There are numerous definitions of the term ‘framing’ in social sciences. The many definitions arise from the fact that the term is used in various aspects of life. Framing is not only commonly used in social sciences, but it is also used in communication, marketing, business, and advertising.
Hurlstone et al. (2014) explain that the most widely accepted definition of the term framing is that it is a way of creating, designing, and projecting messages in an attempt to communicate reality as believed at that particular moment.
Thus, framing can be used in political communication, in mass media and public speaking, and in sensitization messages. This essay develops the concept of framing in an attempt to come up with a customized, yet applicable, definition of the term. In addition, the article discusses the impact of framing in various aspects of social life.
Framing and Communication
Xue (2015) explains that in order to communicate one has to draft the message in a way that can be received and interpreted in the way the sender desired. This is only possible if the sender has to frame the message to fit the educational level of the receiver and the channel being used. Therefore, the two aspects are also part of framing.
The educational level of the receiver is important in framing and communication because it profoundly determines the understating of the message. For example, in a classroom, the teacher is the sender of the message in most cases, and the students are the receivers. It is expected that the teacher has an extensive vocabulary than the students.
The teacher will have to tone down the vocabulary to a level that the students can understand to communicate effectively with his or her students.
In terms of the channel used, it is important that the characteristics of the channel be considered before the message is sent. Imagine a billboard; many people just have a few seconds to look at a billboard. Thus, any writing on the board should be read in a few seconds.
If someone writes a whole paragraph on the board, then the message will not be received as desired because part of it will not be read. Therefore, framing allows the advertiser to use as few words as possible to say everything they want to say, thereby allowing the target audience to read the whole message.
Pavey and Churchill (2014) explain that framing in communication can be analysed in a positive and a negative manner. The audience and the content of the message shape framing to be positive or negative.
For example, in political campaigns, messages that are sent out tend to target low-income families because they are the biggest voting economic block in many countries. Thus, the messages will be simplified, full of pure humour, and try to excite the people on how the candidate will help their situation.
Many countries, especially the third world countries, have had unfair elections. Some have even fought during elections. It would be correct to argue that the wars and tension are caused by messages being passed around (Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012).
Politicians all over the world have been accused of framing messages to give negative comments. In addition, the concept of hate speech has also proven that framing of political messages can be negative in nature. As mentioned, farming can also be positive.
Bruijn, Out, and Rhodes (2014) explain that messages can be framed to congratulate, console, agree, and bless. Such activities are very positive in nature.
It suffices to mention that framing has also been referred to as emphasis frames in some situations (Jacks & Lancaster, 2015). When emphasis is put in a word, phrase or sentence, then the message has been framed so.
For example, if a man tells his friend, “No, he fired ME!” and another man tells his friend “NO! He fired me”, then the two men mean different things. The sentence might be the same, but the emphasis placed on different words makes the receiver of the message decode the message according to the emphasis.
In the first sentence, the sender means that he was the only one who got fired. Moreover, he is not happy about it because he cannot possibly imagine that he is the one who was fired. It could be that he expected someone else to get fired. The receiver of this sentence will decode it after the stressed “ME”.
Looking at the second sentence, one will notice that the stress is on “NO”. Thus, the receiver will decode the message to mean that there was another option apart from being fired. If the second sender meant what the first sender said, then the framing effect would be wrong, and there would be miscommunication.
Framing and Marketing
Marketing and advertising go hand in hand. As mentioned, framing is crucial in advertising. Marketing campaigns use framing to hit the nail on the head with the fewest words possible. An example of a major marketing campaign can be used to elaborate this statement further.
Cigarette advertising has been banned for a while now in many countries. In fact, many of the adverts about cigarette smoking are about its ill effects on health. However, before the ban, there was one media campaign that was very common; that of a Marlboro man smoking cigarettes.
The man appeared to be from the Wild West; thus, he was perceived by the audience to be strong and manly. The campaign was framed to expose ‘maleness’, strength, and being macho when one smoked the brand. People started smoking cigarettes because they wanted to be associated with the man in the advertisement.
Today, however, the same Marlboro man is used to stop cigarette smoking. Adverts that have the man show him talking to his horse explaining how they regret smoking because it has affected their health. This example can also be used to show how framing can be both positive and negative.
