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Background: Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 440,000 Americans annually. More than 8M Americans are living with a smoking-related disease. Although the dangers of smoking are known, long-term decline has recently slowed. State and local mass media campaigns have motivated smokers to quit, but have often been conducted only occasionally or with low exposure levels.
Program background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a national tobacco education campaign “Tips From Former Smokers” (Tips) in 2012. The campaign featured real people from a variety of backgrounds affected by tobacco use who told their stories of how smoking and secondhand smoke had negatively impacted their lives. Building on the success of Tips 2012, CDC launched a new round of advertisements in April 2013. The new ads featured health conditions and population groups not addressed in 2012.
Evaluation Methods and Results: Ads for the Tips 2013 campaign were developed using lessons learned from Tips 2012 message platform testing and audience insight focus groups. Ad effectiveness testing was conducted on the near-finished (“rough cut”) TV, radio, and print ads via online surveys among adults aged 18-54 throughout the U.S. to ensure that the draft ads were communicating as intended (in terms of message communication, credibility, persuasiveness, etc.). Partnership efforts were measured by tracking partner activities (i.e., posted buttons, op eds, letters to the editor, press releases, etc.). Media buy was measured by assessing the reach and frequency of the ads.
Conclusions: Online ad effectiveness testing produces valuable data that helped develop and fine tune the Tips 2013 ads. In addition, data compiled about the media landscape informed the media placement plan. Tips 2013 benefitted from greater outreach to a diverse group of partner organizations, including engaging healthcare providers, because of thoughtful outreach plans.
Implications for research and/or practice: Results from Tips 2012 added to the body of evidence that mass media campaigns have been proven effective in raising awareness about the dangers of tobacco and spurring behavior change.