MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT USING AUDIENCE RESEARCH

University Of Vermont &St Agric College, Burlington VT

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The goals of Project 1 are: (a) to develop appealing and attractive mass media smoking prevention and cessation messages for youth in specific audience segments, (b) to assess the importance of audience segment definitions that include age or grade (age 9-11, grades 4,6,; ages 12-13; grades 7-8; and ages 14-17. grades 9-12), gender, racial/ethnic identify (white, African American, Hispanic) and levels of smoking risk (higher vs. lower risk for smoking) in targeting smoking prevalence reduction messages to young people through the mass media; (c) to identify executional strategies that have high appeal within and among audience segments; and (d) to develop recommendations for increasing appeal of messages targeted to specific audience segments. Participants in this project will be recruited from four metropolitan areas to be sampled with equal representation of African American, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white youths. A sample of 2640 students will rate 18 messages created in Year 1 of the project on overall message appeal and on the degree to which five executional strategies often used in youth message design are present in these messages: humor, realism, action, social modeling, and storytelling. Using hierarchical linear mixed models, the study will assess the impact of audience segmentation on message appeal among segments defined by age, gender, racial/ethnic identity, and risk of cigarette smoking. Strategies for designing messages appealing to each audience segments will be developed based on results of these assessments. The message development process, which will be ongoing for four years of the project will be reviewed by social marketing experts on a Youth Media Expert Panel, who will participate with project investigators in developing a Media Guide for Message Design and Delivery. Strategies developed in this process will be implemented in campaigns prepared in collaboration with investigator sin Projects 2 and 3.