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Social Marketing

Site: Saylor Academy
Course: BUS203: Principles of Marketing
Book: Social Marketing
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Description

Read this article, which discusses achieving marketing success by emotionally connecting customers to products, piquing the interest of target media, and creating a media hook through innovation rather than imitation.

Table of contents

Introduction

This OpenLearn unit examines the nature of social marketing and how the adoption of marketing concepts, frameworks and techniques developed for commercial marketers can be applied to the solution of social problems. Primarily, social marketing aims to effect behavioural change in the pursuit of social goals and objectives, as opposed to financial or other objectives.


Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

  • describe and explain the meaning and nature of social marketing
  • analyse social marketing problems and suggest ways of solving these
  • recognise the range of stakeholders involved in social marketing programmes and their role as target markets
  • assess the role of branding, social advertising and other communications in achieving behavioural change.

Source: The Open University, http://web.archive.org/web/20160121184453/http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1343&printable=1
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Unit overview

Never before have social issues been more at the centre of public and private debate than at the present. From concerns about sustainability and the future of the planet to the introduction of smoking bans, from actions to combat 'binge drinking' and childhood obesity to programmes designed to prevent the spread of AIDS in developing countries, there is a growing recognition that social marketing has a role to play in achieving a wide range of social goals. In the UK, for example, the National Social Marketing Centre (NSMC) has recently been established by the Department of Health and the National Consumer Council. You may wish to visit the website at, which illustrates the interest in social marketing and health issues.

From May 2008 the Open University Business School is offering a new course: B324 Marketing and society. It includes three main areas: social marketing (40 per cent of the course), marketing ethics (30 per cent of the course) and responsible business marketing (30 per cent of the course).

This OpenLearn unit examines the nature of social marketing and how the adoption of marketing concepts, frameworks and techniques developed for commercial marketers can be applied to the solution of social problems. Primarily, social marketing aims to effect behavioural change in the pursuit of social goals and objectives, as opposed to financial or other objectives. Two journal articles, 'Broadening the Concept of Marketing' by Kotler and Levy, and 'Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change' by Kotler and Zaltman generated early interest in the subject. Since then a growing body of research and theoretical development has focused on effecting behavioural change across a range of social issues.

This unit focuses on four key questions:

  1. Why is a social marketing approach relevant and necessary in today's environment?
  2. How can an understanding of consumer/human behaviour help to develop appropriate actions and interventions?
  3. Who are the target markets for social marketing programmes?
  4. What is the role of marketing communications and branding in achieving behavioural change?

The aims of this unit are to:

  • explore how marketing concepts and techniques can be applied to the marketing of social issues as opposed to the more traditional area of commercial marketing;
  • examine how social marketing approaches can change behaviour in order to achieve socially desirable goals;
  • illustrate, through case study examples, the application of concepts and techniques to 'real world' social marketing problems.

Understanding the nature of social marketing

  

Definitions of marketing

Before we focus on 'social marketing' we should clarify the nature of 'marketing' as both an academic discipline and a management practice.

Kotler and Armstrong define marketing as follows:

Marketing is human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes.

Two key issues are highlighted by this definition:

  • i. Exchange – most explicitly noted in Kotler and Armstrong's definition is the core element of exchange. In commercial marketing the nature of the exchange is usually clear, i.e. a product or service for money. Although a closer analysis often reveals that even here things are not so simple, for example the price can be considered to include time spent in obtaining the product.

  • ii. Customer satisfaction – The pivotal construct in marketing is that of customer satisfaction. Commercial marketers aim to satisfy customers to a greater extent than the competition. Satisfaction is considered to lead to behaviour such as positive word of mouth, repeat purchase and ultimately profitability. In this definition, this is illustrated by reference to needs and wants.

Other fundamental elements of 'marketing' are:

  • iii. Goals and objectives – Marketing exchange takes place so as to achieve the goals of the buyer and the seller. For commercial marketers these goals may be profit, market share, etc.; for the individual the goals may be the self-esteem achieved by buying an expensive car. A major difference between commercial and social marketing lies in the difference in the nature of the goals and objectives. Here the goals are society's goals.

  • iv. Process – Many other definitions of 'marketing' emphasise the processes which the marketer must undertake. Customer needs and requirements must be identified, i.e. through a process of market research, and then supplied through the development of a product which is supplied at the right price, through appropriate channels and with effective promotion.

  • v. The product – The focus of the exchange. Goods, services, ideas, people, etc. may be exchanged. This is a more comprehensive approach than the typical commercial focus on only goods and services. A key issue for social marketers is to define the nature of their product, i.e. exactly what are people buying when they adopt new behaviours such as recycling or stopping smoking?

So how can social marketing be defined?

The definition offered by Kotler, Roberto and Lee is a useful one:

The use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify or abandon a behaviour for the benefit of individuals, groups or society as a whole.

Social marketing relies on voluntary compliance rather than legal, economic or coercive forms of influence.

Kotler et al. argue that social marketing is often used to influence an audience to change their behaviour for the sake of one or more of the following:

  • improving health – health issues

  • preventing injuries – safety issues

  • protecting the environment – environmental issues

  • contributing to the community – community-building issues.

Lazer and Kelley define social marketing as follows:

Social marketing is concerned with the application of marketing knowledge, concepts and techniques to enhance social as well as economic ends. It is also concerned with analysis of the social consequences of marketing policies, decisions and activities.

This definition adds a further dimension to the scope of social marketing. Sometimes described as 'critical marketing', this involves an assessment of (usually) commercial marketing's impact on society. This unit will, however, concentrate on the first element of the definition, i.e. the use of marketing to achieve social goals.


Activity 1

Think for a moment about examples of social marketing with which you are familiar.


Discussion

One of the most obvious examples in the UK is that of the anti-smoking campaigns. Here it is important to note Kotler and Zaltman's point that social advertising and social marketing are not the same thing. From the public's perception this is often the 'face' of social marketing, but for the marketer many other issues must be taken into account, as discussed later in the unit. Other examples relate to the many global initiatives to reduce energy consumption/carbon emissions; encourage recycling; reduce binge drinking and childhood obesity; encourage positive health behaviours; and many more.

Reasons for social marketing

Your thoughts should already have suggested reasons why social marketing can be an effective approach to dealing with social problems and issues. We will now consider some of these and also arguments against the use of marketing within this context. Three key reasons for adopting a social marketing approach are:

  1. The power of marketing – The power of marketing principles and techniques in the hands of the commercial sector cannot be denied. Most of us, including very young children, recognise logos and brand names, even for products which we never buy. These symbols occupy our minds and form part of our socio-cultural context. Many of us will spend our hard-earned money by paying well above the functional utility price of a product in order to acquire a specific brand name which means something to us. Consider, for example, how branding plays a role in our choice of foodstuffs, soap powder, clothing, watches and cars. Communication through the various media is clearly very powerful, consequently it would seem negligent, to say the least, not to adapt this power to society's good. As Gerard Hastings' book title says – 'Why should the Devil have all the best tunes?'

