USU Health Services Hosts
The 35th Great American Smokeout
Table of Contents
I –
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November 17 & 18, 2010
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Supported by the American Cancer Society
Dear Nicorette,
Utah State University Student Health Services is hosting a chapter of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout. As a student wellness center, we value the health of our students and we want to provide them with every tool necessary in becoming tobacco free. We need the best quality of product to help our students quit, and we are extremely confident your company offers what we are looking for. Sponsors like you help us to give our students the materials they need to succeed. By donating your products and services, students can become tobacco free and will continue to use your product on their road to success. We anticipate attendance from 100 students, and we would appreciate lozenges, mini lozenges, and gum to accommodate all attendees. We have had great success in the past and expect this year to be no different, but we need your help. By promoting your company products your logo will not only be seen by the attendees, but by students and faculty through our advertisements for the event. By contributing to this event you can help improve the lives of young people.
Nicorette is a strong company that values helping people stop smoking. We love how you say, “to be successful, you need to overcome both your physical addiction to nicotine and your psychological addiction.” Because you understand this so well, you offer a reliable product that will help stop peoples physical cravings, and help them understand quitting and offer a quitting plan which adheres to their psychological needs. We feel proud to say that you would include our national organization, The American Cancer Society, as a resource people can trust to gain quit-smoking support. Other companies ,like yourself, donate roughly $4,000 annually to more than three different events, like the one we are holding. Donating to our project would be a portion of your annual amount of planned donations. Please keep in mind that this is a non-profit event, so all donations are tax deductible.
According to a report done by the Center for Disease Control, “Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. An estimated 46 million American adults currently smoke cigarettes and annually cigarette smoking causes approximately 443,000 deaths. For every person who dies from tobacco use, another 20 suffer with at least one serious tobacco-related illness. In 2004, this addiction cost the nation more than $96 billion per year in direct medical expenses as well as more than $97 billion annually in lost productivity1.” Among these smokers 70 percent want to quit and millions have tried but only a few were successful2. We believe these smokers would quit if they had the resources available to them. That is the main reason we established the The Great American Smokeout, we want to see an increase in the percentage of smokers that successful quit.
As mentioned before, Nicorette is known for giving people a doable option for quitting. We are confident that if you can offer each visitor a Nicorette product, either gum, lozenge, or mini lozenge, they will be able to see the difference of having another option rather than smoking. By doing this, it will most importantly motivate the smokers to quit and it will help you generate more sales because the quitters will most likely continue to buy your product until they are clean. You could also include hand outs talking about your “my quit plan” that you offer. This would increase people’s visit to your website, generating you more online hits, and eventually more sales. To go even further, we think it would be advantageous to both you and the smokers looking to quit if you could do a half an hour presentation about how your products work, the statistics of their effectiveness, and the other resources you have available such as “understanding quitting,” and “my quit plan.” With a powerful selling presentation, and the easiness of us gathering an active audience for you, it is a winning situation for both.
The Great American Smokeout is an annual event that is held at various locations in every state. Nationally, the Great American Smokeout has helped over 500 people quit each year. Locally, we had over 100 people attend the event, and ten have reported being smoke-free since our last smokeout. Our objective is to have more people attend the event each year and have more quitting success stories.With the right tools to success, we believe more people will attend the event, which in turn will cause more people to be smoke-free. We plan to hold the event on campus and offers students informational handouts; quit-kits that will include Nicorette products, tooth brush, tooth paste, suckers, gum, stress sticks, and more. We also plan to have a thirty minute presentation offered by one of Nicorette’s personnel. In order to succeed in our campaign for tobacco prevention, we will focus our message toward key audiences. It has been determined that the following populations are more susceptible to tobacco use: first year students, fraternity and sorority members, men’s athletic teams, art students, GLBT students, and women3. By tailoring our message to attract members of these groups, we can help them understand the benefits of quitting. Once their decision to quit has been made, they will be encouraged to use Nicorette’s products and services to help them succeed and meet their goal.
Utah State University is home to over 25,000 students from all 50 states and 82 international
countries4. Their events have the ability to capture attention from a variety of people. This year is the 35th Great American Smokeout, meaning this event has succeed for 35 years. The American Cancer Society, an organization that has been around for almost 100 years, believes that the USU Student Health Services will portray the ideals of their organization. That is why they have put James W. Davis, a honored USU faculty member, to head this project. They have teamed up with the same goal in mind, helping smokers quit. Research has shown that strong support networks increase the chance of quitting smoking. This fact will allow us to reach out to those willing to quit and be their strong support team. It is essential that they know they are not alone. With the assistance and support of USU Student Health Services, the American Cancer Society, and Nicorette, students will gain the strength and determination it takes to quit smoking.
At the 2010 Great American Smokeout, we anticipate no fewer than 100 people at the event, but would like to be prepared for at least 200. Therefore, we will have at least 200 pamphlets and 200 quit-kits. To effectively help the smokers quit, we feel that a sample of each Nicorette product is necessary in the quit-kit. On average your products cost 50 cents each and you offer them through sample kits. Each sample kits includes 10 pieces of gum, 5 lozenges, and 5 mini lozenges. This would cost $10 per kit, meaning $2,000 to donate 200 kits. To send a national Nicorette representative from Massachusetts to Utah airfare cost $500 round trip. The representative will have to rent a car or take a taxi to Logan and back to the airport. This will cost roughly $200. Hampton Suites in Logan is donating a room for two nights and that includes a continental breakfast. Your representative however would have to pay for lunch and dinner for their intended stay, and plan to spend roughly $20 per meal. On the day he/she presents, lunch will be on us. Your donation will total $2,800. This is less than the average company donates to each project per year and would have a large impact.
We know that by donating to the Great American Smokeout, the Utah State University Health and Wellness Center and The American Cancer Society will benefit greatly. Along with Nicorette, both parties will receive publicity for their organization, and be able to help smokers quit all around Cache Valley. Though this event does not reach millions of people, it will make a difference in the lives of many people. We appreciate your generosity, and are excited to work with you. Please send the 200 kits and the pamphlets in them mail by November 10 to 1200 North 850 East, Logan, UT 84322. As soon as you confirm this arrangement please notify us with the name and title of your representative, along with the details of their arrival. If you have questions, please contact Erika Rasmussen at erika.ras@aggiemail.usu.edu.
Best regards,
James W. Davis
End Matter:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/state_data/state_highlights/2010/pdfs/highlights2010.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/cessation/quitting/
www.usu.edu/health/
www.usu.edu
