Getting Teen Attention: Iowa's What Town Is Next? Tobacco-Prevention Campaign

Background:  The initial impact of the Iowa Department of Public Health's youth tobacco prevention program, Just Eliminate Lies (JEL) was evident as tobacco use among high school students dropped from 39 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in 2004. Awareness of the program was at an all time high in 2004, with 85 percent of Iowa high school students having heard of JEL. However, budget cuts eliminated several communication initiatives, and awareness of JEL has declined to 61 percent in 2008.

Program background:  Formative research with teen focus groups yielded two big insights; the brand and recent advertising lacked the “edgy” nature that resonated with young people and teens did not connect with JEL because it did not feel “Iowan”. JEL launched an integrated marketing campaign in August, 2008, illustrating the stark realities of  tobacco use, relating the 1,200 daily deaths from tobacco use to the populations of numerous towns in Iowa. The campaign included television and radio spots, billboards and high school posters. New media initiatives included a campaign website and banner advertising on popular social networking sites. The campaign included guerilla marketing initiatives, kicking off with an event where a 1,200 person town in Iowa was virtually killed off. JEL teens placed signs that read “We’ll miss you Springville” all around that town. A press conference two days later  explained the activities and the campaign to several media outlets across the state.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  The Iowa Department of Public Health's youth tobacco survey is every two years, so the impact  on tobacco use and JEL awareness is still unknown. Web visits to the JEL organization website (JELiowa.org) remained consistent with 2007 numbers, but the organization's online presence received far greater attention with nearly 20,000 visits to the new campaign website (whattownisnext.com). The campaign garnered extensive media attention in Iowa. The initial guerilla marketing event was carried on television stations in all of the major television markets in the state and was picked up by the Associated Press, leading to coverage on MSNBC and CNN Headline News. The billboard campaign led to coverage by local media and even National Public Radio. The campaign was honored with several local and regional creative advertising awards, and won a National American Advertising Federation Gold ADDY Award for excellence in public service advertising campaigns.

Conclusions: The campaign combined an intimate understanding of how the teen audience relates to tobacco and the industry with dramatically powerful messaging to counter the tobacco industry.

Implications for research and/or practice: What Town is Next? is a case study for the power of a consistent message across all communication efforts. Understanding audience perceptions is the hallmark for a successful campaign and JEL embraced the research to turn around communication efforts. With all the attention that the campaign generated, unintended results occurred, most notably attention among state lawmakers that did not feel that a social marketing effort should be so intrusive, eventually leading to a reduction in funding for future JEL initiatives. Other state and local agencies can learn that effectiveness with the target audience can risk a high profile which can have unintended consequences with sensitive audience segments that control funding.