When we accepted this assignment to promote Louisiana’s Tobacco Quitline, we knew immediately that we had two giant obstacles to overcome – one global, one very local. Globally, we were keenly aware that “anti-anything” advertising has become very easy to ignore, especially when engineered around fear-mongering or threats. What’s more, Louisiana has a deep-seated culture of tolerance which contributes to a historically anti-authority attitude and certain (ahem) “indulgences” that manifest as health problems. Where to begin? After digesting the facts (of which there is no shortage), we broke down traditional health communication as either fact or fear-based. Understanding this division allowed us to side-step the typical approach, and instead focus on acknowledging the difficulties of quitting – and the ease with which residents can get free support. We departed from traditional or clinical concepts, and instead focused on the real-life difficulties of quitting smoking – along with the ease of dialing the quitline for support. Our “digits” characters address failed attempts to quit (average smokers attempt to quit many times before succeeding), and use localized, colloquial language to better relate to Louisiana residents. The campaign has had a profound impact. Louisiana has the 2nd-highest Quitline call volume in the United States (according to the American Heart Association, who administers the call center nationally). Since the campaign launched, brand favorability ratings have risen to 85% (‘extremely favorable’), brand awareness surged from 27% to 60%, and awareness of the TFL brand as the sponsor associated with smoking messages rose from 11% to 41%. With the TFL numbers like this, we’re all breathing easier.