Posted 1 Mar, 2018
It’s Time, a video advertisement created by Brett Tippet and his team from Spectrum Productions in Traralgon, was announced as the winner of the Pitch To Quit competition tonight, leading four other finalists in the innovative campaign designed to encourage the Latrobe Valley to go smoke-free.
The winning entry, conceived by Mr Tippet, and co-produced by Trent McCurdy and Aidan Boehm, explores the way smoking cuts short people’s lives. The video illustrates the cost of smoking, paid for in time.
The winner was announced following a screening of the five finalists’ videos at a gala event at Moe Library.
The 30-second, professionally filmed videos also covered themes such as the impact of premature death on those left behind, the effect of decisions made, the importance of self-care and the hurdles to be overcome on the quit journey.
The other finalists were Grady Just (Save a Life), Phil Mackie from ScribbleVision (Not Alone), Linden Hanley (Overcome the Hurdles) and Sarah Mangion (A Better Path).
The five videos were watched more than 25,000 times on the Pitch To Quit Facebook page.
“The Pitch to Quit competition has attracted an incredibly high level of creativity and talent from within the Latrobe Valley community. It’s fantastic to see the power of social media in sharing such a valuable message,” Pitch To Quit creative director Dan Clancey said.
The winner was chosen based on a combination of data provided by Facebook, including how many people from within the target audience clicked and played the video, then watched it and engaged with it through to the end.
The winning video was watched by more than 5190 unique viewers, most of them in Victoria and the Latrobe Valley. Viewing was evenly divided between men and women. Viewers ranged in age from 13 to over 65, with the highest proportion of viewers falling in the age bracket between 35 and 44, when research shows it is critically important to quit smoking.
Run by Gippsland PHN, in partnership with Latrobe Health Assembly, the Victorian Government and Quit Victoria, Pitch To Quit is part of the Smokefree Latrobe Initiative, funded by the Victorian Government through the $27 million Latrobe Health Innovation Zone.
“Gippsland has the highest current smoking prevalence of all Victorian regions and it is particularly high in Latrobe, where 24.4 per cent of residents smoke compared with 13.1 per cent across the state,” the CEO of Gippsland Primary Health Network, Marianne Shearer, said.
“Smoking is a major risk factor for cancer and heart disease, which are the main causes of death in Gippsland, so it is critical that we help people to quit smoking.”
“By running the competition on social media we have been able to get vital quit smoking information across to thousands of people, with more than 25,000 people viewing the final five videos in the past two weeks.”
Quit Victoria director Dr Sarah White said a recent Cancer Council Victoria survey found two-thirds of Gippsland smokers intended to quit in the next six months and one-third said they thought about quitting every day.
“Smoking kills two in three long-term users, and that number is no different in Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley,” Dr White said.
“The quality of the entries has been so impressive that we plan to use two of the videos online as a paid digital campaign to encourage smokers in Latrobe Health Innovation Zone and beyond to seek support to kick the habit for good. Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health and the health of those around you.”
Spectrum Productions wins a $2500 Latrobe Valley gift card.
See the video, along with each of the finalists, on the Pitch To Quit competition Facebook page
For further information visit www.quit.org.au/pitchtoquit
Media enquiries: Kylie Miller 0411650250 or kylie@cupcakecommunications.com.au