  2. Track record/evidence – There are many examples of social marketing applications which have been successful in achieving positive behavioural change. We will look at some of these throughout the unit.

  3. Not an option – As Kotler and Levy argue in their article, 'the choice … is not whether to market or not to market … The choice is whether to do it well or poorly'.

Reasons against social marketing

Arguments against the use of social marketing can be based on the following:

  • Cost – Social marketing programmes can cost considerable amounts of money. Criticisms of these expenditures are heightened as they are often financed by public money in times of resource constraints and therefore have a high opportunity cost. A related issue is that of the problems involved in assessing the success of these programmes. The long term nature of behavioural change and the difficulties in establishing cause–effect relationships add to the fuel for the critics.

  • Misconceptions and negative attitudes about marketing – As most introductory marketing text books relate, marketing is often equated with selling and persuading people to buy things that they do not really want. Interestingly, when people are asked if they have been persuaded they usually say no. Today's adoption of marketing principles and techniques (for example, market segmentation, market research, branding) by the banking sector is now evident. It was not too long ago, however, that bank managers were describing such activity as 'nauseating', 'odious and irrelevant' and 'an over-rated pastime'. Many professional services such as accountants and solicitors still equate marketing with advertising. Public sector organisations, such as hospital trusts, have also been slow to adopt. Lack of awareness of the potential of marketing, misunderstanding and the observation of some of the more doubtful practices of the commercial sector are some of the reasons behind this. As previously mentioned, the criticism of commercial marketing is an element of social marketing, and this is highlighted in the Lazer and Kelley definition (see Section 2.2). A final reason for resistance to marketing may be due to the nature of the language. Strategic marketing, for example, adopts the terminology of Sun Zu's 'The Art of War'. Phrases such as 'flanking defence', 'encirclement' and 'full frontal attack' are probably not particularly attractive to the World Wildlife Fund or Oxfam.

  • Parameters of marketing activity – A final point emerges from marketing authors themselves. In response to Kotler and Levy's article 'Broadening the Concept of Marketing', Luck argued that the wider application of marketing away from the commercial sector dilutes the content and nature of marketing as a discipline. There are few proponents of this view, however, and the last four decades have seen many applications including, of course, the application of social marketing.

Understanding consumer behaviour

   

Introduction

Andraesen states that for the social marketer 'consumer behaviour is the bottom line'. In order to understand how to develop programmes that will bring about behavioural change we need to understand something about the nature of behaviour. The consumer behaviour literature typically borrows from the fields of sociology, psychology and social anthropology amongst others. There is a vast, and growing, body of knowledge on the subject and a few of the main elements will be discussed in this section.

Key elements of consumer behaviour include:

  • analysis of the factors which influence behaviour.
  • the role of motivation and attitudes.
  • consumer behaviour models.

Activity 2

Before we look at these, use the Government and Social Research website to research some of the core theories:

  • stages of change
  • social cognitive theory
  • exchange theory

You will find the information you need from Civil Service.

The factors which influence consumer behaviour

A large number of factors influence our behaviour. Kotler and Armstrong classify these as:

  1. Psychological (motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes)
  2. Personal (age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality and self concept)
  3. Social (reference groups, family, roles and status)
  4. Cultural (culture, subculture, social class system).

Below you will see Figure 1, which adapts the above factors to a health behaviour context, providing a model which also explicitly emphasises, together with cultural factors, other features such as the economic environment as an element of the wider social context.

Figure 1 The wider determinants of health behaviour

 

As you can see, the immediate environment approximates to Kotler's social factors. Many studies of both commercial and social marketing emphasise the influence of family, friends and others on our decisions. Peer group pressure is an important influence and may be negative or positive.

Figure 1 illustrates an approach known as social-cognitive theory which is based on the proposition that our behaviour is determined by both personal and environmental factors.

The importance of understanding motivation

Personal characteristics in Figure 1 combine both psychological and personal factors. Two important factors which drive behaviour are motivation and attitudes.

MacFadyen et al. (see Figure 1) emphasise the role of goals, aspirations and symbolic needs. Many of you will be familiar with theories of motivation and how they explain why we engage in a particular behaviour in order to achieve our goals and satisfy our needs. There are many theories of motivation. You may have come across these in other studies of marketing, human resource management or elsewhere. Motivation theories seek to explain why we do the things we do either by examining how a behaviour satisfies our 'needs' or the processes we go through as we decide how to achieve our goals. One of the best known of motivation theories is that of Maslow's theory of human motivation or hierarchy of needs. The five original needs comprised those listed below and are illustrated in the typical hierarchical approach in Figure 2a.

  1. Physiological needs: These are the basic needs of the organism such as food, water, oxygen and sleep. They also include the somewhat less basic needs such as sex or activity.

  2. Safety needs: Here Maslow is talking about the need for a generally ordered existence in a stable environment which is relatively free of threats to the safety of a person's existence.

  3. Social (love) needs: These are the need for affectionate relations with other individuals and the need for one to have a recognised place as a group member – the need to be accepted by one's peers.

  4. Esteem needs: The need of a stable, firmly based self-evaluation. The need for self-respect, self-esteem, and for the esteem of others.

  5. Self-actualisation needs: The need for self-fulfilment. The need to achieve one's full capacity for doing.

 

Figure 2a Maslow's hierarchy of needs: motivations to smoke and to quit


Activity 3

By reference to Maslow's hierarchy in Figure 2a, illustrate for each level of need why you think that young people (teenagers) are motivated to smoke, and why they might be motivated to quit.


Discussion

 Figure 2b Maslow's hierarchy of needs: motivations to smoke and to quit

In addition, money could be a motivator at various levels, e.g. spending money saved on family or friends (social needs) or to avoid debt (safety needs) or to achieve self esteem through purchase of an expensive mobile phone.

The importance of understanding attitudes

One of the most important phenomena for a social marketer to understand is that of 'attitudes'. Having said this, this is not a straightforward issue as there is much disagreement about the nature of attitudes, how they are formed, and how they determine our behaviour. Attitude theory research is a key focus for consumer behaviour theorists and derives from the field of psychology.

There are many definitions of attitude, for example, 'the predisposition of the individual to evaluate some symbol or object or aspect of his world in a favourable manner'.

There are also differences of opinion as to what comprises an attitude. The three main elements on which theorists focus are:

  • Cognitive component (beliefs/knowledge).
  • Affective component (feelings).
  • Conative component (behavioural).

In other words we believe/know (cognitive component) something, for example, recycling is good for the environment. We also believe that looking after the environment is a good thing. This forms our positive feelings (affect) towards recycling behaviour. We are therefore more likely to intend to engage in recycling behaviour (conative factor) and ultimately to engage in the behaviour itself.

