142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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CDC's Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) Campaign: Rough Cut Testing of Television Advertisements to Gain Optimal Insight

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Michelle O'Hegarty, PhD , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Carol Haney, BA , Toluna, Wilton, CT
Robert Alexander, PhD, MPH, CHES , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Jacquie Dozier, BA, MLA , Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Karena Sapsis, MPH , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Diane Beistle, BA , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Rebecca Bunnell, ScD, MEd , Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
In 2012, CDC launched a national antismoking media campaign called Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) featuring people living with the effects of smoking-related diseases or exposure to secondhand smoke. The hard-hitting campaign sought to build awareness of the health consequences of smoking, encourage quitting, and motivate nonsmokers to talk with smokers about quitting. OSH conducted testing of the “rough cut” (near final) versions of the new ads that ran as part of the 2012 campaign.  

For the 2012 campaign, 8 near-final television advertisements with approximately 10,000 adult smokers and nonsmokers ages 18-54 were tested through an online panel. Questions about memorability, believability, motivation to quit (smokers) and to encourage others to quit (nonsmokers) were asked.

Tips ads scored well against these perceived effectiveness measures. Among smokers, 94% found the Anthem ad believable and 70% stated the ad would motivate them to quit. Among nonsmokers, 81% stated the Terrie ad would motivate them to encourage others to quit smoking. After reviewing the rough cut results, changes were made to the ads, such as adding more details and removing confusing images to improve ad effectiveness.

Testing ads with intended audiences helps ensure that they will achieve their intended objective. Campaign evaluation results indicated that over 70% of smokers and nonsmokers recalled seeing at least one ad on TV. An estimated 1.64 million additional smokers made a quit attempt. These results reconfirm that ads eliciting negative emotions through testimonials and depictions of graphic health consequences tend to be effective at motivating quitting.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Program planning
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe the purpose and process of rough cut testing as part of the campaign development. Describe how modifications can be made to ads to improve measures. Describe three key research findings from rough cut testing.

Keyword(s): Tobacco Control, CDC

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Carol Haney leads the formative research for the anti-smoking consumer education campaign sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The formative research includes message development through copy testing, and the campaign, initially released in April 2012, was declared “transcendent” and “among the year's most memorable advertising and perhaps among the best-ever work in its category” by AdWeek. In 2013, Carol was honored by Marketing Magazine as one of the top 25 market researchers.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
Toluna USA Market Research Employment (includes retainer)

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 2054.0: Can We Talk? Examples from Effective Campaigns