> WORD FROM THE WISE
“The current economic climate is ripe for social marketing to play
a much more central role in encouraging changes in consumer behaviour across key areas that can generate significant long-term benefits for society as a whole,” he says. “If implemented correct- ly, social marketing campaigns offer cost-effective, measurable returns. This is particularly important at a time when budgets are being squeezed and both public and private sector organisations everywhere are under increasing pressure to do more with less. “It also represents a significant opportunity for the marketing community at large to get more involved as government social marketing and corporate CSR spend continues to grow.” A renowned expert in behaviour intervention and social market-
ing, French is a professor at London’s Brunel University, Brighton University and a fellow at King’s College London. He also teaches at a number of other third-level institutions throughout the UK. Over the past 20 years he has developed and managed count-
less behavioural and social marketing programmes that have been used successfully at international, national, regional and local level. Currently chief executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd, he also acts as principal advisor to the National Social Marketing Centre, the UK Department of Health and the National Council for Palliative Care Dying Matters Coalition, and is on the advisory board of the recently-formed Global Social Marketing Association. He led the UK government-commissioned two-year independ-
ent review into behavioural intervention and social marketing strat- egy, which resulted in the 'It's Our Health!' report in 2006. The rec- ommendations from this have since been used as the basis of sev- eral health-related strategic social marketing campaigns across the UK. A former teacher, French began working in the public health
sector more than a quarter of a century ago where he witnessed first-hand government attempts to drive behavioural change across a range of health-related issues. It was there that he first discovered the benefits of marketing and later social marketing, which has since become a lifelong passion. “I saw how effective social marketing can be in driving behav-
ioural changes for the common good,” he explains. “It is extreme- ly rewarding to be involved in something that can improve people’s lives and bring such far-reaching benefits to society as whole.”
20 Marketing Age Volume 5 Issue 1 2011
Social marketing Social marketing is defined as the systematic application of mar- keting combined with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals for the social good. The concept has been around since the 1970s, when US-based marketing gurus Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realised that the same marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to sell ideas and attitudes and, thereby, promote behavioural change. Over the past 40 years social marketing has been used to pro-
mote that change in key areas such as public health, crime pre- vention and environmental probity. The concept has also been used successfully in developing nations to combat issues such as HIV, malaria, smoking and road safety. Perhaps the key difference between traditional and social
marketing, in its original definition at least, is that the latter seeks to influence consumer behaviour not for the benefit of the marketer, but for consumers themselves and, by exten- sion, for society in general. However, changing consumer buying habits, influenced by considerations such as care for the environment and fair trade amongst others, mean that the two are no longer mutually exclusive and portraying a positive socially-responsible image has become increasingly important for all businesses. “CSR-related marketing spend is set to grow significantly in the
coming years,” says French. “Many large organisations will be looking to place themselves at the heart of the community and align themselves with the core values and concerns of their cus- tomers and be seen to be providing social value. Many of these corporates will link up with public sector bodies on critical cam- paigns which, in turn, will provide an opening for both the wider marketing profession and especially social media exponents to become more involved in the area.”
Systematic approach A key facet of social marketing is its emphasis on systems and process. This is vital in helping to accurately define issues, plot potential solutions, implement actions and then measure results,
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