Flytxt launch first time SMS campaign for Department of Health. The Department of Health and Flytxt, the wireless marketing expert, today announced the launch of an SMS campaign, which aims to reduce the prevalence of smoking amongst young people. This is the first time that the Department of Health has chosen this medium to reach its target audience with messages about smoking and is also a completely new approach to reaching youth audiences by engaging rather than preaching.

The SMS campaign, which is part of a broader Tobacco Education Campaign, intends to drive viewers to watch and engage in films made by young people, which aim to capture their thoughts about the culture of smoking.

The campaign kicks off on the 31st October at the cinema premiere of the 'Smokescreen' films at Warner Village cinema in Leicester Square. The films will then be aired twice daily on Trouble TV, Smokescreen's exclusive broadcast partner. Also involved in the Smokescreen project is Brainchild UK, which initiated this radical new approach for the Department of Health. Several well-known directors were brought in to produce the series of five four-minute Smokescreen films.

Teenagers will be able to sign up to the SMS campaign through offline advertisements such as in teen magazine Sugar and through text messages to the Trouble TV opt-in database. Campaign participants will have the chance to win a number of prizes including an annual cinema pass and being the first to receive news on Smokescreen films. The SMS campaign aims to engage teenagers and encourages SMS interaction through trailers at the end of the Smokescreen films.

This new approach by the Department of Health to speak to a youth audience using their own language, ultimately aims to reduce the prevalence of smoking amongst young people. However, the films are not anti-smoking as such, but designed to reflect society's relationship with smoking and give the audience something to think about.

Research shows that the target audience for this campaign, young people aged between 11-16, have a high prevalence of smoking. This is also a group of people who communicate with their peers on a daily basis on their mobile phones. The campaign aims to make a difference in engaging young people by talking to them using a medium, which is second nature to them and in their own language.

Carsten Boers, Head of Client Services of Flytxt, commented:
"We feel extremely privileged to be working with the Department of Health on this campaign, which will hopefully make a difference to the awareness and perception of smoking amongst teenagers. Ironically, text messaging is already doing its bit to make a difference to this cause, as teenagers are now facing the choice of what to spend their pocket money on cigarettes or text messaging, and choosing the latter."