Framing was negative when it encouraged smoking, while it became positive when it started discouraging smoking (Point Reyes Station, 2010).
In the same breath, framing has been used in marketing to ensure the sale of products. Yan (2015) reveals that customers buy things they are convinced to buy. There are three main ways through which an individual is convinced to buy something.
The first is through the word of mouth, where a friend or family member tells the individual about the product. The second way is through advertising and marketing campaigns, while the third way is through curiosity (Churchill, Good, & Pavey, 2014).
Given that companies cannot control word of mouth and curiosity as much as they want, they mainly focus on advertising and marketing campaigns. Frame Work Institute (2005) explains that there are several things that have to be considered when framing a message for marketing.
These are the context, numbers, messengers, visuals, metaphors, and tone. The context means the place and time in which the message will be passed. For example, marketing campaigns that involve a lot of dancing and music will never start in the morning. In the same breath, marketing beer will go hand in hand with dancing and music.
However, marketing a flour package will not. The numbers refer to the people who the message targets. If the number is smaller, then the message can be customized even further. The people who pass the message also matter. For example, women who have very nice hair will do the marketing of a feminine hair product.
The sender of the marketing message also has to think about the visuals, if there will be any that can make the campaign more successful. Cox et al. (2014) assert that there are some adverts that do not use words, but simple visuals to pass their message.
Additionally, the metaphors and tones that are used in the message have to go hand in hand with the meaning. For example, the advert of a painkiller will have a serious tone or a sick tone showing sickness and a happy tone showing relief.
However, it would be ironic to have a pleasant tone when the person is in pain or a sad tone throughout the advert.
Framing and Political Campaigns
Kopp (2006) argues that political campaigns are full of propaganda. Using this argument, it would be correct to state that framing in political campaigns is done to enhance propaganda. There are four main types of framing used in political campaigns, according to Kopp (2006). The first is the denial of information.
The scholar explains that many political campaigns tend to make ‘sufficient noise like’ arguments that are hard to decode. This is usually done in the wrong channel so that the receiver is also unable to hear properly.
Denial in political campaigns also relies on framing. Politicians call each other out and then go ahead and deny the accusations made against them. The politicians have to make sure that their denials stick in order to convince the public of their innocence.
This can only be done if the message sent is short and precise. Gainforth, Cao, and Latimer-Cheung (2012) add that denial does not have to be outright. Destruction of the opponent can also do it. Thus, the accused individual can destroy the reputation of his or her accuser in order to avoid further embarrassment.
Nan et al. (2015) also agree that corruption is part of farming in a political campaign. Politicians have been known to buy votes. The practice is done directly because it is illegal. The messages that are passed are usually hidden in colloquial languages and other metaphors that only the involved can understand.
The last type of framing used in political campaigning is subversion. Kopp (2006) defines subversion as the incorporation of information that helps the system self-destruct. In fact, it is arguable that this is the most common type of framing in politics today. One just has to start a rumour and let it grow.
The rumour will eventually raise other issues due to the already shady personality associated with many politicians, thereby causing self-destruction to the politician.
Adverts on political parties and campaigns also use framing to be effective. For example, during President Obama’s campaign, the adverts had one punch line; “Yes we can”. The punch line was short, catchy, and positive; thus, it became very common among the voters.
Impact and Role of Framing
Drawing from the discussion presented, framing is critical in marketing and politics. All messages are framed, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. There are various impacts of framing that rely on whether the message being passed is positive or negative.
However, it is important to know the role of framing before a discussion on the implications of framing is given.
Kao et al. (2013) explain that the major role of framing is to enhance communication by ensuring that the message sent is received as expected. In addition, another role of framing is to manage time in communication. As mentioned, there are times when the time for communication is limited, for example, in advertising.
In such cases, the message has to be shortened, but retains the same impact a longer version would. Farming is used to achieve this objective.
One impact of framing is its effect on behaviour. Using the marketing campaign already mentioned, farming encouraged people to start smoking and discouraged them from smoking too. It is due to this impact on behaviour that framing is studied under social sciences as well, not just in communication.
Similarly, President Obama’s “Yes we can” campaign was not only used for the political campaign, but also in other aspects of life. It was adopted by many non-governmental organizations to encourage people caught in difficult situations.
Looking at Obama’s political campaign, his slogan changed the way people voted because it helped them believe in his presidency.
Framing also makes communication easy. As mentioned, the sender of the message has to know the characteristics of the receiver in order to frame the message in an appropriate way. One of the biggest causes of miscommunication is the misunderstanding caused by language use.
If a mother talks to a baby in technical terms after the baby has done something wrong, then the child will not understand anything and probably make the mistake again.
The mother has to speak to the child in simple language using things that the child can understand to ensure that the child understands. This will most likely make the baby avoid the mistake in the future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, framing is imperative because it shapes communication. Everything that is done in the society depends on proper communication.
Thus, framing can be defined as the careful alignment of words and phrases to pass messages of reality in the exact way desired by the sender and received in a similar fashion by the receiver of the message. The characteristics of both the sender and the receiver are considered in the process.
The main role of framing is to enhance communication. It also ensures that the time given for communication is spent wisely. Two of the most prominent areas of society that depend on framing are marketing and politics. In marketing, messages are framed to help sell a product.
The messages are usually short, contain many adjectives, and can include propaganda. In the same breath, political campaigns rely on farming to enhance propaganda.
Reference List
Frameworks Institute 2005, Framing public issues, Frameworks Institute, Washington, DC.
Kopp, C 2006, ‘Considerations on deception techniques used in political and product marketing,’ Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Point Reyes Station 2010, ‘Smoking: Just say no,’ The Economist, p.1
Hurlstone, M, Lewandowsky, S, Newell, B, & Sewell, B 2014, ‘The effect of framing and normative messages in building support for climate policies’, Plos ONE, 9, 12, pp. 1-19,
Xue, F 2015, ‘Message framing and collectivistic appeal in green advertising—a study of Chinese consumers’, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 152-166.
Pavey, L, & Churchill, S 2014, ‘Promoting the avoidance of high-calorie snacks: priming autonomy moderates message framing effects’, Plos ONE, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1-8.
Bruijn, G, Out, K, & Rhodes, R 2014, ‘Testing the effects of message framing, kernel state, and exercise guideline adherence on exercise intentions and resolve’, British Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 871-885.
Jacks, J, & Lancaster, L 2015, ‘Fit for persuasion: the effects of nonverbal delivery style, message framing, and gender on message effectiveness’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 203-213.
Yan, C 2015, ‘Persuading people to eat less junk food: a cognitive resource match between attitudinal ambivalence and health message framing’, Health Communication, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 251-260.
Cox, A, Cox, D, Zimet, G, Van ’t Riet, J, De Bruijn, G, Van den Putte, B, De Vries, H, Werrij, M, & Ruiter, R 2014, ‘Does perceived risk influence the effects of message framing? A new investigation of a widely held notion’, Psychology & Health, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 933-949.
Gainforth, H, Cao, W, & Latimer-Cheung, A 2012, ‘Message framing and parents’ intentions to have their children vaccinated against HPV’, Public Health Nursing, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 542-552.
Nan, X, Zhao, X, Yang, B, & Iles, I 2015, ‘Effectiveness of cigarette warning labels: examining the impact of graphics, message framing, and temporal framing’, Health Communication, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 81-89.
Kao, D, Chuang, S, Wang, S, & Zhang, L 2013, ‘Message framing in social networking sites’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 753-760.
Gallagher, K, & Updegraff, J 2012, ‘Health message framing effects on attitudes, intentions, and behavior: a meta-analytic review’, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 101-116.
Churchill, S, Good, A, & Pavey, L 2014, ‘Promoting the avoidance of high-calorie snacks. The role of temporal message framing and eating self-efficacy’, Appetite, vol. 80, pp. 131-136.
A good number of developing nations promote foreign investment in their countries. This is because such investments serve as a source of employment. However, various countries have become more concerned with issues of mistreatment of their citizens who choose to work with multinational companies.
Several governments have also remained cautious with regard to practices of multinational companies. Many claims that multinational companies exploit the natural resources, as well give unfair competition to the domestic companies.
