SITUATION
By October 25, 1998, the tobacco industry had spent nearly $30 million on ads to defeat Proposition 10, the Children and Families initiative, and the ads were working. It was nine days before the general election and for the first time, polls showed support for Proposition 10 falling below 50 percent.

In political campaign circles, it is a rule of thumb that initiatives that fall below 50 percent support late in the election have virtually no chance of passage, because nearly all undecided voters are expected to vote "no."

APPROACH
Proposition 10's author, Rob Reiner, tuned to GMMB to quickly produce a TV ad that could inform and educate voters about this initiative that would the raise tobacco tax by 50 cents per pack and fund programs for early childhood.

Based on existing research, GMMB determined the two key messages were: Proposition 10 would reduce smoking among vulnerable populations, especially teens, and it was opposed by tobacco companies because it would reduce smoking and threaten their profits. Research also showed that our targeted audiences were women, voters in the Los Angeles media market, and middle-aged to older voters. These groups strongly supported additional children's programs, and had negative attitudes towards the tobacco industry.

In two days, GMMB produced an ad to inform the voters that all the ads against Proposition 10 were financed by the tobacco industry in order to protect their profits at the expense of our kids.

RESULTS

• The ad ran for less than six days. During that time period, despite having fallen to 48 percent support, on Election Day, Proposition 10 was successful.
  
  
• Reiner has publicly credited GMMB's ad for the victory.