BetaHCF Case Studies Library is in beta. We're still adding campaigns and fixing things.
HCF Case Studies Library

← All campaigns · Open in the library

saatchi.com

Ex-smokers are unstoppable

Also: Quit Smoking With Barça

“Ex-smokers are unstoppable”

European Commission anti-smoking campaign launched 16 June 2011 across all EU member states for three years, aimed at smokers aged 25-34. Instead of harms it showed ex-smokers as role models and the benefits of quitting, and drove people to iCoach, a free online coaching tool in all EU languages; a 2013 phase partnered with FC Barcelona.

Years
2011–2013
Country
BelgiumBulgariaItalyMaltaPortugalSpain
Topic
Tobacco
Asks people to
Stop
Strategy
CelebrityCessation service linkSelf efficacyTestimonial
Channel
AppPrintSocial (organic)Website
Audience
AdultsYoung adults
Smokers aged 25-34 in the EU (about 28 million per a Spanish trade report, snippet only); iCoach aimed especially at smokers unwilling to quit and at high relapse risk.

Evidence

Self-reportedUnknown

Agency and Commission figures only: EC newsletter (May 2012) says the campaign reached 300 million+ Europeans and 170,000 had used iCoach; Saatchi releases claim 225,000+ iCoach entrants (2012), then close to 400,000 sign-ups and about 70,000 active quit attempts (2013), and cite GfK research that two-thirds thought the approach would encourage quitting. Gold Euro Effie 2012, Silver 2013. No independent evaluation of quitting found; the agency release says long-term health impact was too early to judge.

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Saatchi & Saatchi: Euro Effie Gold for Ex-smokers are Unstoppable campaign sponsor · 2012
  2. Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels campaign wins Euro Effie (Quit Smoking With Barça) sponsor · 2013
  3. Health-EU Newsletter 91: new phase of Ex-smokers are unstoppable sponsor · 2012
  4. Marketeer: Ex-smokers are Unstoppable (launch 16 June 2011, three years) news · 2011
  5. EFA: Commission launches 'ex-smokers are unstoppable' campaign news · 2011

Research notes

Pan-EU (EU-27 at the time); country lists BE (Commission seat) plus member states where national coverage turned up in search (MT, ES, IT, PT, BG; snippets only, except PT fetched). Review whether the library wants a convention for EU-wide campaigns (no 'EU' ISO code). Sponsor type set to multilateral (closest; the EU is not a foreign national government). Credits and figures fetched from source pages 2026-10-22. Budget not found. The earlier EC 'HELP - for a life without tobacco' campaign (2005-2010) has a peer-reviewed survey evaluation (Hassan, Shiu, Walsh, Hastings, Marketing Intelligence & Planning 2009, doi 10.1108/02634500910964056; abstract via search only) and could become its own case.

Record cases/ex-smokers-are-unstoppable.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign