The Real Cost General Market: Wave 4 Creative Concept Testing Designed to Prevent Youth ENDS Use

The Real Cost General Market: Wave 4 Creative Concept Testing Designed to Prevent Youth ENDS Use

Discussion Guide

This research entails assessing youth perceptions of new creative advertising concepts.

I. Creative Concepts Discussion Guide

Introduction (5 Mins)

[Moderator to introduce and review ground rules with the group]

Thank you for coming here today. Your participation is very important. My name is __________ and I’m from The Sound, a research organization. The purpose of this discussion is to get your thoughts about a series of ads. Your thoughts are very important to us and your time today is appreciated. We will have about 90 minutes for our discussion.

As we begin, I want to review a few ground rules for our discussion.

• You can freely choose whether or not to participate in the group and you can leave any time.

• Everything we talk about here is private to the fullest extent allowed by law. That means your individual responses will not be reported and your name will not be associated with anything you say in our reports unless required by law. We will not share any information you provide on tobacco – including your beliefs, attitudes, or past experiences – with your parents or anyone else.

• You have probably noticed the microphones and/or tape recorder in the room. They are here because we are audio-taping our discussion because I want to give you my full attention and not have to take a lot of notes. The audio files will be transcribed, which means what we record will be written into a document, word-by-word. At the end of our discussion, I have to write a report and will refer to the audio-tapes and transcripts when writing the report. Other people working on this project may hear the tapes at a later date.

• Behind me is a one-way mirror. Some of the people working on this project are observing this discussion so that they can hear your opinions directly from you and take notes so that your opinions are accurately captured. However, your identity and anything you personally say here will remain private. Your name, address, and phone number will not be given to anyone and no one will contact you regarding this study after this discussion is over.

• Please turn your cell phone off or to silent mode. The discussion will last no more than 90 minutes.

• If you need to go the restroom during the discussion, please feel free to do so.

• Most importantly, there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. We want to know your opinions and what you think about the issues we will be discussing. Just a reminder, we are not selling anything and I do not work for the people who are sponsoring this research, so don’t hold back from giving me your honest opinions. Any information shared by you should not be discussed outside of this room.

• Do you have any questions before we begin?

• Why don’t we start with you telling me a little bit about yourself: Tell us your first name and age, and tell us what your favorite shows and online channels are and why…[Explore responses until group is warmed up]

TV Ads (5 Mins)

I’d like to start by talking a little bit about advertising.

• Have you ever seen an ad telling you about the dangers of smoking? If so tell me about it…­­

Vaping: Experience and Associations (10 Mins)

I’d now like to talk a little bit about vaping…

• [Moderator will present de-identified, generic images of several types of vapes/e-cigarettes (disposable, branded, cartomizers, atomizers, eGo ecigs (vape pens), mechanical mods (RBA)]

• I want to switch gears a little now. I’m going to show you some images of products [HOLD UP BOARD].

Can you tell me what these products are?

What are they called? 

What do you and your friends call them?

• What have you seen or heard about these products? What kinds of these products do you know about? Are there brands that seem more popular among people your age? [Probe for terminology used, vape pens versus tank systems; probe on customization of tanks – are they aware of such things?]

• What kinds of words do you use to talk about using these products? [Probe on “vaping” whether they bring it up or not; gain an understanding of terms used and commonness/pervasiveness of terms.]

Thank you, a lot of our conversation today is going to be about vapes, like JUUL, blu, and NJOY. Sometimes these products are also called vapes, vape pens, hookah pens, personal vaporizers and mods, e-cigars, pipes, or e-hookahs. Just so we’re on the same page, I will be calling the products vapes from now on. I will also use the term “vaping” to describe using these products, please know that when I use the word “vaping” I am referring to using vapes or vaping only, not smoking traditional cigarettes or any other substance.

• How popular is vaping around here?

• How popular is vaping around here among people your age?

• Why do you think people your age vape?

• Do you know where people your age usually vape? Do they vape alone? With friends?

• Where do people your age get their vapes?

Reactions to Creative Concepts and Ads (55 Mins)

[Moderator will obtain participants reactions to 3-5 campaign concepts per 90-minute group. Concepts and order shown will be randomized from group to group. Each concept will consist of approximately three ads (video, print or digital)]

Now, I’ve got a few ideas for new commercials that I’d like to show you. These are rough ideas – with illustrations to show key images of the ad with the audio voiceover for each scene. Eventually these would be filmed with real people, but at this point they are in illustration form only. These videos are simply to communicate the idea behind each ad and they are still in development; try not to get too caught up in the small details.