Differences of opinion relate to which of the three components are actually part of attitude, i.e.:

  1. Some view attitude as a relatively simple unidimensional construct referring to the amount of affect for or against a psychological object in other words the feeling element only).

  2. Others describe attitude as a two dimensional construct including the cognitive and affective component.

  3. Others describe attitude as a complex multi-dimensional concept consisting of an affective, cognitive and behavioural component.

In one sense the above distinction does not matter too much since all approaches recognise the three components; it is important, however, when we come to measure attitudes to be clear as to what exactly is being measured. The most important issue for us at the moment is to be aware of the three components and how they combine to determine behaviour. Most of the research in this area is based on Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action described in the model below.

 

The theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour

The extended Fishbein model, based on the theory of reasoned action, includes the following components to explain behaviour.

  1. Attitude to the behaviour comprising:

    • a. The strength of the expectancy (beliefs) that the act will be followed by a consequence.

    • b. The value of that consequence to the individual.

    This is the basic expectancy value approach. Returning to our previous smoking cessation example, if we expect that stopping smoking will result in health, wealth and happiness – and this is important to us – then we will develop a positive affect towards the behaviour of stopping smoking. There is, however, another dimension.

  2. Subjective norms (i.e. the socio-cultural norms of other persons, groups or society) and the individuals' desire/motivation to conform to these norms. Consequently, peer group and other pressures may reduce or enhance our attitudes towards stopping smoking. Ajzen later included:

  3. Perceived control (i.e. situational or internal obstacles to performing the behaviour). This addition has resulted in a new model – 'the theory of planned behaviour'. Consequently, the power of addiction may impact on our attitudes and prevent us from trying to stop smoking.

A key question, for both commercial and social marketers, is: Why do actual behaviour and reported intentions often differ?

As discussed earlier, the purpose of social marketing is to effect behaviour change. Attitude models often record behavioural intentions rather than actual behaviour. One of the purposes of research is to assess how people will behave in the future, for example in response to new stimuli such as additional resources – help lines, clinics, etc. One of the problems, however, is that reported behavioural intentions often don't match up to actual behaviour.


Activity 4

List the reasons why you think that what people say they will do in answer to research questions is often very different to what they actually do.


Discussion

There are many reasons. These may include:

  • Reasons due to the research process, e.g. telling the researcher what they want to know out of politeness.
  • Reasons due to the individual's wish to show themselves to be rational or a 'good citizen'. They might, therefore, overstate intentions to reduce environmental emissions and understate intentions to use private transport.
  • They may genuinely intend to engage in the behaviour but situational factors intervene, e.g. they may not have the time to travel by public transport or there may be a bus strike.

Consumer behaviour models

Many theorists have developed models of consumer behaviour. Some of these focus on the factors which influence behaviour (such as the model in Figure 1). Others emphasise the stages which consumers go through as they make their decisions to engage in a particular behaviour. Many adopt the 'belief–feeling–behavioural intention' behaviour model illustrated in Section 3.4.

The 'stages' approach has been adapted by social marketers. Theories and models help us to make sense of the world by distilling previous learning, but can never explain it perfectly. All such theories and models have their limitations and these should be recognised.

An understanding of consumer behaviour is essential to the development of social marketing programmes. There are, however, a whole range of individuals and organisations, other than the final consumer, who/which may be target markets, and these are described in the next section.

Stakeholders and target markets

   

Introduction

Greenley and Foxall emphasise that the marketing literature typically focuses on only two stakeholder groups (consumers and competitors), arguing that this should be extended to include other key stakeholders. Freeman highlights the interdependence of organisations and their stakeholders, i.e. 'any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation's objectives'. This definition emphasises the wide range of individuals, groups and organisations who/which might have an interest in social marketing programmes.

Hastings makes a similar point when he discusses 'moving upstream'. Discussion of social marketing typically focuses on the individual or groups of individuals whose behaviour change is the aim of the programme or activity. The social marketing network, however, involves a whole range of organisations, and others, for the social marketer to engage with as additional target markets. This is a particular issue when considering both the policy development and service delivery aspects of social marketing, for example, influencing governmental bodies to implement legislation regarding food labelling or smoking bans or GPs to offer consumer-friendly family planning services.

When developing a marketing strategy for potential/actual collaborators, the same social marketing principles and practices apply. A fundamental question relates to the nature of the exchange, i.e. why should government introduce an environmental policy or a school agree to allocate resources to prevent bullying? To put it bluntly, 'What's in it for them?' or alternatively, how can we achieve goal congruence between the social marketer and these upstream organisations so that behavioural change can be achieved? Once we are clear as to the target market then strategies can be developed to persuade upstream audiences that a specific behavioural change will fulfil their own goals. Here a knowledge of organisational behaviour will aid in developing a marketing plan, for example, an appreciation of the complexity of the organisational decision-making process and the range of individuals involved; power relationships and political motivations. Relationship marketing strategies, which originally developed within an organisational marketing context, are more likely to predominate over the traditional marketing mix approach. Personal representation is a key element of the communication process. Understanding individuals, their organisational relationships and motivations is crucial to effective upstream social marketing.


Stakeholder analysis

Figure 3 illustrates the range of stakeholders who could have an interest in health-related community social marketing programmes.


Figure 3 Stakeholder interest in health-related social marketing programmes

 

A major concern of decision makers is the need to balance the often conflicting expectations and interests of stakeholders. Stakeholder analysis asks:

  • Who are the stakeholders in a particular issue or activity?

  • What are the expectations and objectives of the various stakeholder groups?

  • What are their interests and how interested are they?

  • How dependent is the organisation on each group and how is this changing over time in terms of :

    • the degree of power (potential for disruption) that the group exercises?

    • possibility of replacing the relationship?

    • extent of uncertainty in the relationship?

Mendelow's matrix (see Figure 4) describes four types of stakeholder. It should be noted that the classifications are context specific and dynamic, for example, stakeholders in Group C may move in to Group D if their interest in a particular project increases. Additionally, those in Group B may become empowered by access to key players, media attention, etc.


Figure 4 Stakeholder mapping: The power/interest matrix

 

Activity 5

Read the case study entitled 'The challenges of using social marketing in India: The case of HIV/AIDS prevention', linked below. If you were developing this social marketing campaign, which stakeholder groups would you have to take into consideration? Use Mendelow's matrix to classify the groups according to their interest and power.


CASE STUDY 11

The challenges of using social marketing in India: the case of HIV/AIDS prevention In India, 5.7 million adults and children were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2005, an increase from 5.3 million in 2003. The number of adults and children who died due to HIV/AIDS during the same period was in the range of 270 000-680 000. The primary driver of the epidemic is heterosexual activities between commercial sex workers (CSWs) and their male clients, including truck drivers and migrant workers, who then spread it to their housewives and/or lovers.