In the recent past, majority of developing and developed nations raised contentious questions as to whether policies should be enacted to safeguard countries interest given that most foreign companies tend to practice unfair business.
Although several disadvantages are associated with foreign investment, majority of governments still believe that foreign companies stand a chance to improve the living standard of a country. High living standards arise from reduced level of unemployment.
In order to identify a resourceful foreign company, an in-depth analysis should be conducted regarding the company, as well as the industry where it operates. This paper is set to discuss about Foxconn Company that is based in Taiwan. The government is considering whether Foxconn, which operates in the electronic manufacturing industry, is a suitable multinational company.
The Electronics manufacturing industry
These electronic industry services relate to designing, assessing, manufacturing, distributing, as well as providing services to electronic components. These services also extend to assembling manufactured products for various clients.
Although the electronic manufacturing industry experienced financial difficulties during the recession period, the industry is expected to recover from the economic difficulties in the near future.1 According to the Consumer Electronic Association, the industry revenues are expected to exceed $200 billion by the end of the year 2012.
Estimations made by the New Venture Research projects that the industry revenue will increase from 350 billion in the year 2011 to 478 billion in the year 2014. However, a number of questions have been raised over the expanding issues with regard to companies that have their investments in the electronic manufacturing industry.
Several analysts in the electronic manufacturing have argued that innovation will most likely spur growth in the electronic sector. Innovative products in the market such as tablets and smart phones are expected to witness huge profits from consumers who demand electronics that are more customized.
Consumer Electronics Association anticipates that wireless handsets will as well experience growth in 2012. Among the group of handsets, Smartphone is expected to experience the highest growth. As per the CEA estimates, Smartphone is expected to experience growth of twenty percent hence hitting revenue of $24 billion at the end of the year 2012.
Foxconn Company
Foxconn is a multinational company that is currently headquartered in Tucheng, Taiwan. The company specializes in manufacturing electronic products. Foxconn has clients in various countries including Europe, Japan and the US. Being the original designer and manufacturer of the electronic components, the company normally distributes finished products to a number of companies situated in different countries worldwide.
The types of products manufactured by Foxconn include I phone, Wii, I Pad and Xbox 360. Amongst the exporters of the Foconn’s products, China emerges as the largest exporter. In China, Foxconn is regarded as the largest employer in the private sector. It has employed both skilled and non-skilled employees in different sections of the company.
Although Foxconn is has reduced the rate of unemployment in China, the Company has faced a number of controversies regarding the working conditions of the employees. The Fair Labour Association was instructed by Apple to inspect the management of Foxconn.
Unlike other public companies, Foxconn trades its shares in a number of stock markets such as the TWSE, NASDAQ, SEHK and OTCB.2 Since its inception in the year 1974, the company has grown rapidly in the electronic manufacturing services industry to achieve global recognition.
Under the management of Mr. Terry Gou, who is presently the Chairman and President of the company, Foxcxonn revenue was able to hit $59.3 billion in the year 2010.
This was an increase of 4.1% relative to the revenue achieved in the year 2008. The company’s net income stood at $2.2 billion in the year 2010. This amount indicated an increase of 31.1% from the year 2008 value. The company closed the financial year 2010 with 1.2 million employees.
Main customers of Foxcon
The company has clients in various countries as mentioned in the previous sections of the paper. Currently, Foxconn has the largest number of customers in the US. Amongst the customers that are based in the US, include Cisco, Apple Inc, Intel, Dell, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. Other clients that are based in the US include Amazon, Motorola Mobility and Vozio.
Many other countries also have the company’s customers. For instance, in Japan the company has several clients including Sony, Toshiba and Nintendo.
Finland has Nokia while South Korea has Samsung Electronics.3 Domestically, Foxcon sells its manufactured electronic components to a Taiwan based company known as Acer Inc. The high number of reputable customers in the world has enabled Foxcon to achieve high revenue for the last twenty years.
Working Conditions
There have been a number of concerns over the poor working conditions of the company. The company has been accused on a number of occasions because of its long working hours. In China, the Taiwanese workers have been alleged of discriminating Chinese workers. This has led to poor working relationships at the company level.
