Piloting EX, a Social Marketing Campaign to Prompt Smoking Cessation

Abstract

This article focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a branded smoking cessation campaign piloted in four cities in the United States. The development of the EX brand and messaging strategies were based on existing public health literature and extensive formative research. Market segmentation was specifically employed to create messages that would resonate with a defined target audience, smokers who were thinking about quitting smoking. This approach led to the creation of a campaign with an empathetic and hopeful tone that was designed to change relevant beliefs about smoking and to increase smokers' self-efficacy in regard to quitting smoking. As part of a comprehensive evaluation, telephone surveys were conducted in three pilot cities to measure awareness of and receptivity to the EX brand. Awareness of EX varied across the three markets based on the media buy. Receptivity to the EX brand was high across the three samples comprised of three different racial=ethnic populations. High receptivity was also found among the target audience: smokers who were thinking about quitting smoking. Findings from this pilot campaign helped to inform the launch of a national smoking cessation campaign.

Analysis Of Media Campaign Promoting Smoking Cessation Suggests It Was Cost-Effective In Prompting Quit Attempts

“…25,26 Therefore, EX is considered a cost-effective intervention. A subgroup analysis in young adult smokers ages [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] showed that EX was also cost-effective in this population.…”

“…18 Confirmed awareness was assessed by asking respondents if they had "recently seen an ad on TV," followed by a brief description of the beginning of an EX advertisement. Respondents were then asked to describe additional details about that advertisement.…”

“…From 2006 to 2007 the American Legacy Foundation developed and pilot-tested a smoking cessation television and radio campaign called EX® that encouraged adult smokers to "relearn life without cigarettes." 17,18 The American Legacy Foundation is a nonprofit anti-tobacco organization created in 1999 by the landmark settlement agreement between the tobacco industry and US states.…”

Anti‐tobacco mass media and socially disadvantaged groups: A systematic and methodological review

“…Of the 17 studies included, 10 were conducted in the USA [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], five in Australia [35][36][37][38][39], and two in New Zealand [40,41]. The primary marker of disadvantage was ethnicity, reported in 10 papers [24,25,[27][28][29][32][33][34][35][39][40][41]. Ethnic groups included African Americans, Hispanic Americans,Vietnamese Americans, Australian Aboriginals and New Zealand Māori.…”

Applying Quantitative Approaches to the Formative Evaluation of Antismoking Campaign Messages

“…While the literature provides examples of both quantitative and qualitative methods for formative selection and pretesting of messages, qualitative methods such as focus groups and in-depth interviews seem to dominate antismoking evaluations (e.g., Bradley, Thorson, Bothner, & Allen, 2000; McCausland et al, 2009). Focus groups have utility because they allow for open discussion of ideas, increasing the possibility of discovering new information related to the outcome of interest that investigators might not have otherwise considered (Hull, Gasiorowicz, Hollander, & Short, 2013).…”