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a strong effort to create awareness and promote behaviours that would prevent HIV/AIDS infection and stem the epidemic. Since a cure to HIV is expensive, long and not completely effective, preventing the infection is a superior option. Due to these reasons, HIV/AIDS efforts have been more or less on the preventive end. However, social marketers have faced numerous problems and challenges in this effort. This report discusses the key problems and challenges that social marketers have faced while addressing male groups such as truck drivers, migrant workers, youths and men from the general population; these are categorized into individual factors, the immediate environment and the wider environment.

Several individual characteristics pose challenges to social marketers. Approximately 55% of the entire Indian population is not aware of HIV/AIDS. Due to both the lack of discussion about sexual matters and the lack of sex education in the society, male groups do not have the proper knowledge about what causes, prevents and cures AIDS. For example, several male groups also believe that condoms should be used only when having sex with a CSW and not with a trusted friend or good-looking person. Even among those who are aware, regular condom use remains low. There are numerous reasons for this.

First, condoms are considered to interfere with sexual pleasure. Second, the hard, unpredictable and risk-prone lifestyle creates a sense of helplessness and, combined with acculturated fatalism, high-risk groups such as truck drivers, migrant workers and slum youths lack the motivation to practise safe sexual and drug use. Third, they continue to deny the severity and the susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and thus avoid paying attention to

prevention campaigns. Instead, they consider others to be more susceptible to HIV infection. Rural youths, for example, consider it to be an urban problem, street children believe it to be an adult problem and housewives think it affects only men, while men from the general population believe truck drivers and migrant workers are at risk. Men do not readily perceive the preventive benefits of condoms, since these benefits are not immediate and are never obvious - making it difficult to promote safe sex practices.

Fourth, being a patriarchal society, Indian men impose their manhood by discouraging women to wear condoms, thus exposing housewives and CSWs to risks of HIV infection. CSWs fear that insistence on condom usage could result in loss of clientele and monetary gains. Even if male groups are aware and convinced about condom use, their distribution has been far from effective. Condoms are still largely sold in urban areas, through chemist shops and not through mainstream retail outlets, which limits consumer access to condoms. The availability is especially low in critical areas such as brothels in Mumbai. Retailers also avoid displaying condoms prominently.

Existing stigma against PLWHs and the discomfort with sexual matters creates an unfavourable environment for social marketing campaigns. For example, the Balbir Pasha Campaign in Mumbai - which aimed to create awareness that, although men may have sex with only one CSW, she may have numerous regulars - was criticized for its frankness ('bringing the bedroom into the living room'), thus negatively impacting on its effectiveness. Other than poor condom usage, the issue of prejudice against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHs) also poses challenges to social marketers. PLWHs experience severe discrimination at the workplace, by the community and many times by their own families. Being a moralistic society, Indians in general believe that people who get infected indulge due to immoral behaviours and deserve this penalty. Thus, high-risk individuals are not willing to test themselves for HIV and/or to declare themselves as HIV-positive due to fear of discrimination and rejection. This has resulted in underreporting of HIV prevalence in India.

In addition to individual and societal barriers, the wider environment also presents its own set of challenges. The geographical and population size as well as socio-cultural and economic diversity, combined with lack of resources, makes the task of conducting HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in India very difficult. India supports 16% of the world's population over 3.3% of the total land area. However, the resources do not match the population size. A substantial amount of the population lives in absolute poverty and one-quarter of the population cannot afford an adequate diet. Although in recent years the economy has grown rapidly and poverty has been reduced, the growth has been uneven. Rich states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have witnessed an economic boom, attract migrant workers leaving their wives behind in rural areas, thus attracting CSWs and the resulting HIV/ AIDS epidemic.

Lack of resources also influences the state of health care in India. According to a report by the Confederation of Indian Industry-McKinsey, only 15% of the total population is covered by any form of insurance. Furthermore, government spending on health care is low (0.9% of GDP), resulting in poor infrastructure. India has 1.5 beds and 1.2 registered physicians per 1000 people as compared to 4.3 and 1.8 in countries like China and Brazil respectively. In addition to poor coverage and infrastructure, the purchasing of health care is inefficient (because 60% of health care delivery is financed by out-of-pocket spending) and the delivery of health care is undertaken mostly by the private sector, which puts a financial burden on the individual seeking medical aid. These factors limit the extent of government coverage and negatively impact health outcomes for example, the majority of PLWHs lack access to anti-retrovirals and other forms of medical support.

Other macro factors such as illiteracy, socio-cultural diversity and corruption also create barriers to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. India is struggling to achieve a respectable literacy rate, currently standing at 52%. The female literacy rate of 39% is alarming, since it is inversely related to fertility rates, population growth rates and other important social indicators. India is a hugely diverse country with long-standing traditions - for example, 24 languages are spoken by at least a million people, combined with numerous religious practices and lifestyles. It is difficult to create campaigns that can address a sizeable group in any part of the country. India also suffers from widespread corruption at all levels of government. In the past, these corrupt practices have created distrust towards any government contraceptive social marketing campaigns among Indian consumers.

Government efforts have also suffered from other weaknesses. By denying the existence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the government and the country lost valuable time and opportunity to address the problem in its early stages. Furthermore, the government has tended to centralize campaign management, thus creating huge bureaucracy, inefficiency and stifling of individual efforts. The current government prevention policy also lacks clarity on how to reduce socio-cultural barriers and increase acceptance of condoms. Adman Alyque Padamsee provides an example:

'The government condom, Nirodh, acted as a deterrent to sex, because as soon as you thought of Nirodh, you lost your erection! If you lose your erection, you can't put on a condom. The logic is simple, but nobody seemed to have stumbled upon it. So I said, "How can the male think of the condom as a pleasure enhancer?" Nobody wants to sit down to a sumptuous meal, and then be told that you have to take medicine before it kills your appetite.'

NGOs, on the other hand, have lacked the expertise and the resources to develop effective campaigns, since they rely on both in-house marketing programmes and donated commodities. This is reflected in a variety of ways. For example, NGOs in India, especially those funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), failed to develop a strategic approach, lacked knowledge about secondary audiences, failed to sensitize the community to gain general support, and used limited numbers of media materials and creative abilities. Campaigns have also been criticized for their emphasis on knowledge rather than behaviour change, for failing to use peer educators as outreach workers and for poor choice of media. Finally, the materials lack research rigour, since they were not adequately pre-tested or evaluated. In response to these weaknesses, attempts have been made to partner with commercial enterprises to market contraceptives. While these campaigns may have been effective in the short term, once the partnership contract ended, commercial partners have tended to revert back to their earlier practices to increase prices, reduce the distribution coverage and focus on the higher income sections of society.

