Social Marketing

Martine Stead and Mark Grindle

Institute for Social Marketing

University of Stirling and The Open University

www.ism.stir.ac.uk

ISM Institute for Social Marketing

A collaboration between the University of Stirling and The Open University

Founded in 1979

Our partner unit the Centre for Tobacco Control Research is funded by Cancer Research UK.

Uses marketing ideas and tools to improve health and society

Examines the impact of commercial marketing

on health and society

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Stirling

Where we are – University of Stirling

What is social marketing?

What does the term ‘social marketing’ suggest to you?

Some History

1952: Why can’t you sell brotherhood like you sell soap?

Wiebe noted that sellers of soap are generally more effective than those ‘selling’ social causes

He analysed 4 social change campaigns, and found that the more they resembled product campaigns, the more successful they were

Ideas and tools used in commercial marketing can be used ‘for good’ – to influence behaviour positively, to benefit individuals and society

as a whole

2000s 2010s

Programmes in developing countries (eg. China, India, Phillippines, Kenya) to promote use of condoms, contraceptive pills, mosquito nets, oral rehydration

1970s 1980s 1990s

Growing number of programmes in Aus/NZ, USA, UK to promote lifestyle change - diet, smoking, physical activity, road safety etc

Growing interest outside health eg. pro-environmental behaviour

Increasing government interest (eg. UK Dept of Health, National Social Marketing Centre)

?

Social marketing is:

“The application of commercial marketing

technologies to the analysis, planning,

execution and evaluation of programs designed

to influence the voluntary behaviour of target

audiences in order to improve their personal

welfare and that of their society” (Andreasen 1995)

• A process for designing programmes• Which influence behaviour voluntarily• Using marketing techniques• For social good

Another way of looking at it:

Show the benefits

Remove the barriers Create social norms (‘everyone’s doing it’)

Social marketing is NOT one particular intervention approach – it’s a framework for solving problems and making decisions

This means that every social marketing intervention is different

But they all share six defining characteristics:

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

3. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

4. EXCHANGE

5. COMPETITION

6. MARKETING MIX

Six defining characteristics of social marketing

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

Successful marketing is all about keeping in touch with consumers – their lives, their values, what interests and excites them

Successful marketers have this consumer insight, and use it to create powerfully appealing brands, products and services

The UK beer company Carling realised that what young men seek on an evening out is a feeling of camaraderie, being a ‘lad in the pack’, sociability, togetherness

Its marketing strategy is all about delivering “enhanced sociability”

It delivers this by:

Associating the brand with friendship, togetherness, belonging

Supporting music gigs and festivals

Sponsoring football

Interactive marketing (web, SMS, viral) which ‘challenges’ groups of men to do and share silly activities

Making young men feel good about themselves

Carling: Brand Planning Document

Carling: Brand Planning Document

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHHfynLYW1I

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

But what have starlings and beer got to do with social marketing?

Social marketing works best where it understands consumers in the same way – and where it can offer equally appealing benefits

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

The core of social marketing is ‘starting where the consumer is - understanding how they see the world – ‘putting yourself in their shoes’

How do we get this consumer insight?We do research (usually qualitative) to understand our consumers

Consumer insight: low income smokers, Glasgow 1999

“

[Stead et al, Health and Place 2001]

‘‘Ma family, ma whole family smokes’’‘‘Ma wee sister, she’s 12’’

‘‘I’ve caught ma little brother smokin’’’‘‘I think the biggest majority o’ people

around me smoke than don’t’’(Females, 18-24)

“You’re unemployed, and you’re just sitting there - it’s [smoking] somethin’ tae do’’

(Male, 18–24)“It’s as if you’re locked in”

(Female, 25-44)

“My tea an’ ma fag [cigarette]. That’s our

night out – our night in” (Female, 25-44)

“To relax. It’s a laugh …it gives you confidence

… just happier.”(Female, 15-16)

Consumer insight: Young drinkers, Scotland, 2001

“We won’t be drinking like this forever.”

(Female, 15-16)

“Atmosphere.”“Cheap drink.”

“Having a laugh.”“Friends to dance with.”