Apple, which was called upon by the Fair Labour Association to inspect the Company working conditions, only managed to make an appraisal of the producer of the I Phones and I pods.4 The results found out that Foxconn complies with majority of sections provided by regulations guiding the employees working conditions.
The report only confirmed a few allegations concerning the underprivileged working conditions. However, concerns over the aloof working conditions gained momentum in 2012. Upon careful analysis of the working conditions in various sections of the company, it was found out that much of the media sources regarding the issue were fictional.
The Foxconn Global Code Conduct of Policy
Foxconn recognizes that as a member of the business community at the international level it should abide by the regulations concerning social and environmental responsibilities. Foxconn has an objective of complying with the international standards regarding its management.
Ethical issues
Foxconn has realized that to remain successful at the market, it should display high standards of ethics. These ethics include:
Business Integrity
The company has resorted to avoiding corruption and embezzlement at any level. The regulation as set out by the company provides that any contract or business deal, which will be associated with corruption and extortion, will be immediately terminated. In addition, a legal action will have to be taken.5 Any form of bribes or improper gratuities that have commercial value will not be accepted.
Disclosure of information
The company will disclose full information regarding its structure, performance and financial position. The disclosure of all information will be disclosed as per the international standards, as well as the established industry practices.
Fair Business and Competition
Regardless of where the company’s subsidiaries will be located, Foxconn will ensure fair business and competition are practiced. This will be done in order to evade unfair competition that leads to failure of similar companies in the industry. The company will ensure information that is fundamental to the customer or employee is safeguarded.
Human Rights and Labour
As per the regulations prepared by the Foxconn board of directors, the company is destined to ensure human rights of workers are treated with dignity.
It will also maintain all levels of human rights as outlined by the international community. This will include the most common standards such as ILO (International Labour Organization) and UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights).6 The standards provisions on labour include:
Free choice of employment
Forced and involuntary prison labour will not be accepted. The management insists that any form of work is to be voluntary, and any employee should have freedom to leave upon valid notice.
Upholding Children rights and young workers protection
The company has resorted not to use child labour in its processes of manufacturing. This implies that any person who has less than 16 years should not work with Foxconn. The company provisions state that any person who has not attained the minimum age of completing compulsory level of education should not be employed.
The company also states that it will not employ an individual who has not attained minimum age of employment as stated by laws and regulations of the country where Foxconn has located its facilities. Workers under the age of 18 years should not be allowed to work in risky sections in the company.
Women’s rights
The company has devoted to safeguard the rights of women with regard to health and working conditions. Women are provided with maternity leave and protection against discrimination and other aspects surrounding women.
The regulations provide that it is against the company’s regulations to terminate employment of a woman because of pregnancy. After the maternity leave, the women will be required back to the job at the same or equivalent position.
Minimum wages
The company’s regulations provide that the company will comply with minimum wages, legitimate authorized benefits and overtime hours as per the international working standards. The company’s regulations also provide that deduction on an individual’s salary, as a punishment will not be allowed.
Environment
Like other organizations in the electronic manufacturing sector, Foxconn also ensures its processes of manufacturing are in line with the environmental regulations.
The company will ensure that it operates within the precincts of the laws concerning recycling and disposal of waste products.7 The company also makes concerted efforts in advising its suppliers to comply with the requirements of the Green Partner Environmental Approval Program.
Conclusion
Given that Foxxon is one of the successful companies in the electronic manufacturing industry, it would be necessary for the government to consider its operations in the country. The company has strong presence at the global market.
Therefore, it would be prudent to choose it given that its high volume of sales will ensure that a good number of citizens get employment opportunities. The company also complies with various rules such as those relating to working conditions and environment.
This would mean that the company would not misuse resources or mistreat the employees of a foreign country. However, due to many accusations regarding discrimination by workers who have their origins in Taiwan, the company will turn out not to be the best multinational company to choose.
Bibliography
Andresen, Alan. Ethics in Social Marketing. Georgetown: Georgetown University Press, 2001.
Armstrong, Gary, Kotler Philip & Brannan Ross. Marketing: An introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009.
Cunningham, Barton. The stress management sourcebook. Los Angeles: Cengage Learning, 2010.
Daft, Richard. Organizational theory and design. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2010.