In conclusion, even if male groups are aware of benefits, critical individual and societal barriers discourage them from practising safe sex. Wider environmental factors also pose challenges that intertwine with the individual and societal barriers, and present a very messy situation for social marketers. This case study has tried to illustrate that unless these realworld complexities are recognized and worked upon, social marketers will not succeed in their HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in India.

With thanks to Family Health International for their four 2001 reports on HIV/AIDS-related studies conducted in the State of Maharashtra and Population Services International for their 2003 report on the Balbir Pasha case study.


Lessons learned
  1. The current case demonstrates that health cannot be viewed solely interms of individual behaviour; it also needs to be considered in terms of broader social and environmental factors. Without a doubt, social marketers working in the field of HIV/AIDS in India need to examine how individual, societal and wider environmental factors contribute to this epidemic.
  2. The government of India is a major player in addressing the HIV/AIDS problem. This case shows that not only is it necessary for key government officials to acknowledge the serious health issue of HIV/AIDS in India, but the centralized campaign management also needs to be addressed. Clarity should also be established in the government prevention policy with regards to addressing the socio-cultural barriers that play a key role in the acceptance of condom use.
  1. As outlined in the case, previous HIV /AIDS prevention efforts in India have not used basic social marketing principles such as clear behavioural goals, consumer orientation and research to guide programme planning and implementation.


Case study questions
  1. Q: What is the primary driver for the spread of HIV/AIDS in India?

A: The primary driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India is heterosexual activities among commercial sex workers and their male clients, who are often truck drivers and migrant workers, who then spread HIV to their housewives and/or lovers.

  1. Q: Describe three individual factors that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.

A: (i) Inhibitions about discussing sex. (ii) Negative attitudes to condoms. (iii) Prejudice towards people living with HIV/AIDS.

  1. Q: Describe three challenges from the wider environment that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.

A: (i) Financial burden on individuals seeking medical aid due to a large monopoly of privatized health care. (ii) Alarmingly low literacy rates, which are inversely related to a variety of social indicators. (iii) Diversity of the culture in India in terms of language, religious practices and lifestyles, making it difficult to design wide-reaching prevention campaigns.


Discussion

There are many stakeholder groups involved. You may have made a number of assumptions in your analysis so make sure that these have been clearly stated.

  • Central government – D. They have control over resources and ultimate responsibility for success. There may be lack of interest in some parts of government, or influences due to corruption, etc. …

  • Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – B. Low in resources but interested in the success of the programme. We do not, however, know about other sources of power such as the ability to influence or exert political pressure.

  • Department for International Development – as NGOs above.

  • Retailers/potential retailers of condoms – C. High power as they can control the supply of condoms but because of the various cultural influences they have little interest in the issue. However, as the programme proceeds they may become key players.

  • Consumer groups – A. The various consumer groups discussed in the case appear to have little power in influencing the nature of the programme and little interest. However, as the key target market, the social marketer would aim to shift this stakeholder group by changing perceptions to move them to the B quadrant.

Market segmentation and targeting

Market segmentation and targeting is at the core of marketing strategy and consumers (or potential consumers) are the key stakeholder group for both commercial and social marketers. In this section we focus on those specific consumers whose behaviour is the focus of the social marketing activity.

In Section 3.2, the factors which impact on consumer behaviour were outlined.

It is these factors – e.g. age, income, lifestyle – that form the basis for market segmentation. The process is as illustrated below.



Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market in to groups of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given set of marketing stimuli (e.g. price, product features) or, alternatively, groups of consumers/customers with homogeneous needs or preferences. This may be on the basis of demographics, e.g. age, gender; geographics, e.g. by country, rural/urban areas; psychographics, e.g. lifestyle; or behavioural factors, e.g. brand loyalty.

Subsequently the organisation will select a target market based on a number of factors. For example, will the target market provide the required level of behaviour change (or meet other objectives)? Will it be accessible to the organisation taking into account the available resources, etc.?

The third stage is to position the product/organisation (a) against competitors and (b) in the minds of the consumer, i.e. arranging for a product/service to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place in the market and in the minds of target customers. This is achieved through product design, pricing, promotional activities, etc. Communication and branding are essential elements of a marketing programme and these are discussed in the next section.

The role of communications and branding in social marketing programmes

   

The linear model of communications

One of the key tasks of social marketers is to develop effective messages which provide individuals and organisations with the information required to achieve behavioural change. Communication represents the 'transmission of information, ideas, attitudes, or emotion from one person or group to another'. There are many models and frameworks available to help with communications planning. First, an understanding of how communication works is illustrated in Figure 5.

The communication process involves:

  • the sender
  • the message itself
  • encoding the message into a form which can be transmitted, e.g. written, oral
  • transmitting the message
  • the receiver
  • decoding the message
  • action.

Figure 5 A linear model of communication


Evidently, effective communication involves the 'sender' of the message in encoding and transmitting the information in a way which is relevant to the target audience. Secondly, the receiver must have the ability to decode the message and to recognise the intended meaning. There should also be:

  • feedback, which should ensure that the receiver has decoded the message effectively by responding to the message in some way.

A final element is:

  • noise, anything in the environment which impedes the transmission and decoding of the message, e.g. conflicting interests, pressure of work, too many other messages.


Activity 6

Using the elements in Figure 5, list the factors which you consider may prevent effective social marketing communications.


Discussion

Barriers to effective social marketing communication may include:

  • Lack of understanding of the target audience by the sender. Consequently the message may be encoded using language or symbols which fail to transfer the intended 'meaning' to the audience. Hastings uses the illustration of an anti-heroin campaign where young people's interpretation of the results of heroin addiction were favourable, rather than as intended, because of a lack of understanding of youth culture by the advertising agency.
  • Inadequate definition of required feedback. The effectiveness of communications needs to be evaluated by the sender (campaign sponsors, etc.). Feedback may be defined in terms of actions, e.g. visiting a website or telephoning a smoking quit line. If no specific feedback is required then research may be conducted to assess, for example, awareness of the message.
  • Incorrect choice of medium/media. Possibly because of funding constraints, or again because of lack of knowledge of the consumers' media habits, the incorrect medium or media may be chosen. Media may include impersonal sources such as television, newspapers, magazines, etc. and personal sources such as professional services (doctors, teachers, etc.) and peer group members, family, etc. An important issue here is one of source credibility, i.e. 'the extent to which a source is perceived as having knowledge, skill or experience relevant to a communication topic and can be trusted to give an unbiased opinion or present objective information on the issue'.
  • Consistency of messages. In view of the many potential sources of communication it is vital that there is a consistency of message across the various channels. This is illustrated in the next model, which emphasises the need for integrated marketing communications.

