Tackle quitting smoking ‘One Step’ at a time with new Quit campaigns

Quit today launches two mass media social marketing campaigns to prompt people who smoke to start their quit journey. The new ‘One Step’ and ‘Sounds Like’ campaigns will run until April 26, across Victorian radio, digital and across community and outdoor settings. 

New campaign, ‘One Step’ targets the estimated 147,900 Victorian adults who predominantly smoke with no intention to quit in the next month and low confidence in their ability to do so. These people are typically older (92% are 30 years or older), 94% smoke daily and 55% have attempted to quit, but not in the past year. 

“We have used these insights about Victorians to develop a new campaign challenging the perception that you have to be ready to quit,” said Rachael Andersen Quit Director.  

“It encourages people to break down quitting into small achievable steps, enhancing their confidence and motivation to give quitting a go.” 

‘Sounds Like’ will run simultaneously as ‘One Step’ and is a campaign targeting the estimated 406,700 Victorians who predominantly smoke, have high confidence they can quit, yet no intention to do so in the next month. The campaign motivates quit attempts amongst this group by emphasising the concerning symptoms of smoking-related damage, such as coughing, wheezing, struggling to breathe or experiencing bleeding gums.  

As a key take-away, ‘Sounds Like’ and ‘One Step’ encourage people who smoke to seek support by contacting Quitline for access to free, non-judgemental telephone counselling throughout their quitting journey.  

“We know there’s no one right way to quit, and it may take many attempts. It’s important we target our Quit campaigns to support people wherever they are on their quitting journey. There are lives on the line. It’s important we craft our Quit campaigns to give people who smoke reasons to want to stop, and help them know they have our support to quit. Their health is at stake and Quit is here to help,” concluded Ms Andersen.  

Despite Australia’s success with driving down smoking prevalence (8.3% daily smokers in 2022-23 compared to 24.3% in 1991¹) 24,000 Australians are dying annually from smoking-related illness². That’s 66 people every day. It’s crucial anti-smoking campaigns continue to use new ways to engage and motivate people who smoke to quit.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: 

Prue Gildea, Quit Media Manager 

0400 394 274 / prue.gildea@cancervic.org.au  

For support to stop smoking or vaping, connect with Quit. Message us on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger @QuitVic, live chat through quit.org.au or request a call back at a time that suits you. From Mon – Fri 8am to 8pm qualified Quitline counsellors are ready to support you on your quitting journey.