Brand equity with a social marketing campaign helps prevent youth smoking: A longitudinal study of the Stand campaign

Brand equity has long been recognized as an important feature of commercial advertising which sell products, but its role in social marketing campaigns has not been established. A number of recent social marketing campaigns have incorporated the idea of a brand for healthy behaviors. For instance, the Ohio “stand” brand calls on young people to take a stand against tobacco use based on aspirational messages and images of Ohio youth. This study assessed the role of brand strategy in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and helps to identify the dimensions of brand equity that influence behavior.

This longitudinal study assessed the effect of affinity to Ohio's stand countermarketing campaign in preventing smoking. The study assessed the subsequent smoking patterns in a random sample of 868 11--17 year olds in Ohio who had never smoked at baseline. Youth who identified with the stand brand were significantly less like to have experimented with cigarettes after 18 months, controlling for age, gender, and demographic background. The effects of brand identity were strongest on middle school rather than high school youth.

The study assessed the key dimensions of brand equity proposed developed by Aaker. The study found that particular directions of brand equity with the strongest effects were brand leadership (Odds ratio [OR] among 11-14 year olds: 0.66, p < 0.01); brand loyalty (OR: 0.77; p < .002), and brand personality (OR: 0.79; p < 0.05). The study describes the implications of the brand findings for social marketing efforts.