Generating campaign awareness with digital media: exploring factors associated with awareness of and receptivity to FDA's Fresh Empire tobacco prevention campaign.

Introduction: We explore factors that were associated with awareness of and receptivity to FDA's Fresh Empire tobacco public education campaign.

Methods: Evaluation data were 10,674 survey responses from 5,129 unique respondents who identified with the Hip Hop peer crowd between 2016 and 2019. The sample was predominantly non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic youth. We assessed the outcomes of brand awareness, ad awareness, and perceived ad effectiveness. We used panel regression models to test which demographic and other characteristics-including potential campaign exposure, as measured by impressions assigned to respondents based on their media market of residence and survey completion date-were associated with these outcomes.

Results: Black, non-Hispanic youth; Hispanic youth; and youth with additional non-Hispanic or multiracial identities were more likely to be aware of the Fresh Empire brand and reported higher ad awareness and perceived effectiveness scores than white, non-Hispanic respondents. Among the full sample, respondents with higher Hip Hop scores-indicating greater identification with the Hip Hop peer crowd-reported higher ad awareness. Compared with non-susceptible never smokers, youth susceptible to smoking reported lower ad awareness and perceived effectiveness scores. Higher potential exposure to campaign broadcast and digital media were both associated with higher ad awareness.

Conclusions: Fresh Empire reached and appealed to a racially and ethnically diverse group of Hip Hop youth. Our findings highlight the ability of digital media to generate campaign awareness among specific youth audiences.

Implications: Understanding factors that contribute to awareness of and positive reactions to the Fresh Empire campaign can inform the development and implementation of future campaigns focused on Hip Hop youth, youth of color, and other underrepresented audiences. Fresh Empire's success reaching its audience using primarily digital media demonstrates the potential of digital media campaigns to be effective at reaching specific audiences with tobacco prevention messages.