SITUATION Teen tobacco use was quietly surging in South Carolina, especially among users of smokeless products like dip and snus. Existing prevention efforts—flat PSAs, fear-based messaging, outdated visuals—were missing the mark with a generation fluent in irony, skepticism, and curated cool. The public health narrative was aging out, and teens weren’t buying it. Having worked on tobacco campaigns from both sides of the aisle, I knew one thing: long-term threats don’t move short-term minds. To shift behavior, we needed to meet teens where they live—not in the future, but in the right now. TASK Disrupt teen tobacco momentum with a culturally resonant campaign that wouldn’t get tuned out, memed, or ignored. Our mandate: relate, don’t preach. The campaign had to earn its place in hallways, locker rooms, and scrolls—and cut through in a state historically tied to the tobacco industry. ACTION We reframed the entire proposition. If teens won’t worry about their lungs at 65, what will they worry about? The school dance. The big play. That weekend hang. Tobacco doesn’t need to kill you to cost you something that matters—like confidence, connection, or social standing. That led to the concept for BackFire—a cinematic, rewind-driven campaign built around small but devastating misfires in the moments teens care about most. Key actions included: • Narrative Strategy: Centered the campaign on pivotal “almost” moments that backfire—not catastrophically, but memorably. Each scenario unraveled in reverse, revealing tobacco as the saboteur. • Creative Leadership: As GCD, I led creative, wrote scripts, and co-produced the work alongside an integrated team of filmmakers, designers, and behavior change strategists. Multi-Platform Rollout: • Shot Memento-style broadcast and digital films • Cutdowns and verticals for Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat • Designed school activations: locker posters, branded inserts, and bold tabling materials • Produced a live comedy tour with custom sets and BackFire messaging woven into the script • Built a campaign microsite with quitting tools and peer support resources • Deployed mall media and ambient placements to intercept teens where traditional PSAs wouldn’t RESULT BackFire didn’t just strike a chord—it drove measurable behavior change in one of the hardest-to-reach demos. Behavioral Impact • +19% increase in “Strong Quitting Interest” • -8% decrease in reported trial of tobacco products • +5% increase in teens rejecting dating someone who dipped or used snus Creative Testing Highlights “Last and Long”: • +10% unaided recall • 70% rated it as memorable, informative, and convincing • 30% overall recall rate “Dip’s Last Dance”: • 41% called it emotionally powerful and relatable • 41% overall recall rate REFLECTION BackFire didn’t rely on threats—it tapped into truth. It showed how something as small as a cigarette can destroy your defining moment. By making tobacco uncool—not because adults said so, but because the moment said so—we connected authentically with teen culture and catalyzed real behavior shifts. It’s proof that the most powerful prevention doesn’t scream. It rewinds.