What we’re looking for here is how you feel about the idea within these ads. We can change the scenery or the people so let’s not worry about that – we want to know if this idea is interesting to you and why or why not.

Once we’ve seen it, I want you to write down what you think the main idea is, and what are the words that come to mind when you see this ad.

It is important to remember that these ads are just illustrations right now, so I’m really looking for your thoughts on the idea.

[Moderator to hand out concept rating worksheet and concept ranking worksheet. Moderator will then show the group the print, digital, or TV concepts in the form of video or printed storyboards. Moderator to repeat the following questions after each ad viewed under this concept.]

I’m going to show you the first ad and I want you to take a few minutes to complete the Concept Rating Worksheet [Moderator holds up rating worksheet] before we discuss this ad. We’ll do the same again with some other ads. Later, we will take a few minutes to compare the groups of ads together.

• For #1, jot down what you think the main message is – that is, what is the most important thing they are trying to tell you?

• For #2, grade the ad. Just like in school, “A” means great job, you really like the ad and “F” means it failed, you didn’t like the ad at all.

• For #3, answer a few questions to tell us about your reactions to the ad. Just check the box that answers how much you agree or disagree with each statement.

• For #4 tell us what you think made the ad compelling.

• And, for #5, tell us what you would change about the ad to make it better.

Initial Reactions:

• What are your initial thoughts about this ad?

• What did you like about this ad?

• What did you dislike about the ad?

Main Message:

• What do you think is the main idea of this ad? Why do you say that?

• What, if anything, was unclear or confusing?

Believability/Compelling:

• Do you believe what this ad is trying to say? Why/why not?

• What, if anything would you change or add to make it more believable?

• Do you find this ad interesting? Why?

• How does this ad make you feel?

• Did you learn anything from this ad? If yes, what did you learn?

• Do you feel this ad is directed to you? To people your age? Why or why not?

• Would you talk about this ad with friends?

• Would you share this ad with friends? How would you share it? (e.g., forwarding link, tweet, Facebook share.)

Concept Specific Probes:

• What do you think of the main line in this ad, [insert relevant ad tag line]?

• Have you heard about or seen what this ad said about vaping before? Where did you hear or see this before?

• Do you think this could happen to you? Why/why not?

• What do you feel this ad is telling you about vaping? Please explain.

• What do you think about the setting or situation in this concept?

Creative Concept Comparison

Now think about all the ads I shared with you. I’d like to get your thoughts about all the ads shown today [Moderator holds up ranking worksheet and walks through the different sections. Allows time for participant to fill out. If possible, probe on participants responses].

Thinking about everything you’ve seen today and the discussions we’ve had…

• Which ad is going to stick with you tomorrow?

• Do you feel any differently about vaping?

Messaging Probes (10 Mins)

Now that we’ve seen all the ads, I have a few questions to get your impressions on ideas we could use in future ads.

• What if we told you that vapes could contain any of these things?

  • Diacetyl; when inhaled this can lead to irreversible obstructive lung disease, which would make it permanently hard to breathe

  • Formaldehyde and acrolein - some of the same toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke

  • Microscopic metal particles like nickel, tin and lead that can be inhaled deep into the lungs

  • How do you think hearing about some of the substances in vapes would affect people’s decisions to vape or not vape?

• What if I told you that we “simply don’t know” the effects of vaping yet and that there is not enough medical science to know how vaping might affect a teen in the future.

  • How does this make you feel?

  • How do you think this information would affect people’s decisions to vape or not to vape?

• Please rank the following in terms of most likely to make you not want to vape, to not having any impact on your decision to vape.

  • The fact that there is diacetyl in vape aerosol, which can cause obstructive lung disease

  • The presence of some of the same toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke

  • The fact that scientists simply don’t know the long-term effects of vaping yet

[Ask back room observers for questions, thank and close]

Conclusion (5 Mins)

Thank you very much for participating in this focus group. I have enjoyed getting to know you, and appreciate your time. Your feedback has been extremely helpful. If you have any questions or want any additional information please don’t hesitate to come see me or one of the study staff before you leave. And, feel free to pick up [insert type of materials] on the back table if you are interested in more information on tobacco prevention.

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