An integrated marketing communications framework

With a wide range of communications channels available to social marketers it is crucial that these deliver consistent messages. Belch and Belch describe the move towards integrated marketing communications (IMC) as one of the most significant marketing developments of the 1990s. They explain that a fundamental reason for this is the recognition by businesses of 'the value of strategically integrating the various communication functions rather than having them operate autonomously'.

They adopt the American Association of Advertising Agencies definition of IMC:

… a concept of marketing communications planning that recognises the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines – for example, general advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relations – and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact.

The basis of this plan is illustrated in Figure 6.


Figure 6 An integrated marketing communications planning model

 

The integrated marketing communications programme is developed by reference to a number of factors, i.e.

  • The overall marketing plan, including marketing objectives and competitor analysis.

  • The promotional programme situation, e.g. internally – previous experience and ability with respect to promotions – and externally – consumer behaviour analysis, segmentation, targeting and positioning decisions.

  • Communications process analysis – e.g. communication goals, receiver's response processes, source, message and channel factors.

Finally, the available budget and decisions with respect to budget allocation will input into the planning process.

Figure 6 illustrates six main approaches to marketing communications. We will now look at these in turn with respect to social marketing communications.

1. Advertising

Advertising can be defined as 'any paid form of non-personal communication about an organisation, product, service or idea by an identified sponsor'.

Advertising decisions include those relating to:

  • The use of the various media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines).

  • How advertising can be developed for a specific target audience.

  • The use of rational and/or emotional appeals; in particular the use of fear appeals to transmit messages.


Activity 7

Read the section of Chapter 5, Social Marketing: Why should the Devil have all the best tunes? (linked below), and try Exercise 5.2.

Click the link below to open the section of Chapter 5. (6 pages, 1597KB)


Fear messages in marketing

Given what we have agreed about the two-way nature of communication and the need for empathy and shared understanding, it seems inappropriate to ask generic questions about whether certain sorts of messages work

better than others. The answer is bound to be 'it depends' - on circumstances, past communications, available channels and so on. Above all, it depends on the audience. And yet precisely this question has been asked again and again about fear messages.

Thus, several attempts have been made to develop a theory to explain and predict how fear works, but the results are inconclusive. Three alternative models have emerged. First, the curvilinear model posits that fear can persuade up to a threshold of tolerance, beyond which it becomes counterproductive.

Second, Leventhal's parallel response model proposes that emotional and cognitive factors act independently to mediate behaviour, with emotional factors affecting internal attempts to cope with the threat (e.g. by rationalizing or rejecting it), whilst cognitive factors will determine the behaviour change.

Finally, Rogers's expectancy-valence model states that the effectiveness of a fear-arousing communication is a function of three variables: the magnitude of the threat; the probability of its occurrence; and the efficacy of the advocated protective response. It is proposed that these three variables will interact to produce a level of 'protection motivation' within an individual and that this will determine the level of change.

The research into the effectiveness of fear appeals is inconclusive, but the majority of studies show a positive relationship between fear arousal and persuasion. More specifically, the following conclusions have been drawn:

Fear appeals can raise awareness of an issue and bring it to the forefront of people's thoughts.

Fear appeals can make people re-evaluate and change their attitudes Fear may be successful in stimulating an intention to change behaviour sometime in the future.

In summary, therefore, whilst the findings do vary considerably between studies, broadly speaking it is true to say that the research supports the use of fear appeals. The problem, however, is that the research has been very narrowly focused, typically using experiments in laboratory settings, to ask very specific and short-term questions. As we have seen, the resulting answers can, with some difficulty, be resolved into a coherent picture, but many other questions are left begging. Most importantly, it is not clear what happens outside the laboratory, where there is much less control, or what the long-term and wider effects of fear appeals are.

In some cases immediate behaviour change takes place shortly after exposure to a fear communication.

Marketing provides a rubric for asking these bigger questions. Have a try at Exercise 5.2.


Exercise 5.2

Fear in traffic safety

You have just been appointed as Head of Communications at the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria, Australia. They have used fear messages consistently for the last 15 years. Log on to their website (http://www.tacsafety.com.au) and click on 'Campaigns' followed by any of the campaign topics to view some of the road safety ads. As a social marketer, what questions does their approach raise? You might like to consider the following more specific questions:


(a) What will our clients do with the message?

Outside the laboratory, audiences can choose whether or not to accept our messages; they cannot be compelled to pay attention any more than they can be compelled to drive safely or give up smoking. This creates several potential barriers: the audience may not look at the message at all; they may look at it, but ignore it; they may look at it and accept it, but misunderstand it; they may look at it and understand it, but rationalize it (e.g. 'that couldn't happen to m^{\prime} ' 'there are other greater risks' or simply 'life is risky'). All of these barriers - especially the last - can be accentuated by fear appeals (look at point 1 in Box 5.2). In a world where mass media messages are an optional extra, it may make more sense to use subtlety and compromise than brute force.

At a more fundamental level, it is arguable that campaigns employing extreme fear appeals, such as those used in Victoria by the Transport Accident Commission (Exercise 5.2), undermine the whole notion of voluntary behaviour. The ads literally say accept our message or 'you're a bloody idiot'. The danger is that people will reject such uncompromising approaches, or like characters in David Cronenberg's movie Crash, even do the opposite of what is proposed. This latter response is not as far-fetched as it may sound. Recent focus groups conducted at the Institute for Social Marketing suggested that certain young men enjoy gory road safety ads in the same way as horror movies: 'that was a cracker that one', 'that's brilliant that, when you saw her face get smashed up', 'really clever', 'and you hear it go bang, crack!'. Social change practitioners would no doubt be appalled to discover they are competing with violent pornographers!


(b) What benefits will they get from it?

Voluntary behaviour is benefit driven, so paying attention to mass media messages, just like buying Coca-Cola or driving safely, must provide the target with something they want. As Barry Day, vice-chair of McCannErickson Worldwide, expressed it: 'I believe an ad should be a reward.' The question then is 'what reward does a fear appeal offer?' and, by extension, is being upset, scared and/or discomfited much of a reward?


(c) How will it affect our brand name?

Coca-Cola, Nike and Marlboro will all be very careful to ensure that any ads they produce not only work effectively in their own right, but also enhance or (at the very least) do no damage to the company and the product's good name - typically encapsulated in the brand. Most successful brands are the result of decades of careful effort and design.

Social marketing organizations have their equivalents of brands; they have an image and reputation with the public. The question then is how do fear appeals affect this reputation? Do claims that are felt to be exaggerated, or at least not to reflect people's everyday experience, discredit the communicator?

Do messages that cause short-term offence, but which might be justified by high awareness figures, do long-term damage to the sender's good name?


(d) How will it affect their feelings for our other products?

Fear messages say something about the absolute risk of the behaviour being addressed, but also imply things about the relative risk of other behaviours. Take traffic safety as an example: a very fearful anti-drink campaign may lead audiences to assume that other driving behaviours, such as speeding, are less dangerous. Focus groups with young drivers conducted recently at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales (see Box 5.2) showed that whilst drink-driving and speeding were recognized as risky behaviours, others such as driving at night and driving whilst under the influence of marijuana were not. Indeed, some respondents interpreted the constant messaging on drink-driving as implicitly endorsing the alternative of marijuana use. The option of extending the traffic topics addressed by fear messages to cover all potential risks is equally problematic. It would likely lead to overload and rationalization: T know the roads are dangerous, but I have to get on with my life.'

Box 5.2 Young Australian drivers and the use of fear Focus groups with young (18- to 24-year-old) drivers conducted recently at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales revealed worrying tendencies in their response to fear-based messages. The discussions examined response to ads they had seen on television in the last few months and years, which had been dominated by hard-hitting messages on drink-driving and speeding. Three findings stand out:

1. The young drivers were becoming inured to fear messages and numerous comments were made about being tired of being told what to do and that speeding and drink-driving are dangerous.

'The ads are all the same, can't speed, can't drink and drive or you will crash - so what? Everyone knows that... they don't stop me.'

(male, 18)

'Ever since I can remember the ads have been about what happens when you speed... I stopped taking any notice of them ages ago.'

(female, 21)

'The ads are silly, the latest ad shows a guy crashing this big powerful car after speeding and killing people, then right after is an ad for the same car showing these young guys enjoying themselves in it... I just turn off from the anti-speeding ads now.'

(male, 23)

2. Other risky driving behaviours such as driving at night or with lots of friends in the car were not even on their radar. As long as they did not speed or drink they felt they were okay.

'I guess other things are dangerous but not as bad as speeding and drink-driving.'

(male, 17)

'I don't think there is a problem if you have four or five of your mates in the car with you.'

(male, 18)

'No one has said that driving at night is more dangerous than driving at daytime... have they?'

(female, 22)

3. Dysfunctional solutions emerged from the narrow focus on alcohol - most notably, the less well educated of the young people were inclined to see no problem with marijuana use and driving. The broader idea of mind-altering substances in general impairing driving had been lost.

'Smoking some weed then driving home isn't as dangerous as having a heap of beers at a party.'

(female, 17)

'When I go out and if I'm driving and I had a choice between dope and alcohol then it's a no brainer... you're safer with the dope.'

(male, 20)

'I have a friend and he thinks his driving improves when he has had some herb.'

(male, 24)


It is also worth remembering that road use is only one source of danger in people's life (and danger is only one source of problems). For example, tobacco use kills more people in Europe than traffic, crime, and accidents in the home and workplace combined.

Fear messages need to reflect this reality, if only for ethical reasons.


(e) What about our non-targets who will also see the message?

Targeting is an important aspect of marketing: only well-targeted products and messages can really satisfy customer needs. However, messages transmitted in the mass media will inevitably reach other people as well as the intended target. Sticking with road safety, TV ads aimed at 18- to 24-year-old 'boy racers' will also reach older drivers. The use of fear in these circumstances can have two untoward effects. First, it may breed complacency among older speeding drivers by implying that deaths on the roads are the fault of other inexperienced and unskilled drivers. Second, it may cause unwarranted anxiety among other road users, perhaps discouraging parents from letting their children play outside or walk to school.
(f) What are our competitors doing?

As we will discuss in Chapter 8, social marketers frequently have to compete with commerce. Tobacco, alcohol, fast-food, car producers - amongst others - frequently push in the opposite direction. Even a cursory look at their advertising shows that they make relatively little use of fear.


(g) Where do we go from here?

Fear appeals present both creative and strategic problems. On the creative front, once fear has been used, there is a need to increase it on each subsequent occasion to have the same impact. At what point does this cross the threshold of acceptability? On the other hand, is there a point at which Turning to strategy, if marketing tells us that success is dependent on building long-term relationships with the customer, the strategic question becomes: is fear a good basis for a relationship? Fven parents rapidly abandon it as a pedagogical option as their offspring leave early childhood.
people become inured? (Have another look at Box 5.2.)


(h) What about alternative approaches?

It is clear then that fear approaches present considerable costs to social marketers. The main benefit it offers is a high profile: strong emotional messages attract a lot of attention. But other approaches can also have a strong emotional pull - love, excitement, sex, hope, humour and sophistication are all used successfully by commercial advertisers. The key issue therefore is not 'should fear appeals be used?' but 'will they do the job

better and more efficiently than alternative approaches?'


(i) Is our message ethically acceptable?

The final question a marketer will ask (or be compelled to ask by the relevant regulatory authorities) is 'do our messages meet normal ethical standards?' Will people be hurt or damaged by them? The fact that we social marketers tend to fight on the side of the angels does not absolve us from this responsibility. The end cannot be used to justify the means.


2. Sales promotion

Whereas advertising is traditionally associated with long term brand building and can reach a wide audience, particularly with the growth in global media, sales promotion is more often considered a short-term approach to generating sales. Promotional tools include introductory offers, competitions and point of sale promotions. These approaches can be readily associated with commercial sector organisations, for example, Boots (a UK retail chemist chain) uses in-store posters to promote the benefits of stopping smoking.


3. Public relations/publicity

Similar to advertising, publicity is a non-personal form of communication, but here there is no direct payment and no identifiable sponsor. Consequently publicity may also be negative, or adverse, since the organisation, group or individual may not be able to control it. For social marketers, publicity, negative and positive, often arises in the media as a result of scientific reports dealing with issues such as childhood obesity or environmental pollution. 'Media advocacy', which is a term derived from public health, refers to situations where the media are encouraged to cover particular issues and consequently communicate these to the public and/or specific target markets.


4. Personal selling

In the previous section, we looked at the wide range of stakeholders who are involved in social marketing programmes. These include a number of individuals and organisations who will be responsible for providing information and communicating with target audiences. As with all communication there is an issue of source credibility, and the credence which consumers, or potential consumers, give to a particular source is of paramount importance. The role of (health) professionals in many social marketing campaigns is an important one.


5. Direct marketing

This involves direct selling, direct response advertising, telemarketing, etc. and is a rapidly growing medium in the commercial world. A particular reason for this is the growth in use of the internet as discussed below.


6. Interactive/internet marketing

Fill describes the internet as 'a distribution channel and communications medium that enables consumers and organisations to communicate in radically different ways'. Improvements in technology have dramatically changed the nature of communications and the ways of reaching target markets. This is particularly true of younger consumers which many social marketing programmes seek to target. The use of the internet as a complementary channel to television and other media was adopted in the UK in the 'Get Unhooked' smoking cessation campaign.

 

The communications mix – a few points to note

The above classification raises a few points which it may be useful to bear in mind:

  • Communication tools change over time and particularly as a result of technological developments.

  • Related to the above point is a blurring of distinction between 'promotion' and 'place' (method of distribution). This is particularly true as direct marketing and subsequently internet/interactive marketing have been included as separate communications tools. It is also relevant to the personal selling element.

  • It is also notable that, in addition to target markets of final consumers, communications (in addition to other marketing mix elements) must be developed for distributors (e.g. health professionals). This is often referred to as 'push' promotion as opposed to the 'pull' promotion to the final customer.

How communications work

The paper by Kotler and Zaltman emphasises the crucial fact that, for both commercial and social marketers, it is the combination of the 'marketing mix' elements (i.e. product, price, place and promotion) which will effect behavioural change. So what can we expect from communication and what objectives can be set for advertising and other elements of the promotional mix? In order to answer these questions we have to have some understanding of how promotion, and specifically advertising, works.

There are many advertising models and frameworks and they all have their critics. One approach is to focus on the stages which consumers move through as their attitudes towards the product develops. These are based on the attitude model which was discussed in Section 3.4, i.e. the cognitive–affective–conative model. See Figure 7.

Figure 7 Hierarchy of effects models

  • The AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) model was originally designed to illustrate the stages which a salesperson should take the customer through and has subsequently been adopted as an explanation of how advertising works.

  • The DAGMAR model (defining advertising goals for measured advertising results) provides communications tasks which are specific and measurable using a four-stage approach, i.e. awareness, comprehension, conviction and action.

  • Similarly, the hierarchy of effects model (awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase) is based on the idea that advertising will guide potential consumers through a number of stages which are essential if purchase (or other required behaviour) is to result.

There are many criticisms of these sequential models:

  • behaviour can precede the other elements of attitude for some decisions.

  • a favourable attitude and positive intention does not necessarily result in purchase.

  • the length of time which consumers take to move through the stages is unclear.

  • how are these stages to be measured, e.g. how would you measure conviction?

  • similar to the general criticism of the marketing mix approach is the focus on the consumer as a passive recipient of messages rather than one who will actively engage in information search and is also likely to reject messages which are inconsistent with current attitudes.

  • later approaches to communication theory have added other sources of information which impact on the target market. In particular the role of opinion leaders and word-of-mouth communication from peer groups and others are important determinants of whether consumers will act on the basis of formal communications from marketers.

Although there are many issues in explaining how advertising (and other forms of communication) works and many other factors (e.g. the role of memory, the level of involvement with the product) have been included in subsequent models and examined in research studies – the sequential or stage approach can contribute to our understanding of the role of marketing communications. As with most theories and frameworks we have to ensure that the approach is relevant to the specific purpose and problem we are looking at and that we are aware of the limitations.

The role of brands and branding

Keller distinguishes between a 'small-b brand' as defined by the American Marketing Association:

name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition 

and the industry/practitioner definition of 'a big-B brand'. For the latter it is the amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, etc. which creates the brand. The strategic role of brands cannot be over estimated. As described above, they provide the basis for differentiation. They also enable organisations to charge a price premium and act as a barrier to market entry for potential competitors. Some of the best known and earliest brands exist in those markets in which social marketers seek to intervene and change behaviour, for example, registration of some cigarette brand names: Dunhill, 1907; Camel, 1913; Marlboro, 1924; and Philip Morris, 1933. In the fast food sector McDonalds was established in 1937 and Burger King in 1954. By contrast some of the brand names associated with social objectives are more recent, for example, Friends of the Earth in 1969 and Greenpeace in 1971.

The following figure illustrates how we, as consumers, have various levels of relationships with brands. At the base level we are interested in the product benefits. These are something which we think about and can be learned from advertising. Second, advertising can lead us to assign a personality to the brand. McDonalds is a good example. since their overt and very successful campaign led many people, and particularly children, to assign the brand personality of the cheerful Ronald McDonald to the company and its products. Finally, the consumer develops emotional bonds with the product/brand. Belch and Belch describe how McCann-Erikson (one of the world's largest advertising agencies) has adopted this approach, believing that the creation of emotional bonds through advertising is essential to a positive psychological movement towards the product/brand and will reduce the potential for switching behaviour. Such emotional bonding with McDonalds could be achieved through the association with children's parties and happy family gatherings in which McDonalds staff and products play a part.

Figure 8 Levels of relationships with brands

One question for social marketers is how to use the power of branding for social aims and objectives. Additionally, to what extent is the social marketer's role to break the emotional bonds we have with organisations such as McDonalds or to build bonds with social marketing brands?

Unit questions

Try to answer the following questions:


Question 1

What is meant by 'social cognitive theory'?


Answer

Social cognitive theory describes how an individual's behaviour is determined by environmental factors such as family and friends, the individual's personal characteristics, perceptions of and interactions with the environment. An approach to adapting social cognitive theory to health behaviours is illustrated in Figure 1, and is also discussed in Hastings, Chapter 2.


Question 2

Why is it important for social marketers to understand this?


Answer

Social cognitive theory explains how people acquire and maintain behaviours. Social marketing programmes and interventions aim to change behaviour for the achievement of social goals. An understanding of the determinants of behaviour is therefore essential for the design of effective interventions.


Question 3

What is meant by 'moving upstream' in social marketing?


Answer

Upstream organisations and individuals include policy makers, politicians, regulators, educators, etc. This contrasts with downstream which relates to those whose behaviour change is the goal of social marketing activity. By influencing those upstream, social marketers can help to effect legislative, policy, attitudinal and behavioural change of key actors such as medical, social and educational workers, which will ultimately impact on the focal behaviours of the end consumer.


Question 4

Effective social marketing communications require consistency of messages. Fill describes six elements which combine to produce an integrated communications programme. List the elements.


Answer

  • Advertising

  • Sales promotion

  • Public relations/publicity

  • Personal selling

  • Direct marketing

  • Interactive/internet marketing

Conclusion

This unit aimed to answer four key questions about social marketing:

  1. Why is a social marketing approach relevant and necessary in today's environment?
  2. How can an understanding of consumer/human behaviour help to develop appropriate actions and interventions?
  3. Who are the target markets for social marketing programmes?
  4. What is the role of marketing communications and branding in achieving behavioural change?

Social marketing aims to achieve behavioural change across a wide range of issues which are crucial to the wellbeing of individuals, groups, communities and the planet. By understanding the motivations of individuals and organisations and the factors which influence this, social marketing programmes can be developed to influence and achieve behavioural change. There are many techniques and approaches which are available to the social marketer; in particular, the role of stakeholder analysis, market segmentation, marketing communications and branding have been highlighted in this unit. There are many other important areas which have not been directly addressed, for example, the crucial role of research in developing insight into consumer and organisational behaviour, the social marketing planning process, the nature of relationship marketing, and the role of service organisations in the delivery of social marketing programmes.