May 2, 2024—Vital Strategies’ Tobacco Enforcement Reporting Movement (TERM) won gold at this year’s NYX Awards in the category for content marketing with the publication, “The Next Frontier in Tobacco Marketing: The Metaverse, NFTs, Advergames and More.” The report leverages the power of AI and Vital Strategies’ team of tobacco control experts to identify evidence of tobacco marketing on social media platforms and news sites.
“Tobacco kills more than half of its users, yet the tobacco industry continues to expand its efforts to addict a new generation of users,” said Nandita Murukutla, Vice President, Behavioral Insights and Evaluation at Vital Strategies. “The NYX Award provides important recognition of our work, in partnership with dozens of governments, to support the countries in their efforts to thwart the deceptive marketing tactics used by the tobacco industry. With over two billion lives at stake from the harms of tobacco, we must leverage the insights of this report to protect the next generation from the tobacco industry.”
In its efforts to recognize creative and marketing excellence, the NYX Award acknowledges outstanding achievements in these industries, where visionaries, professionals, agencies, companies, and organizations from all corners of the globe unite to showcase their exceptional work and redefine the standards of creativity.
“We appreciate the NYX Awards for recognizing the dedicated work from the collaborative team of researchers, editors, designers, and partners to publish this report,” said Melina Magsumbol, Senior Research Manager, Policy Advocacy and Communication at Vital Strategies. “TERM is a first-of-its-kind initiative working at the forefront of using data to counter tobacco industry efforts, and we look forward to expanding our efforts to protect youth from these harmful products.”
“The Next Frontier in Tobacco Marketing: The Metaverse, NFTs, Advergames and More” adds evidence to the tactics tobacco companies use to fight the declining global smoking rates and stricter advertising regulations by investing in novel digital marketing ranging from metaverse experiences to podcasts, NFT art, advergaming, and beyond. These unregulated spaces are dominated by younger audiences, with nearly 51% of metaverse participants being age 13 or younger. TERM offers recommendations for governments on how to take action now to prevent tobacco marketing from growing unchecked in these decentralized platforms.
Visit NYX Awards for a complete list of winners.
Read the full TERM report here.
About NYX Awards
The NYX Awards is a prestigious international competition that recognizes and celebrates excellence in the creative and marketing industries. Its categories encompass Advertising & Design, Strategic Communications and Marketing Campaigns, as well as Digital Media, including web, video, and social media. NYX Awards warmly welcomes entries from agencies of all sizes, with a mission to recognize and honor the brilliance that lies at the heart of the creative and marketing industries.
About TERM
Vital Strategies’ Tobacco Enforcement and Reporting Movement (TERM) is an AI- powered, human expert-driven monitoring system built in response to the industry seizing on the power of digital platforms. TERM tracks and analyzes tobacco marketing using news and social media listening, and packages findings into easy-to-read reports that are available for governments, tobacco control advocates, researchers, journalists and other stakeholders. Find out more at termcommunity.org. Follow us on Twitter @TERMCommunity and Instagram termcommunity.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies believes every person should be protected by an equitable and effective public health system. We partner with governments, communities and organizations around the world to reimagine public health so that health is supported in all the places we live, work and play. The result is millions of people living longer, healthier lives.
To find out more, please visit vitalstrategies.org or follow us @VitalStrat.