The Smoking Time Machine has been launched by Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in its campaign around No Smoking Day on Wednesday 13th March. It has reached over 60,000 downloads. Forensic Artist, Auriole Prince says:

“We are really excited to be working with Cumbria partnership, this is the first time Smoking Time Machine has been used in a public health campaign and we think the app works brilliantly as a shock tactic to show people what will happen to their appearance if they carry on smoking.”

Smoking Time Machine, available to download for free on iTunes and Android aims to appeal to people’s vanity by showing how one will age with the effects of smoking – deeper wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, sagging jowls and a grey pallor to the skin. Users can also see themselves aged 10 and 20 years without the effects of smoking therefore giving them a positive outlook.

Mary Kiddy, Head of Children’s Services at Cumbria Partnership says “We are targeting the campaign at young people because research has shown that 40% of regular smokers take up the habit before they are 16 and therefore its imperative we get the message across to youngsters about how dangerous smoking is before they experiment….Cumbria Partnership will also be hosting a webchat from Kendal College on No Smoking Day (13th March) and will be releasing a brand new ‘smoking time machine’ app to help young people see what they will look like in years to come with the effects of smoking. This is to highlight the fact that smoking can age the skin by up to ten years.”

Smoking Time Machine is available to download here.

The effects of alcohol are not pretty – as shown by the Drinking Mirror, a very successful app promoting a healthier lifestyle

Back at the beginning of January, as Britain struggled to overcome its collective festive hangover, the Scottish government released an iPhone app, which exploded in popularity. The app was conceived as part of a campaign aimed at women whose slogan, Drop a Glass Size, was designed to encourage a radical change in drinking habits north of the border.

Developed by Auriole Prince, a forensics artist working with Rancon, a Cheltenham-based software company, the Drinking Mirror invites you to upload a photo of yourself, fill in how many units you drink a week and, at the swipe of a finger, see what you are going to look like in 10 years.

It isn’t pretty. In fact, the results – bloated and blotchy – are, in general, both hilarious and depressingly terrible. “Ageing is always an approximation, especially with an app,” says Prince, who has exploited her skills in the past on missing persons campaigns.

“It has to be an automatic process so you are taking an approximation and making it work for everybody. It’s not particularly scientific but it is a fun way of getting the message across. The effects of drinking include weight gain – it’s calorific. And it dehydrates the skin, therefore you lose the elasticity in your skin – it wrinkles more.

“It’s brilliant. Because it is instantaneous, anyone can use it, and it is doing it to your own face, not someone else’s. It gets the message home a lot harder when you see it on yourself. Younger people might not pick up leaflets, but they will use an app and play with it.”

Even after just a few weeks, it seems the strategy has been a success. With only a relatively modest press launch, the Drinking Mirror has been downloaded more than 330,000 times, topped the app charts and been featured in national and international media – from The Sun to the Wall Street Journal and NBC’s Today Show.

Jill Walker, head of health marketing for the Scottish government, says the app allows people to understand the significance of a unit of alcohol. “It also shows how small, easy changes to drinking habits can have a significant impact on overall health and well-being,” she adds.

While this is great news for the Scottish government’s campaign, it’s also a clear indication that an app boom might just be round the corner, selling government messages straight into our hands. Ivana Farthing, head of mobile and consumer technology at Diffusion PR, points to US data that shows the average consumer watches 168 minutes of TV per day but spends 127 minutes in mobile apps – up 35 per cent year on year.

“So if the popularity in mobile apps continues, it’s only a matter of time before apps overtake TV as the key channel for media consumption,” she says. “Although TVs are evolving with smart TV apps, so it may never happen.”

Jan Heuff, managing director of Rancon, sees app potential everywhere. Most recently he has been working with finance companies, bringing ‘gamer’ technology to apps that explain the importance of pension funds and investments.

“It’s a very personal form of communication,” he argues. “Your phone is a private, personal object. If you can put something on there that talks to people in a meaningful way, it is a powerful piece of communication.”

For Stephen Lepitak, news editor of marketing magazine The Drum, it’s no surprise that governments are increasingly turning to this relatively new technology.

“The reach of an app is never likely to exceed that of a TV campaign, although it is likely to be a tenth of the price in terms of development. Native apps are also able to offer what a TV campaign cannot – an element of interactivity and a platform that can directly engage and connect the user with those sending out the messages using social channels. They can also provide highly relevant and exact data which, again, TV campaigns cannot.”

The trend is set to continue. According to mobile analytics firm Flurry, Christmas Day 2012 saw, globally, eight million new computer tablets switched on for the first time. While iPads still dominate, the growth in Android tablets and the launch of Microsoft’s Surface show the platform is becoming – as Jan Heuff puts it – not just desirable but essential.

But while Apple’s app store alone has more than 800,000 titles, the problem for developers and campaigners will, increasingly, be getting their app noticed in a crowded marketplace. A free Welsh government app, Choose Well, designed to provide health information in English and Welsh, recently came under fire from politicians because, at a cost of £26,000 it had only been downloaded by 1,183 people – a cost of about £22 a person.

“As an agency our mantra is ‘engage, entertain and reward’,” Heuff reflects. “If you can do those three things you’ve got yourself at least a hope of having a hit.”

The Drinking Mirror has been featured in the Mail online, the Telegraph, CNN and NBC News and has reached almost 500,000 downloads in 3 months.

See how Chloe Simms will look if she continues a diet high in junk food, Nicola McLean with her binge drinking and Jasmine Lennard with her smoking in years to come.

Dry January website

We had an informative session with a group of Year 10′s, All Saint’s Academy in Cheltenham, Glos and their fantastic teacher Miss Ball. We discussed how people age and what excessive drinking can do to the skin….they were quite horrified to hear that a large glass of wine could be equal in calories to a Big Mac or slice of cake! On seeing herself aged 10 years with the effects of alcohol, Libby said it was a ‘wake up call’ and I think the DTM software got them all talking about alcohol. 88%  of the pupils agreed that Drinking Time Machine would make them think about how much alcohol they drink in the future.  The session was recorded by the Gloucestershire Echo and BBC Radio Glos. Thanks to All Saints for inviting us.