Andreasen, A.R. (2002). Marketing social marketing in the social change marketplace. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 21(1), 3-13.
Andreasen makes an argument for using social marketing principles to strengthen appreciation for and use of social marketing. Andreasen’s argument is based on the idea that there are four barriers to the acceptance of social marketing: lack of management appreciation, poor brand positioning, inadequate documentation and lack of academic stature. In response to these barriers, Andreasen describes how branding and competitive positioning can be used to advance the field.
Topic Areas: branding, competition, positioning, social marketing academic stature, social marketing history
Related Links:
Grier, S. & Bryant, C.A. (2005). Social marketing in public health. Annual Review of Public Health, 26, 319-339.
Grier and Bryant argue that many public health professionals do not fully understand social marketing, even those who claim to be practicing it. As a result, the authors try to solidify the concept of social marketing with a practical definition, a discussion “theoretical underpinnings” and examples of campaigns that meet their definition. The authors’ ground their definition of social marketing in the exchange theory, and audience segmentation, competition, marketing mix, consumer orientation and research, and continuous monitoring concepts. Grier and Bryant further define social marketing by comparing it to other behavior management tools and laying out specific steps for the social marketing process. The case studies presented in the article are the Road Crew, the Texas WIC Program and the Food Trust. Other campaigns mentioned include the VERB ™ and Truth™ campaigns.
Topic Areas: audience segmentation, case studies, competition, consumer orientation, consumer research, continuous monitoring, exchange theory, marketing mix
Related Links:
Kotler, P. and Lee, N. (2004). Best of Breed. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Spring, 14-23. This article discusses the concept of corporate social marketing (CSM). Comparing CSM to other forms of corporate social responsibility, Kotler and Lee argue that CSM is the best option because it allows a company to benefit directly from the behavior change created by social marketing.* The authors provide three examples of CSM programs: Safeco’s FireFree, Home Depot’s Use It Wisely and Crest’s Healthy Smiles 2010. The article includes a chart with definitions and examples of CSM, cause promotion, cause-related marketing, corporate philanthropy, community volunteering and socially responsible business practices.
Topic Areas: cause promotion, cause-related marketing, community volunteering, corporate philanthropy, corporate social marketing, community volunteering, socially responsible business practices.
Related Links:
*The idea of a corporation as a beneficiary of a social marketing program conflicts with some definitions of social marketing.
Lefebvre, R.C. & Flora, J.A. (1988). Social marketing and public health intervention. Health Education Quarterly, 15; 299-315.Lefebvre and Flora present the argument that classic education approaches are not sufficient for stimulating change in social marketing programs. Pulling together consumer orientation, exchange theory, audience segmentation, formative research, channel analysis,marketing mix, process tracking, and marketing management concepts, the authors present a process for creating cost-effective social marketing programs. The article includes examples from the Pawtucket Heart Health Program and the Stanford City Project.
Topic Areas: audience segmentation, case studies, channel analysis, consumer orientation, consumer research, formative research, exchange theory, marketing mix, marketing management, process tracking, pubic health intervention
Related Links:
Walsh, D.C., Rudd, R.E., Moeykens, B.A. & Moloney, T.W. (1993).
Social marketing for public health.
Health Affairs,
12; 104-119. Abstract: Marketing techniques and tools, imported from the private sector, are increasingly being advocated for their potential value in crafting and disseminating effective social change strategies.This paper describes the field of social marketing as it is used to improve the health of the public. Adisciplined process ofstrategic planning can yield promising new insights into consumer behavior and
product design. But the “technology” cannot simply be transferred without some translation toreconcile differences between commercial marketing and public health.
Topic Areas: channel analysis; consumer analysis; market analysis; marketing mix; process evaluation; outcome evaluation; research and planning; segmentation; social advertising
Related Links: