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Text messages nag smokers

Fixnixer sends reminders to help people kick habit

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 15, 2007 at midnight

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It's just after lunch, when the urge to smoke is unbearable.

But instead of digging out a pack of cigarettes, you reach for your cell phone to read your latest text message: "Being healthy and feeling better isn't all about bran flakes and yoga. Sometimes what you aren't doing is more important than what you are doing. FixNixer.com."

Like a growing number of companies, FixNixer.com uses tailored messages to reach its target text-messaging young audience. The site also allows users to post journal entries, which they can share or keep private, and enlist friends via e-mail as a support network.

But the online service, created by Denver-based ad agency Cactus Marketing and Colorado's State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership, isn't selling a product.

The free site guides users through a 21-day stop-smoking program, customized through questions that determine when a smoker is most likely to need a cigarette and alternate activities to help overcome cravings.

Fixnixer then uses that information to send text messages or e-mails to the user, reminding them of their motivation and ways to withstand the triggers.

For example, a sample message for someone who says parties make them smoke might say: "If people around you are smoking and you get tempted to join in, go find people who aren't. Not everyone smokes. Remember how far you've come."

Or, for someone who has fallen off the program: "Long time, no see. The FixNixer, the forums, your QuitBlog - we all miss you. If you've slipped up, the FixNixer can help you with that, too. Come on back."

Smokers 18 to 24 years old are crucial for state health officials to reach. Not only does that age group tend to smoke the most, it's also less likely to use phone- based services - such as Colorado's QuitLine.

"There weren't many cessation tools for young people that met their needs adequately," said Joe Conrad, president of Cactus Marketing. "Anonymity is important for this age group, and it uses technology that they're used to dealing with."

While the FixNixer is geared toward twentysomethings and younger - asking questions about how school stress and parents affect their smoking habits - smokers well into their 30s have also used the site, said Katy Kupecz, director of youth and young adult initiatives for STEPP.

"We had a classic bell curve" of ages, she said.

FixNixer.com launched with little fanfare in March and has attracted more than 900 users throughout the state.

It's also garnered interest from the Centers for Disease Control and other state tobacco prevention programs, which are looking into adapting the site, Kupecz said.

Because FixNixer doesn't require a steady staff of phone counselors, it costs the state much less on a per-quitter basis, Conrad said.

Cactus handles all of STEPP's anti-smoking campaigns, including Quit Doing It and Own Your C. FixNixer has helped Cactus gain insights into smoker's triggers and motivations for quitting that it can use in all of its prevention efforts, Conrad said.