Toss Ads handled targeting, placement and post-campaign survey for anti-smoking drive

First application of awareness measurement to a public-interest ad campaign

Exposed group showed 10.5-percentage-point higher understanding of e-cigarette risks

Campaign awareness also 8.5 percentage points higher among exposed users

Toss Ads, the advertising service of fintech firm Toss, said Wednesday it participated in the "Quit E-Cigarettes, Quit Now" anti-smoking campaign run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute. [Toss]
Toss Ads, the advertising service of fintech firm Toss, said Wednesday it participated in the "Quit E-Cigarettes, Quit Now" anti-smoking campaign run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute. [Toss]

Among users exposed to Toss Ads' anti-smoking public-interest campaign, 10.5 percentage points more said the ads helped them understand the risks of e-cigarettes compared with users who were not exposed. Awareness of the anti-smoking campaign itself was also 8.5 percentage points higher among the exposed group.

Viva Republica, the operator of fintech platform Toss, announced Thursday that its advertising service Toss Ads had participated in the "Quit E-Cigarettes, Quit Now" campaign run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute, yielding those results. It marked the first time Toss Ads had measured changes in user awareness aligned with a public-interest campaign's specific objectives.

"Quit E-Cigarettes, Quit Now" is an anti-smoking campaign launched this year targeting e-cigarette users. The campaign produced separate advertisements for teenagers, youth and middle-aged adults, focusing on raising awareness of the addictiveness and health risks of e-cigarettes.

For the campaign, Toss Ads handled user targeting, ad placement and a post-campaign awareness survey. It first segmented users most relevant to the campaign's message before serving them the ads, then compared the awareness levels of users who had seen the ads against those who had not.

Particularly notable was the choice of survey metrics: rather than the purchase consideration or purchase intent measures typically used in commercial brand advertising, Toss Ads tracked "understanding of e-cigarette risks" and "awareness of the anti-smoking campaign." The aim was to gauge how effectively the public-interest message had resonated with users, going beyond simple ad impressions or click counts.

The survey found that 67.2 percent of the exposed group said the ads helped them understand the risks of e-cigarettes — 10.5 percentage points higher than the unexposed group. Awareness of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's e-cigarette cessation campaign stood at 49.1 percent among the exposed group, compared with 40.6 percent among the unexposed group, a gap of 8.5 percentage points. However, the survey did not separately account for whether respondents had also seen the ads through media other than Toss.

"Because every public-interest campaign has a different message and goal, it is important to tailor both the ad placement and the analysis to each campaign's specific purpose," a Toss official said. "We plan to continue using data and technology to provide advertising solutions suited to a wide range of government and public institution campaigns."


snsd@heraldcorp.com