“Why can’t you sell brotherhood like we sell soap?” True. Selling soap and social cause are completely two separate things. However, recently marketing has observed a mingling of the two wherein organizations have associated themselves with a social cause to promote their brand. The trend to promote products or brands with a social cause is supposed to boost image as well as sales.
Industry buzz is social marketing establishes a firm as responsible and boosts consumer demand even during recession . Companies are putting their brand names with social causes like fighting breast cancer or AIDS awareness. But the real impetus of such campaigns and its effect on brands’ image is uncertain. Target customer profile of such cause related marketing is also uncertain.
However, the question related to social marketing arises is its effectiveness. Further, with advent of new media social marketing has attained a new platform where word-of-mouth campaigns through repeated click on “Like” and “Retweets” increases social awareness. Social marketing therefore assumes great importance for marketers, especially during recession, in order to recreate their brand image.
In this report, I will explore how social marketing influences others in their purchase decisions. In order to understand this, I undertake a literature review of journal articles, books, and online articles to understand the effectiveness of social marketing for brands and its effectiveness with the new media (e.g. Facebook).
The objectives of the report are delineated in the following points:
To find the demographic profile of those influenced by social marketing campaigns,
To prove how new media such as Facebook and text messages influences young consumers
To prove how social marketing increases public relations and improves customer loyalty.
Literature Review
In this section, I undertake a literature review on peer-reviewed journal articles and books to understand social marketing, its effectiveness, and the use of such marketing with help of new media. This section will also provide the demographic profile that is believed to be influenced most with social marketing through online or mobile campaigns.
Evolution of Social Marketing
Kotler and Levy raised the question in the sixties regarding the relevance of marketing as a socially useful tool. They were aiming to make marketing as a tool “serving and satisfying human needs”. Researchers mentioned fleeting references of the similarity or difference of marketing soap and goodwill or other such concepts earlier.
Social marketing was formally introduced in the marketing arena with the 1971 article of Kotler and Zaltman titled “Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Change.” The transition from a socially useful marketing process to social marketing was a logical concept that brought forth serious pressure on the marketing discipline to become for socially relevant and ethical .
The need for development of a non-conventional, socially conscious marketing strategy was found to be necessary due to the following reasons:
Increased needs of nonbusiness organizations for marketing services. Attacks on marketing’s negative impact on society. The emergence of exchange theory, the coalescence of social marketing oriented theory. And the decline of consensus-oriented perceptions of social reality.
Therefore, sue to the greater demand of socially responsible marketing strategy aiming at social causes, this gave marketers the possibility to work with government and non-profit organizations to promote social change programs. This demand for social marketing was found from parallel academic streams such as advertising and public relations .
Though there was a lot of demand and debate about social marketing in the 1970s, there was little scholarly work in the area apart from Kotler and Zaltman’s 1971 article. It was not until Lazer and Kelley (1973) and Richard Manoff (1975) social marketing literature was facing dearth of academic attention. Manoff (1975) wrote the book on social marketing who applied many principles from his experiences working in social change projects.
After these there was almost a stagnation of a decade before Kotler & Roberto published another book on social marketing and Fine a year later. However, in the decade of 1990s and later there is a modest body of literature that can be found on the subject – e.g. Andreasen (1994), Brenkert (2002), Guiniven (2009), Donovan & Henley (2010), etc. – and has contributed immensely to the discipline.
However, it is in the 1990s that ethical concerns regarding social marketing gained predominance in marketing literature. And recently in the last 5 years there is an increasing trend is understanding how social networking can become an effective tool for social marketing .
What is Social Marketing?
In order to understand the impact of social marketing on brands, it is important first to refresh our definition of marketing. Kotler and Zaltman defined marketing as an occurrence “when people become conscious of an opportunity to gain from a more careful planning of their exchange relations.”
Marketing management is a process that tries to ascertain the behaviour, preferences, desires, attitude, and wants of potential customers that may provide help in designing new products . Therefore, a marketing process is usually a dual process of selling the old product and creating the new one.
Social marketing is a marketing that was initially done to simply promote a social cause such as “Keep America Beautiful” or “Join the Peace Corps”. The aim of true advertisements was to inform and persuade. Kotler and Zaltman first introduced the concept in their 1971 article that established the definition of social marketing.