“Alcohol.”“As cheap a night as possible.”

(Female, 17-19)

[MacAskill et al, Scottish Government, 2001]

Consumer insight: University students who don’t drink alcohol

“If you are stone cold sober and there are a lot of people

who are drunk, yeah it’s different, it’s not a pleasant

experience.”

“I make a bit of a joke about it” [previously had acute pancreatitis as

a result of excessive drinking]

“You’re encouraged to get drunk, I think…the way the socials [social events] are arranged, they’re all arranged around

drinking…so you can’t really escape from it.”

[Piacentini et al, J Business Research, 2009]

Consumer insight: school children talking about what they want from school drug education

Information which is personally relevant, which they will use

Educators to tell the truth about drugs

To hear from people with firsthand experience of drugs

To have their opinions valued and be taken seriously

Stories which make them think and engage their emotions

To feel safe in the classroom – to be able to express views and share experiences without being judged or getting into trouble

[Stead et al, Drugs: Education Prevention & Practice, 2010]

How do we build on this consumer insight?

By identifying what it is that consumers are really looking for

By developing offerings which will appeal to and be meaningful to them

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Six essential attributes of social marketing

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Social marketing is an approach for understanding and changing behaviour

Success is more likely where behavioural change objectives are specific, realistic and measurable

‘Drink moderately’ OR

‘Drink a glass of water between every alcoholic drink’

Sometimes the behaviour which needs to be changed is not that of the consumer / public / patient, but that of:

• Practitioners (doctors, nurses, teachers, youthworkers….)

• Retailers• Policy makers• ….

Social marketing can be used ‘upstream’ to influence services, practices and policies

Where the target consumers are practitioners, policymakers, stakeholders, retailers etc….

…the same consumer insight principles apply in dealing with them:

• what motivates them? • what do they need? • what barriers do they face? • what’s the best offering we can deliver?

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

3. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

Six essential attributes of social marketing

3. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

Ideally, each consumer should be treated differently and made a unique offering

This isn’t practical, so consumers are grouped according to similarity of needs/desires

The social marketer then decides which segments will become targets

Possible segmentation variables

Personal Characteristics: age, gender, socio-economic status, location, occupation….

Behaviour: current behaviour, past behaviour or proximity to the desired behaviour; risk status

Beliefs and attitudes: why people do as they do at present, the benefits they seek…..

The same principles of segmentation apply if we are targeting policymakers, practitioners etc

The decision regarding which SEGMENT to TARGET should be made on the basis of:

• Viability (is the segment large enough to justify the effort?)

• Accessibility (Can the segment be reached?)

• Responsiveness (Is the segment likely to respond?)

Social marketers have less flexibility than other marketers in choosing our target segments

Funding and policies require us often to engage with the ‘most difficult’ groups…

…OR to be ‘universal’

But we can still be strategic:

- by offering different types of support, activities and messages within one overall programme

- by choosing our activities and messages so that they appeal most to one particular segment, even if they are seen by/available to all

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

3. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

4. EXCHANGE

Six essential attributes of social marketing

4. MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL EXCHANGE

The core mechanism of marketing is exchange

In commercial marketing, the customer gives their money and time in exchange for the benefits delivered by the product or service

In social marketing, the consumer gives up a behaviour, or modifies their behaviour, or adopts a new behaviour, in exchange for the benefits delivered by the new behaviour

If we want people to give up an enjoyable behaviour, we need to offer them something equally compelling in return

[MacAskill et al 2002, Social Marketing Quarterly]

“You can’t just take cigarettes away from

somebody and not give them something back”

It’s the benefit as defined by the target consumer which matters, not as defined by the expert

So we use our consumer insight to identify what these benefits are

Commercial marketers understand, from their consumer insight, that the benefits which people seek from products are more than functional: that they seek emotional benefits such as status, identity, validation…

Tobacco companies, in their own words:

“Young adult smokers are looking for reassurance that they are doing the right thing, and …. are also searching for an identity. Cigarettes have a key role to play as they are an ever-present statement of identity.” (Rothmans, 1998)

The Silk Cut King Size pack was described by women as ‘classy, elegant and refined’ and ‘a sophisticated accessory’, that ‘helps to assuage guilt about smoking’ (HDP, 1998)

UK tobacco documents (www.tobaccopapers.com)

Going back to the consumers we looked at earlier, what exchange could we offer them?

