The Department of Health wrote to me on Monday to outline their comms budget for Smokefree England. The cash spent centrally by the Department of Health is £8.7 million. That is not the whole story though. They made a budget of £21.5 million available for local authorities to implement Smokefree England. Part of this budget was for comms too.
In my own business I got a pack from the Department of Health but also one from my local authority. I saw Richmond ads on the back of a bus. The Evening Standard reported that all of Westminster’s allocation was spent on advertising. I think it is fair to assume that at least half of this money has gone on comms.
My estimate in June that this campaign would involve £20 million in ad spending is pretty much on the money I reckon.
I had to ask four times for this information. It took 19 working days to get it from my second enquiry via e-mail. It was 38 days from my first enquiry posted on the Smokefree England website which was clearly ignored.
Phil Taylor 