Kotler and Zaltman believes that social marketing is a strategy that definitely has an impact on brand advertisement, however, they raise the question as to how it can be used. Therefore, social marketing is defined as:
… the design, implementation, and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication, distribution, and marketing research.
So it is an intermingling of the social cause with the brand idea and merging them together to become one communication to the consumers. Therefore, the social cause becomes a prop with which the marketing campaign is propelled.
Andersean (1994) identified three problems with the definition put forth by Kotler and Zaltman (1971). First, the term “social marketing” was confusing at such as early stage when it was confused with “societal” marketing.
Second, their early discussion on social marketing did not mention explicitly if this form of marketing was solely for non-profit organizations or for both profit and non-profit organizations . Third, this definition limits the objective of marketing only to ‘influencing’. Pointing out these shortcomings of the first definition, Andreasen (1994) put forth an alternate definition of social marketing:
Social marketing is the adaption of commercial marketing technologies to programs designed to influence the voluntary behaviour of target audiences to improve their personal welfare and that of the society of which they are part.
First, this definition clearly shows that social marketing is just another adaptation of commercial marketing. Second, it demonstrates that social marketing aims at changing behaviour and not just influencing the behaviour. Third, social marketing’s aim is to extend benefit to the consumers or the society as a whole and not the marketer. This third point sets social marketing apart from commercial marketing, where the latter aims at deriving the benefit for the marketer and not the consumer.
How ethical is it?
Ethical prerogative for marketing campaigns has been traditionally been debated upon . Marketers have immense ethical and moral responsibility towards the stakeholders and all whom a marketing campaign affects . Social marketing aims at promoting social good. Ethics in social marketing assumes greater importance as this aims at marketing social goods.
However, this can be adopted by anybody who wants to reach that end. The Ku Klux Clan or the Nazi party to attain something that they believed to be social good could use this form of marketing. Therefore, Andreasen (1994) insists that the characteristics of such form of marketing must be clearly articulated, and social marketing should be used based on personal judgment.
Brenkert believes that social marketing faces greater challenges that are not faced by commercial marketing. As social marketing aims at solving social problems the ethical bindings of social marketing arises from the social ends it promotes. As the ends of social marketing are “social exchange” rather than “commercial exchange” therefore the ends at which these marketing campaigns are aimed at is extremely important.
Second issue that arises is that social marketing aiming at behavioural changes may lead to conscious moral changes, which may solve a problem just temporarily. Further social marketing aims at bringing forth change using marketing technique rather than political or social discourse, which removes democratic, and self-determination of the subjects .
Many authors have pointed out to ethical concerns in commercial marketing such as Kotler and Zaltman (1971), Andreasen (1994), and Bloom and Novelli . Donovan and Henley pointed out that the main ethical issue in case of social marketing is the issue of power. Bloom and Novelli (1981) essentially believed that social marketing treats some groups differently, which negates the egalitarian and anti-discriminatory principles of ethics.
Therefore, they point out that the process of differentiation between the target customers that brings the unethical element in social marketing. Andreasen (1994) believes it is the ends attained through social marketing that infuses the ethical question similar to the idea presented by Brenkett (2002). Therefore, it must be understood that social marketing is not an undesirable issue, but it therefore; the marketing of social causes should be done keeping the ethical concerns in mind.
Is social marketing beneficial to commercial marketers?
Many brands today are associating themselves with social causes and plunging into what is called “cause marketing”. In this, a firm or brand is typically associated with a social cause such as breast cancer, AIDS, or cyclone relief that is used as a tool to boost social image of the steely corporate image to the customers. There has been an increasing debate on the effectiveness of social marketing apart from the ethical concerns related social marketing discussed in the previous section.
Andreasen points out that researchers are presently undertaking a lot of empirical studies to understand the benefit of social marketing for commercial purposes. Many researchers have started to understand effectiveness of social marketing.
Rose et al. (2007) aimed at understanding the effectiveness of social marketing in influencing individuals’ behaviour. They studied 54 interventions that were filtered based on social marketing criteria. Their findings suggest that social marketing can be an effective tool for influencing individual behaviour.
