HSE paid eight influencers €30,000 to take part in anti-vaping campaign

HSE said its research shows younger people are 'harder to connect with through traditional media channels and advertising campaigns'

Kasey Campion with students of Presentation De La Salle College, Carlow, launching the HSE youth vaping and nicotine prevention campaign last month. Ms Campion's video was the most popular in the campaign, having been viewed 1.7m times. Picture: Aishling Conway/Photocall

The HSE paid eight influencers nearly €30,000 to take part in its antivaping campaign aimed at young people.

Last month, the health service launched a campaign highlighting the risks of youth vaping and nicotine use.

It was the first time the HSE decided to work with content creators as part of the campaign in a bid to influence youths that “vaping is harmful and can impact your mental, physical and oral health”.

It confirmed that influencers involved in the campaign included Kasey Campion, Jim Flanno, Zara Deasy, Daragh McGurn, Shauna Davitt, Ryan Mar, Sean Fitzgerald, and Billykiss.

In response to queries from the Irish Examiner, the HSE confirmed that in September, it ran a “mini competition for the provision of the development and management of a social media campaign to prevent youth vaping and nicotine use”.

Thinkhouse, a youth marketing agency, was the successful tenderer and proposed a “mix of organic social, paid social and creator-led content to reach young people”.

The HSE confirmed that the aggregate fee paid to the influencers was €28,100, exclusive of VAT.

It was, however, unable to provide details of the payments that were made to each of the content creators as “Thinkhouse handled all of the communication with the content creators themselves, including correspondence on payment”.

The HSE noted that five videos have been posted as part of the anti-vaping campaign, with three more “due to go live in the coming weeks”.

They also provided a breakdown of how many times each video posted by the individual influencer had been posted.

Ms Campion, who also presents a radio show on Dublin’s FM104, had the most popular video, with her post watched 1.7m times.

This was followed by Darragh McGurn, an online fitness coach, who had amassed 1.6m views. Shauna Davitt’s video had been watched 1.5m, while Jim Flanno and Zara Deasy had 1.3m views each on their videos.

Thinkhouse's successful tender offered a 'mix of organic social, paid social, and creator-led content to reach young people'. Picture: iStock 

“This campaign, including the role of content creators, will be evaluated for effectiveness on completion,” the HSE told the Irish Examiner.

“The results will influence any future use of content creators in HSE campaigns.”

The HSE said that audience research it conducted before rolling out the campaign found that younger audience cans be “harder to connect with through traditional media channels and advertising campaigns” but often engage with influencers who post “vlogs”.

It also found that 54% of adults under the age of 30 “look to influencers as their first port of call for information about a new product or brand”.

“The use of content creators was a key pillar of this strategy as it is an effective way to not only reach a younger audience but reach them in a voice they are already listening to,” they added.

• Louise Burne, Political Correspondent

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