Starting as Breathe 2025)
We played a pivotal role in the development of the Breathe 2025 movement (named so because of the strategic plan timeframe at the time), setting the vision for a smokefree generation. Starting in Yorkshire and Humber, this would later grow into a national movement inspiring communities, families, and organisations to support tobacco-free futures. Over 1,600 changemakers and organisations have joined the movement and carried out work under the Breathe Together vision. Find out more here.
2016 – ‘Today is the Day’ stop smoking services campaign
First piloted in Leeds, this campaign promoted stop smoking services using co-created messages that resonated with target audiences. It achieved a statistically significant increase in service attendance, despite national trends showing a decline. By understanding the emotional barriers—such as the fear of judgement or the discouragement of relapse—we also crafted a message that empowered people to keep trying. The slogan, “We won’t judge you for smoking, but we will help you stop,” was particularly impactful in breaking down these barriers, demonstrating how empathy and audience insight are critical in driving behaviour change.
2016 – Seize the Moment film premiere and workshop, Tobacco Alliance
In 2016, Magpie played a lead role in producing the Seize the Moment film premiere and facilitated a communications workshop for a national event in Leeds. This event marked a key moment in the UK’s tobacco control efforts, celebrating the introduction of standardised plain packaging legislation. The event brought together public health leaders, policymakers, and experts to discuss the impact of this major regulation and how local authorities could maximise its potential for reducing smoking rates.
2016 – #TrackThePack National Social Media Campaign
In May 2016, Magpie led the UK’s only national social media campaign to track the introduction of plain tobacco packaging, marking a major shift in tobacco control. The #TrackThePack campaign was launched under the Breathe 2025 brand, encouraging the public to report sightings of the new standardised packs in real-time. Through social media, users could tweet images and locations of the new packaging using the hashtag #TrackThePack, which were then added to an interactive UK map.
This innovative PR campaign created a powerful visual representation of the legislative change, with pins appearing across the country as more reports came in. The Track the Pack map, updated in real-time, not only demonstrated the widespread adoption of plain packaging but also engaged the public in a unique and interactive way, raising awareness of the new tobacco regulations.
With significant engagement on platforms like Twitter (now X), the campaign provided a fresh and engaging way to involve the public in tobacco control efforts, further cementing Magpie’s role in delivering creative and impactful public health awareness campaigns.
2020 – Barnsley’s ‘Proud to be Smokefree’ campaign
Commissioned by Barnsley Council, we used our expertise in social norms and observational research to reveal that only 4% of people smoked on Hoyland’s High Street. This insight allowed us to position Hoyland as a smokefree area with 96% of people choosing not to smoke on the high street. The public awareness campaign celebrated local culture and nudged residents and visitors to maintain a smokefree environment.
2020 – Quit for Covid
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we rapidly adapted the ‘Today is the Day’ website to support those looking to quit smoking during lockdown, successfully engaging smokers through online support and social media interactions. With a focus on building a community-driven approach, the campaign helped increase smoking cessation efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and supported the region’s broader smokefree goals.
2020 – ‘Quit Together’ campaign
Launched as a sister campaign to ‘Today is the Day,’ Quit Together aimed to support communities surrounding the three sites forming North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trusts and make more of a push towards becoming a smokefree region. This campaign was designed to engage a wide range of stakeholders, including hospital staff, stop smoking services, and community groups, offering practical resources and messaging to motivate smokers to quit, especially at the times when it will improve the treatment or recovery from other health conditions.
2023 – Youth smoking and vaping research, Kirklees Council
Our latest study explored the drivers behind youth smoking and vaping in high-prevalence areas, identifying key behavioural drivers through focus groups, interviews, and a comprehensive literature review. The research provided actionable insights to curb smoking and vaping uptake among young people.
What’s next?
This timeline evidences our extensive expertise in smoking intervention campaigns, from social norms interventions to youth engagement and national campaigns. Each project has contributed to our growing legacy of using creative behaviour change techniques to reduce smoking and improve public health outcomes – a cause that is important to us as a company working exclusively on social impact briefs. We welcome the next challenge and look forward to being the change we want to see in society, eventually making smoking history.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the shared learnings from our smoking intervention portfolio or exploring how we can collaborate on future initiatives, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch.
*On a national scale, figures published in May 2024 by ASH show that the estimated cost of smoking in the UK, as quoted by the Government in the Command paper, Stopping the Start, has increased by 25% from £17.0 billion to £21.8 billion.
The costs, have broken the figures down revealing a cost of:
- £1.9 bn to the NHS
- £1.2 bn to local authorities in social care
- £18.3 bn in lost productivity