Low income smokers: alternative forms of ‘me time’

Young drinkers: feel-good social opportunities not focused on drinking to excess

Young non-drinkers: validation of their non-drinking identity

Schoolchildren: engaging and relevant drug education

Exchange also applies when we think about other target groups:

Teacher: ‘I need a new way of doing drug education with my pupils – they’re bored, I don’t feel comfortable with the subject, it isn’t working!’

Retailer: ‘I need another way of bringing customers into my shop if I can’t promote tobacco any more’

Policymaker: ‘I need convincing that there’d be public support for tighter controls on alcohol’

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

3. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

4. EXCHANGE

5. COMPETITION

Six essential attributes of social marketing

5. COMPETITION

Competition always exists - your target group can always choose to do something else

What is the value of your ‘product’ (behaviour change) compared to the competing products (behaviours)?

How can you minimise the competition?

What competition exists to

Drinking non-alcoholic drinks on a

night out in Oslo?

Different types of competition: ‘eating an apple’

Alternative behaviours (instead of eating an apple I could eat crisps; instead of eating fruit I could take vitamin pills)

Current behaviour (I don’t want to change how I eat)

Inertia (It’s too much effort to eat an apple)

The wider environment (It’s easier to buy crisps than apples; crisps are attractively marketed)

Identity and image (I’m not the sort of person who eats apples; I won’t look cool eating an apple)

1. CONSUMER INSIGHT

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

3. SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

4. EXCHANGE

5. COMPETITION

6. MARKETING MIX

Six essential attributes of social marketing

6. MARKETING MIX

Product Price

Place Promotion

Building on consumer orientation insights into the target group, and the benefits (exchange) and barriers (competition) they face, a strategy is developed to bring about the desired behaviour change.

This uses the Marketing Mix, or ‘Four Ps’:

Product:The core offering

Place: The places and distribution channels through which people can engage with or access the intervention/service

Price: The cost of making the behaviour change – financial, emotional, psychological, social….

Promotion: The supporting messages, images, branding – the tone conveyed by our programme, campaign or service

Stoke on Trent, England: social marketing approach to smoking in pregnancy and early years

The problem: • Disadvantaged area, high rates of smoking

during pregnancy

• Existing smoking cessation service was not successful in attracting women or helping them to quit

The desired behaviour change was: women to access the service, set a date for quitting, and be still quit 4 weeks later

Consumer insight research found that women

knew all the harmful effects of smoking and that they ‘should’ stop, but found it hard to imagine life without the benefits of smoking. They smoked because it was a treat, a luxury, ‘me time’

The main competition was the image of the service, which was seen as unfriendly, inflexible and ‘medical’ in its approach to helping smokers to quit

Rather than just targeting ‘pregnant smokers’, the service identified different segments, including women who had accessed the service in the past but not managed to quit

The exchange which women sought was something to replace smoking as a treat, a luxury, ‘me time’

The intervention delivered this exchange through the marketing mix:

The ‘product’ (offering) was an opportunity for women at which women could share fun activities and have ‘me time’ – a friendly, welcoming club with an open door policy

More flexible times and formats (place)

The emotional price of accessing the intervention (fear of failing or of being criticised) was reduced by training professionals to be encouraging and non-judgmental

Language was made more welcoming (‘club’ not ‘service’, ‘invite’ not ‘refer’), and the values were communicated through branding and materials (promotion)

So to sum up

• Social marketing is about putting yourself in the consumer’s shoes

• Understanding what benefits they seek and what barriers they face

• Being strategic about targeting• Addressing the competition• Using all the Ps to make behaviour

change fun, easy and popular

Find out more

National Social Marketing Centre http://thensmc.com/

Scottish Social Marketing toolkit:http://www.socialmarketing-scottishtoolkit.com/

Social Marketing Quarterly journal

Gerard Hastings book Social Marketing: Why should the Devil have all the best tunes?