Summit County + Effct | Anti-vaping Digital Marketing Campaign

How Summit County Reduced Youth Vaping by 54%

In 2017, Colorado led the nation in youth vaping, and Summit County led Colorado. In Summit County, 40.6% of high school students had reported vaping in the past 30 days compared to 27.0% across the state. In order to reverse a dangerous trend, Effct.org partnered with the Summit County Tobacco Coalition in 2021 to drive behavior change amongst local youth.

As of 2024, the Summit County Tobacco Coalition, with support from Effct.org, has driven a 54% decrease in youth vaping since 2021 according data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey.

Over the past four years, we've:

Focused on engaging with local youth by utilizing platforms and messaging that appeal to them.
Developed multi-platform targeted advertising efforts to share stories and educate youth where they are.
Filmed interviews with over 40 teens to create engaging online content of real stories.
Formed partnerships with local organizations and local schools to be more involved with youth in person.

The campaign has generated over 15 million impressions, setting the stage for true behavior change across Summit County. The importance of reaching as many youth and adults as possible, and doubling down on our message, is the first and most important element of behavior change.

Keep reading to see how we continued to evolve the campaign over four years.

By the Numbers

17 Million

Total Impressions

487,000+

Reached on Social Pages

47,876+

Visitors to our Website

1.5 Million +

YouTube Views

Snapchat

3.2 Million+ Impressions

26,000+ Swipe-Ups

Instagram

3.7 Million+ Impressions

112,065+ Content Interactions

Google

6.9 Million+ Impressions

$0.74 Cost

Per Click

TikTok

536,000+ Impressions

270 Followers

Multi-Year Partnership Leading Great Results

In 2022, we broadened campaign reach to TikTok and local parents with the introduction of the Parent Toolkit: VapingSucks.org/parents. We continued to run advertisements online, with increased emphasis on Snapchat as we saw a high engagement of those aged 13-17 years old.

As a result of these efforts, we saw the following impact:

Earned organic impressions and gained 117 new followers on TikTok.
VapingSucks.org site viewing rose to 5 minutes and 5 seconds a 2,950% increase from 2021
Our youth-focused campaign generated 194,907 impressions targeted ads on the Summit Daily website and 80% increase from 2021

Parent Toolkit video

In 2024, we widened our digital reach with over 200 creative assets, formulated to engage with Summit residents. By using platforms that our audiences use the most we were able to target and create content that resonated with the youth organically. In addition, we ran digital content on TikTok through paid advertising for the first time increasing impressions and engagement.

By leveraging data from past years, we refined our tactics and expanded reach through a multi-channel strategy that blends awareness, education, and resource connection—ensuring that every campaign touchpoint was impactful and accessible.

Snapchat shined as a valuable platform with 92% of website traffic coming from ad swipe-ups.

TikTok ads boosted engagement by 297% compared to 2023.

Google and YouTube delivered 1.4 million display impressions, with the top ad featuring four local teens sharing why they quit vaping.

Best Performing Trivia on TikTok

In 2023, we upgraded vapingsucks.org from a landing page to an interactive multi-page website, increasing available information to all users.

We also increased our on the ground presence in Summit middle and high schools by placing engaging posters in school hallways and bathrooms. This helped us meet youth where they are. Campaign development continued to grow as platforms began to reach more residents, showing the following results:

TikTok engagements grew by 29% in 2023 compared to 2022.
Increased website visit time amongst Spanish visitors to 8 minutes and 49 seconds per session.
Facebook generated 550,685 impressions, while Instagram saw 736,459 impressions.
QR codes featured on school posters resulted in 46% of total website visits.
Google and YouTube impressions rose by 113%, along with content interactions with a 504% increase.

Print Media ( School Posters)

Over the course of 2021, we interviewed several youth in Summit County who had previous experiences with vaping and nicotine. From this, our team created the "Vaping Sucks" brand and subsequent campaign.

The campaign centers on three pillars: real stories, education, and resources – and uses engaging short form videos and static images.

In addition to the creative the campaign utilizes advertising capabilities on Snapchat, Meta, Google, and local news sources. This content directed youth to VapingSucks.org, for more information and resources for quitting vaping.

After the launch of Vaping Sucks, we saw the following results: