Quantitative Assessment of Intent to Use IQOS Among Adults in Brazil

Below is the transcript of the video:

I’m David Rodrigues and I am the Head of Consumer Insights for Latin America and Canada at Philip Morris International. I am delighted to present to you the results of a quantitative study to assess the Intent to Use IQOS among adults in Brazil. 

Philip Morris has developed smoke-free products, which are products that have the potential to reduce the risks of tobacco-related diseases compared to continued smoking. To benefit the individual and the population as a whole, smoke-free products should not only reduce health risks compared to continued smoking, but they should also be acceptable substitutes for cigarettes for adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke. 

At the same time, and equally important, those products should not be attractive to nonsmokers, former smokers, or underaged. The current study focuses on IQOS, which is one of Philip Morris’ smoke-free products. 

The objective of this quantitative study was to assess responses to IQOS and its labels, labelling, and marketing material. The research was sponsored by Philip Morris International.

In terms of methodology, the study was conducted through face-to-face interviews in central locations. The study population was male and female Brazilian adults aged from 18 to 64 years old from all socioeconomic levels. The study population was composed by four participants’ groups, namely adult smokers, adult former smokers, 18-24 never smokers, 18-64 never smokers. A total of 1,920 participants completed the study. The study was split across five cities, located in different regions of Brazil. 

This is a quantitative study with a parallel, randomized four-arm design which corresponds to the stimuli shown to the participants. 

Arms 1 and 2 included the IQOS brochure presented with two different types of warnings: the Brazilian Official Health Warning and the PMI Important Warning, developed by PMI. 

Arms 3 and 4 included the IQOS mock-up packaging presented with the Brazilian Official Health Warning and the PMI Important Warning. 

The evaluations were carried out in a fixed order across the four participants’ groups. 

Manipulation checks were applied to verify participants attention to stimuli materials presented. 

Those four IQOS labels, labelling, and marketing material are illustrated here. 

The main study outcomes were to assess the intention of try and the intention to use IQOS following the exposure to the different instances of IQOS labels, labelling, and marketing material.  

The use of the intention to try and intention to use measured followed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA guidance in terms of best approaches to predict future tobacco product usage behavior. The intention to try and the intention to use were based on a six-point scale, going from “Definitely not” to “Definitely”. The positive intention to try and use were operationalized as the sum of “Very Likely” and “Definitely” responses. 

Now let me present you some of the main study results. 

This slide shows the intention to use IQOS across the four participants groups for the study arm number 1, which represents the brochure with Brazilian Health Warning. The results for the other three arms are similar. The study results show that the intention to Use IQOS reached 14.2% among adult smokers, reached 2.5% among adult former smokers, and reached no higher than 2.5% among adult never smokers. 

This slide shows the intention to use of IQOS and the intention to use cigarettes within adult former smokers for study arm number 1, like on the previous slide. Here again, the results for the other three arms are similar. The study results show that the intention to use IQOS within adult former smokers reached 2.5%. The intention to use IQOS within adult former smokers is similar to the intention to use cigarettes which reached 3.3%. 

When looking at intention to try among adult never smokers, the study results show that the intention to try IQOS within both groups of adult never smokers was low and similar to their intention to try cigarettes. Here again, the results for the other three arms are similar. Before concluding, I would like to briefly describe some of the strengths and limitations of this study. 

In terms of its strengths: the research used close to real-life communication material and mock-up packaging. The stratified randomization and demographic quotas made the sample proportional to Brazilian adult population distribution.  

Regarding study limitations, even if the study was conducted in five cities spread across the country, the sample might not be representative of the full adult population, and hence limit the generalizability of the study findings. The mode of study participants’ recruitment might have limited some individuals from other parts of the cities to take part in the study. 

To conclude, this study shows that the intention to use IQOS was substantial among adult smokers. At the same time, the study data show that the intent to use IQOS among adult former and both groups of never smokers was low and similar to intent to use cigarettes.  

Therefore, based on research results, IQOS is likely to attract its intended audience: adult smokers, while it is not likely to attract its unintended audience: adult never smokers and adult former smokers. 

I really hope you enjoyed the presentation. Thank you all very much for your attention today.