Smokers Turn To TalkSPORT To Quit, UK

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 26 Mar 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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talkSPORT, the UK's only national commercial speech radio station, has entered in to a unique partnership with the Department of Health and the Central Office of Information with the aim of helping people stop smoking.

The campaign was the result of a pitch organised by MEC, which challenged 14 relevant media owners to come up with ideas to support their respective audiences to get off cigarettes. The deal was negotiated by Charlotte Pilkington at talkSPORT and Anthony Mann from Starcom.

The Get Off Cigarettes on-air promotion will target routine and manual workers who are looking to quit cigarettes. Mid-morning presenter Jon Gaunt will have a weekly Get Off Cigarettes Support Club where specially invited 'stop smoking' specialists will be invited onto the show to run through the different ways and steps to quitting. Phone lines will be opened up to the listeners to ask advice from the specialists.

The promotion will conclude on Monday 7th April with 20 of the smokers who successfully quit taking part in a five-a-side tournament against a talkSPORT all-star team.

Matt Wilson, talkSPORT, sponsorship and promotions director said: "talkSPORT is the ideal platform for the Department of Health and its Get Off Cigarettes campaign. The unique nature of talkSPORT's programming allows for instant interaction between the target audience of those who want to quit smoking across the entire UK and those who are able to offer help and advice."

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