National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation Promotes Program with Ads, PSAs and Web Resources

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the latest research estimating that nearly six million people worldwide will lose their lives to tobacco next year(1), an innovative approach is critical to helping the 43 million Americans who smoke to finally quit. This month, which is observed as Lung Cancer Awareness Month, the national quit smoking program, EX(R) will debut the second phase of advertising and promotions designed to help smokers "re-learn" life without cigarettes.

The campaign will begin airing this month on radio and cable television networks as well as online, in print and through ambient/out-of-home channels. EX is a national quit smoking campaign, sponsored by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation (NATC), a two-year old collaborative of state and national public health groups spearheaded by Legacy(SM), creators of the award-winning truth(R) youth smoking prevention campaign.

EX is more than an advertising campaign, it provides evidence-based tools to help smokers quit, including information that can help them prepare for a quit attempt by 1) "Re-learning" their thinking on the behavioral aspects of smoking and how different smoking triggers can be overcome with practice and preparation; 2) "Re-learning" their knowledge of addiction and how medications can increase their chances for quitting success; and 3) "Re-learning" their ideas of how support from friends and family members can play a critical role in quitting.

Because social support is so important, EX has used a state-of-the-art Web site (www.BecomeAnEX.org) as a convening point for smokers who want to quit and collaborate on their successes and challenges in the difficult quit process. Since March 2008, when the program first debuted, over a million people have visited the site and more than 14,000 smokers have joined the online community, forming nearly 300 customized support groups. EX tools were designed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and with input from former and current smokers who have lived with this struggle, in order to provide smokers with a realistic approach based on evidence-based research.

Most smokers in America - 70 percent - want to quit, but in 2000, only about five percent of smokers were successful in quitting long-term. Quitting smoking is ultimately one of the single most important lifestyle changes one can make to improve and extend their lives. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; smokers therefore need to be armed with all the available information to make the best, most informed choices about the smoking cessation medications and resources available to them.

The new EX ads have a heavy rotation with sports fans, who, according to one recent study, also have high smoking rates. Another new tack in this year's promotional strategy includes the creation of two spots that will be used only as unpaid public service announcements and will be placed as part of a partnership between Legacy and The Advertising Council.

"This year, there have been several historic changes in public policy related tobacco prevention and cessation, from the passage of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act increasing the Federal excise tax on tobacco to the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act securing authority for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. The movement to reduce the number of smokers in America is evolving," said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of Legacy. "What is yet to change are the financial resources available to help smokers quit, so we have had to become even more creative with our public education strategy and are confident that our PSA partnership with The Advertising Council will effectively supplement our past traditional paid media efforts in this campaign."

For the 2009 edition of the campaign, a major focus of the placements will be through partnerships with Major League Baseball on Fox, "Bassmasters" on ESPN2 and on radio through ABC and Sporting News Radio. The campaign will run from mid-Fall (November 1) through January, hopefully encouraging smokers to prepare to quit as their New Year's Resolution.

Descriptions of television spots:

Many smokers light up when they drive. At the beginning of "Spin," a man leaves his store for a smoke break. Cigarette in hand, he tries the doors of a few cars, before jumping into an idling delivery van and driving off. The voice over relates: "You don't drive every time you smoke; yet, you smoke every time you drive" and exhorts the viewer to "relearn life without cigarettes" at BecomeAnEx.org.

"Receptionist" is a look at the habit many people have of smoking while drinking alcohol. Cigarettes at the ready, a woman at her desk in an office setting crushes ice, chops strawberries and then blends the mixture while her coworkers all try to work. As she heads outside with her margarita, the voice over explains "You don't drink every time you smoke; yet, you smoke every time you drink" and offers that the viewer can "relearn life without cigarettes" at BecomeAnEx.org.

Creative for EX was produced by Austin, Texas-based GSD&M Idea City, the agency of record for Legacy's advertising on smoking cessation. New York City-based PHD conceptualized and implemented the media planning and buying strategy for the EX campaign.

In 2006-07, Legacy, the national public health foundation best known for its truth(R) youth-smoking prevention campaign pilot tested EX in four markets throughout the country: Buffalo, N.Y.; San Antonio, Texas; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Baltimore, Md. A new study released in the September 2009 issue of Social Marketing Quarterly found that EX was a trusted and empathetic brand and that smokers who were thinking more about quitting or were more motivated to quit were significantly more receptive to the EX brand than those who had not yet reached that point in their quit process. As a result of the successful pilot program, in 2007, Legacy brought together several national organizations and several states to form the NATC and launch EX nationally. The NATC is a group of states, non-profit organizations, foundations and corporations, all dedicated to helping people quit smoking.

Founding members of the NATC include:

• The American Cancer Society
• The American Heart Association
• National Cancer Institute
• C-Change
• Legacy
• The Mayo Clinic
• The Rapides Foundation
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• The Association of State and Health Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
• Arkansas Department of Health
• Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Tobacco Education and Prevention
• Connecticut Department of Public Health
• D.C. Tobacco Free Families, a partnership of D.C. Department of Health, American Lung Association of D.C., and the American Cancer Society
• Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
• Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program
• The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living
• Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health Tobacco Control Program
• Missouri Foundation for Health
• New York Department of Health
• North Carolina Division of Public Health
• North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Tobacco Prevention & Control
• Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, Center for Health Promotions
• Oregon Public Health Division, Department of Human Services, Tobacco Prevention and Education Program
• Rhode Island Department of Health
• Vermont Department of Health
• Washington State Department of Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control Program
• Wyoming Department of Health
  

All of these organizations agree that while smokers may know why they should quit, many just don't know how. Therefore, EX steers away from focusing solely on the reasons for quitting and instead empowers smokers to use FREE resources and methods that have been proven to increase smokers' chances of quitting successfully.

EX(R) is a collaborative public health campaign presented by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation, a partnership of the nation's leading public health organizations and states. The campaign helps smokers prepare to quit and guides them to useful resources that foster successful quit attempts including the EX plan, a free personalized quit plan available on the campaign's Web site www.BecomeAnEX.org. EX is the culmination of several years of research and testing, combining an understanding of the power of nicotine addiction with messages that resonate with and motivate smokers toward behavior change. The EX approach is peer to peer and focuses on "re-learning life without cigarettes" by encouraging smokers to think differently about the process of quitting. The campaign, which began airing nationwide in March 2008, includes television, radio, online AND out-of-home advertising. The EX Web site helps smokers create their own individual plan to quit and connects them to a virtual community of other smokers where they can share stories and strategies about quitting. Founding members of the NATC include numerous states and the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Institute, the American Legacy Foundation, C-Change, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and clinical partner, the Mayo Clinic.

(1) Tobacco Atlas, American Cancer Society and World Lung Association, August 2009.

SOURCE American Legacy Foundation