Paid TV or digital media campaign ads tagged with state quitline number and availability of free NRT – 5/23/14

Q: Has your state tobacco control program conducted paid (as opposed to earned) television or digital tobacco education media campaigns that tagged ads with the state quitline number and with a message about the availability of free NRT available through the state quitline?

A:

1. Alabama: The Alabama Tobacco Control Program has conducted some paid media campaigns that included the words: "Free call. Free counseling. Free nicotine patches." when advertising the Quitline, but it was several years ago. For the most part, any paid television ads usually feature just our Quitline number with an offer of free help to quit. We have advertised the nicotine patches in social media and paid digital media campaigns, but not necessarily in paid television ads. We don't typically have much money for paid ad campaigns.
    
2. Hawaii: The marketing for the Hawaii Tobacco Quitline has always included both the free NRT message as well as the 1800QUITNOW number. Feel free to contact us if additional information is requested.
    
3. Missouri: Missouri has never tagged any ads to say that free NRT is available from the Quitline. We never have enough funding for NRT to say that. Be very careful with using that in an ad – especially any national ad. Even when we had sufficient funding for NRT (2008-10), our history with a news release made us wary of saying free NRT was available. Back in 2007 we had a one-time allocation for NRT. Our Governor issued a news release announcing that free NRT was available through the Missouri Quitline. Within one day, all of the funding was used up and people were still calling – so we had to very quickly shut down the offering. Even then, we had to get an addition to our one-time allocation to serve all those who called while the offer was still "open."
    
4. New Hampshire: New Hampshire has conducted paid TV and Digital media campaigns to promote cessation and the resource of the NH Tobacco Helpline as well as the availability of free Nicotine Replacement Therapy in the form of the patch. The campaigns: On the Road to Freedom and Dear Me New Hampshire were both successful at increasing calls to the NH Tobacco Helpline and in raising awareness of the Helpline. However, the state quitline number was changed to 1-800-QUIT-NOW a few years ago - this may affect the information your state is inquiring about.
    
5. Oklahoma: We have done several years of paid media for our Helpline promoting free NRT.
    
6. Rhode Island: With regard to paid media campaigns tagged with quit line info - what is the time frame? This year? Ever? We have definitely done this quite a bit in the past.
    
7. South Carolina: SC has conducted paid media campaigns with the Quitline number and offering free NRT to those that qualify. These campaigns have been very successful, and our state's most recent experience was highlighted on the April ASTHO/NACCHO webinar "Leveraging the CDC Tips Campaign to Support the Recommendations of the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General's Report (SGR50): Experiences from the State and Local Level".
    
8. Virginia: We have had paid media with the quitline number but not about NRT. We have very limited funding for that service.

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