Department of Health retains Dare for anti-smoking ad brief

Dare beat McCann London, Mother, DLKW Lowe, M&C Saatchi and Wieden & Kennedy London in a pitch handled directly by The Department of Health.

The agency has been contracted to the business for a year with the potential to extend for a further two years when the initial contract ends on 31 March 2013. The budget for the campaign will be £800,000.

Government adspend on encouraging the public to stop smoking has fallen considerably under the current administration. Anti-smoking ads were backed with a £26.7 million budget in 2008/09, which dropped to £14.6 million in 2009/10 and just £1.1 million in 2010/11.

Dare, who was the incumbent on the business, launched its most recent work on the campaign in March to explain the dangers of second-hand smoke in cars and in the home.

Dare inherited the account after it merged with MCBD, which had worked on the business since 2007.

Following the closure of COI in March, a new agency roster overseen by the Government Procurement Service will be created.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk