Beyond initiative funding: Designing a media promotion plan for a national portal to tobacco cessation quitline services that is sustainable locally

A persuasive body of evidence indicate that tobacco cessation quitline counseling services are highly effective behavioral intervention for helping large numbers of smokers quit their tobacco dependence. Quitline counseling services are effective only to the extent the public are aware of their availability. 1-800-QUIT-NOW is a toll-free portal to resources for smokers who want to quit, supported by the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Promotion and Prevention. A promotion strategy to raise public awareness of the availability of 1-800-QUIT-NOW integrated issues related to sustainability and audience reach throughout the development of the promotion plan. The promotions campaign, national in scope and regional in application, used a four tiered, vertically integrated, consumer based social marketing plan. The Promotions Campaign strategy included a single, clear message to contact 1-800-QUIT- NOW for tobacco cessation services and was distributed through a wide variety of media channels and collaborative partnership with federal, states, and commercial entities to disseminate materials and messages to target audiences. This framework allows persons from the general audience and target audiences to receive the campaign message across a number of communication platforms, thereby increasing audience awareness and exposure to the campaign message. The promotions plan also was designed to develop and leverage national promotions activities and materials that can be adopted and sustained locally.