Generating Quitline calls during Australia’s National Tobacco Campaign: effects of television advertisement execution and programme placement

T Carroll¹ and B Rock²

¹ The Australian Department of Health and Ageing, Sydney
² Mitchell Media, Sydney

Correspondence to:
For correspondence:
T Carroll, Australian Department of Health and Ageing, GPO Box 9848, Sydney 2001, NSW, Australia;
tom.carroll{at}health.gov.au

Objective: The study sought to measure the relative efficiency of different television advertisements and types of television programmes in which advertisements were placed, in generating calls to Australia’s national Quitline.

Design: The study entailed an analysis of the number of calls generated to the Quitline relative to the weight of advertising exposure (in target audience rating points (TARPs) for particular television advertisements and for placement of these advertisements in particular types of television programmes. A total of 238 television advertisement placements and 1769 calls to the Quitline were analysed in Sydney and Melbourne.

Results: The more graphic "eye" advertisement conveying new information about the association between smoking and macular degeneration leading to blindness was more efficient in generating quitline calls than the "tar" advertisement, which reinforced the message of tar in a smoker’s lungs. Combining the health effects advertisements with a quitline modelling advertisement tended to increase the efficiency of generating Quitline calls. Placing advertisements in lower involvement programmes appears to provide greater efficiency in generating Quitline calls than in higher involvement programmes.

Conclusions: Tobacco control campaign planners can increase the number of calls to telephone quitlines by assessing the efficiency of particular advertisements to generate such calls. Pairing of health effect and quitline modelling advertisements can increase efficiency in generating calls. Placement of advertisements in lower involvement programme types may increase efficiency in generating Quitline calls.

Keywords: advertising; mass media; smoking cessation; telephon quitlines

Abbreviations: TARPs, Target Audience Rating Points; NTC, National Tobacco Campaign; WNTD, World No Tobacco Day

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