Nicorette - Quitting coach.
Let’s be real.
Quitting smoking sucks.
On average smokers fail to quit smoking more than 8 TIMES before they successfully quit. For the person trying to quit, this can be debilitating, and stressful and lead to other health issues.
A Zero to One case study.
Nicorette - Quitting coach.
Customers forget to take their Nicorette gum as prescribed to stave of cravings, because of that the brand suffers from a perception of lack of efficacy.
As someone who has lost a family member to cancer (because of smoking), this project meant a lot to me. I wanted to deliver something that went above and beyond the typical remit of the agency, so I embarked on really getting to know the scientists that worked on the product and the smoking cessation programs. It was critical that whatever the experience was that we delivered, it had to be more effective at helping people quit.
“Nicotine represents less than half of the power of the addiction. The rest comes from habit and occasion.”
- GSK Scientist
This is a “Zero to One” case study - As characterized by Peter Thiel - Zero to One describes the process of creating something radically new and taking it to the first step.
Sneak peek – Version 2.0 depicted. Aspects of that the app supports a quitter.
On average, smokers fail to quit smoking more
than 8 TIMES before they successfully quit.
For the person trying to quit, this can be debilitating and stressful and lead to other health issues. For the GSK this can be seen as a lack of efficacy on the part of the product - it’s simply bad for the business to not show progress.
While at TBWA the agency came up with the campaign slogan - “Sucks less.” Put another way ‘Quitting sucks less with Nicorette.’ The campaign was launched and was well received by clients, and scored well in audience testing. The client wanted to expand the campaign from just doing TV into a 360 approach that had a social component along with an ‘app’ of some sort.
Quitting cigarettes is as challenging as quitting a heroin addiction.
– GSK Scientist
Client brief –
Create a mobile app based on the Suck-o-meter.
The Suck-o-meter was a fictitious device used in the TV commercials to measure peoples stress levels, much like the needle on a lie detector machine. The metaphor was apt showing how being stuck in traffic, or having to work over the weekend, drove peoples stress up; later in the same scenario they seemed to shrug off the stress when they popped a piece of Nicorette gum – this was validated by the Suck-o-meters gauge moving the needle from the red state into the green along with an audible chime.
In talking with the scientists, doctors, and psychologists who were working on smoking cessation programs at GSK, it was clear that people were having a tough time quitting mostly because they weren’t adhering to the Nicorette dosage levels required to ween themselves off of cigarettes. In order for the product to prove its efficacy, people needed to take enough gum everyday to increase their chances of successfully quitting smoking.
Be honest –
quitting is always going to suck.
The campaign insight – quitting is always going to suck regardless. Nicorette makes it suck less.
Nicorette helps you get through...
Work deadlines.
First dates.
Monday’s.
TV spot detail.
‘Suckometer’ measures cravings.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Taking the correct dosage.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Cravings reduced in 15 minutes.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The UX strategy.
Our approach was to give “Quitters” more than nicotine replacement therapy by developing a total quitting program, one that would help address their dependency, and replace their bad social and behavioral habits with healthy ones.
We had to design a system that would be able to make them aware of their habits in the first place, so they had a benchmark to measure their progress. We needed to design an experience that provided support where and when they needed it most.
Avoiding cravings.
With Pocket Quit’s opt-in mapping feature, quitters can start to see how and where cravings hit hardest.
The app starts to give guidance based on historical location based data, time of day, and frequency. It offers up new routes to circumnavigate old smoking haunts, suggesting Nicorette ahead of time, or providing techniques to combat triggers. A personal coach in your pocket. By recording emotional states in the Pocket Quit app the user creates a personalized map of where they’ve had their toughest challenges. The app sends GPS based notification tips and adivce, recommending when and where to take Nicorette so cravings are kept at bay.
Version 1.0
Track your emotional state.
Tracking your moods helps the app assess your cravings, and the level of support that you need. The worse your cravings the more advice it delivers.
Make taking Nicorette part of your daily routine.
Nicorette comes in different strengths and therefore has different programs. Users can make sure to set their expectations to the program timeline.
Data-viz to give you insights.
Understanding the reality of your own behaviors is difficult without seeing the data clearly presented. Seeing it believing
Order the product direct from the app.
When users sync their app with the product they have purchased, they get the option to set up a subscription purchase plan. The app will automatically order when it see’s they are getting low.
App logic flows.
When the user logs their journey, the app responds with different guidance based on their mood, behavior, and cravings.
Version 2.0
After the ‘Sucks Less’ campaign ran its natural course, GSK wanted us to continue to work on the app separately from any campaign messaging.
The app had received higher usage rates than Facebook at the time, and the client could see a great deal of value in the data we were collecting, (opt-in data collection).
We redesigned the app to be both mobile and desktop friendly, and gave it a more modern feel in line with training apps like Nike+. GSK needed a more focused strategy towards a quitting program, so we again worked with their science team.
Personalized dashboards help quitters stay on top of their overall journey.
Quitters can sync their Nicorette gum with the app so that it can deliver more product to them before they run out, making sure they never miss their dosage. This helps with efficacy, and also increases repeat purchase.
Chart view.
Graph view.
Social behaviors are half the challenge when quitting smoking.
The Pocket Quit program is based on scientifically proven methods of beating addiction.
We saw an increase in efficacy of 18% in users over a 6-month period.
Data as media plan.
Anonymized app data helps target media planning for out of home campaigns or even point of sale, so quitters can have access to Nicorette when and where they need it most.
Using GPS the app can help quitters pre-empt their cravings.
As a larger image of the quitters behavioral patterns emerge, the coaching gets smarter.
Improving the quitter experience.
The goal is to turn the data we are collecting into a more effective program for quitters.
What the team said
“We live in a world where marketing communications are no longer a surrogate for a brand. When you can put a brand experience in the palm of someone's hand, when how that brand behaves everywhere becomes the determinant of it's success. Chris understands all this, but more importantly his multi-lingual qualities enable him to inspire the engineers, the strategists and the creative teams. His understanding of how human beings use technology from different device perspectives allows him to craft a coherent, not just consistent experience. It's not about boxes, buttons and screens to Chris — rather it is how to invite people to engage with your brand - and he does this in spades. Chris is an asset to any team, I just wish he could improve the UX on my life.”
“It has been a great pleasure working with Chris for the last few years. Chris is one of the best User Experience professionals I have ever worked with. He has a great understanding of technology. He understands the implications of technology to the user experience and user flow. Chris can brainstorm with creatives while still being focused on meeting the clients business objectives. He is extremely well rounded while being such a good guy and very easy to work with. My only regret is that I wish we worked on more projects together. He is a great additional to any team and I hope to be collaborating with him soon.”
— Ricardo Diaz, Director of Creative Technology, TBWA\Worldwide
“Magic happens when you combine technology, user insights and creative ideas and Chris has brought it consistently to every project we've been on together. He brings oxygen to the strategic and creative outputs through his one-of-a-kind hybrid expertise. Chris's killer app is connecting the dots between different ideas, disciplines (brand strategy, digital strategy, creative ideas, user experience) and that allows him to come up with experience objects, not ads, not strategy, not products. His ideas live at the intersection of today's cool stuff and tomorrow's cool stuff that's not been invented and that's why we need more Chris clones, please.”
Building 3 pillars of support.
Helping quitters succeed requires more than ‘product.’ It requires behavioral and emotional support.
