Moshe Engelberg On Everything Marketing

Your source for “ah-ha” moments and thinking different

Know your customers? Tell them the truth like the Nicorette "Quitting Sucks" Ad

This Nicorette ad is a great example of my all-time favorite marketing axiom: IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT FEATURE IT! Check it out.

I used to teach stop-smoking classes at Kaiser many years ago (I'm now a long-time recovered health educator). Anyone who has tried to quit knows quitting sucks. It is really tough. So rather than pretend otherwise, Nicorette acknowledges it directly with their "Suck-O-Meter." Because it is what it is. Everyone knows it. Truth makes marketing work.

T.V. Teacher

When I teach my Health Communication course to grad students, one of the most popular classes is about using entertainment as a vehicle for promoting health, a powerful and vastly underleveraged resource (can you tell I feel strongly about it?).

Invariably, students - most are 20 something - remember an episode of a show from their teen years, like Saved by the Bell about the downside of smoking pot, or eating disorders, or taking pills to help study. Check out this well-intended, often-played, and I think cheesey clip:

<br />via videosift.com

What TV show or movie really influences you about a health or social issue?

We’ll tally results and list them here.