Hastings & Saren try to understand the effectiveness assuming that social marketing tries to change consumer behaviour. They believe that social marketing tries to influence social behaviour of individuals. They also point out that individual behaviour being immensely influenced by environmental influences. It can be an effective part of social commercial marketing. in conclusion they agree with Andreasen and believe that social marketing will make an “enormous contribution in the growing field of critical marketing” .
Hoeffler and Keller argue that marketers have increasingly adopted “corporate societal marketing” and points out six ways how this can increase brand equity. They demonstrate that it can increase brand awareness, augment image of the brand, and band credibility, evokes feeling for the brand, increases a community feeling with brand and engages customers with the brand.
They point out that in order to use social marketing as a strong corporate marketing strategy, it is important to choose the cause carefully. They suggest that a cause can be chosen that has a ‘commonality’ with the brand, or ‘complimentarily’. The researchers use brief cases to demonstrate their point and show the effectiveness of associating brand with the right cause.
Strate points out with the aid of a beer marketing campaign using social marketing principles, that social marketing can actually bring forth change in the cultural and behaviour of the individuals. Further, this can also increase brand identification.
Hamlin and Wilson examine the effectiveness of cause related marketing for any brand. They see if linking commercial ventures with charitable causes can bring forth brand identity. This research designed an experiment to understand the ‘fit’ between the social causes and brand and effectiveness of social marketing. The result of the experimental research demonstrates that consumer’s perception regarding the cause related brand is not greatly improved.
They also show that there is not effective influence on the purchase decision of the consumers for a social cause related brand. This finding goes against the general view of other marketing researchers that social marketing has a great effect on the brand identity an image.
Some researchers like Cone, Feldman, & DaSilva and Rangan, Karim, and Sandberg believe that social marketing for commercial brands can be successful only through proper identification of the cause with which the brand is to be associated. For instance, Cone et al. (2003) mentions the campaign by ConAgra to fight child hunger. This according to them has been a successful campaign for the company. However, it is believed that too much of moralization can lead ot failure of a social marketing campaign (Rangan et al., 1996).
In a recent article published by Henderson and Arora researched the effectiveness to use embedded premium promotions wherein a certain percentage of the purchased quantity would be donated for a cause. Their research aimed at understanding if such promotions should be used for multi-category product brands.
Their findings suggest that in case multi-category product brands, there is no significant enhancement of brand attractiveness. However, they also show that such promotions are better in terms of return on investment sense than price promotions. Therefore, their findings suggest that embedded premium promotions are helpful for both brands and categories.
The study of empirical marketing researches on social marketing and its effectiveness demonstrates that social marketing is an effective tool that be used for commercial brands. Brand association with a cause helps in improving brand image and increase brand identity and engagement. Social marketing also bring forth individual behaviour change. Given this effectiveness of social marketing for marketing brands, it is important to understand the context of social marketing in new media perspective. This is done in the following section.
Social marketing and new media
Marketing has researched a new level with the social media. Marketers believe online marketing is a highly effective way to reach the teens . Others like believe that a marketing campaign in the mass media like television or radio will not succeed unless effective merchandising of the social concept exist A New York Times article on social media marketing indicates that brands are being launched and marketing appearance in Facebook before they are actually sold in the market:
As Perfetti Van Meller gears up to launch Mentos UP2U, its first stick gum… the initial advertising efforts will be focused in social media like Facebook. For instance, the new gum already has a Facebook fan page, at Facebook.com/up2u, which more than 95,900 people have indicated they “like”. The first 1,000 visitors who clicked on the “like” button got free gum in a promotion”
Chinn and Artz believe that social networking provides immense opportunity for social marketers. They provide a list of online tools that a social marketer can use such as emails, online bulletin boards, web sites, etc.
The new media also provide extensively interactive and social tools for marketing a social cause or product or both and those are blogs or micro-blogs like Twitter or social networking websites like Facebook or video sharing through YouTube, etc. Marketers, they believe are more eagerly opting for this tool because they want to reach out to larger number of potential customer as a much lesser cost.
Social networking has boosted marketing results of many consumer-based products as they are believed to provide links to the customers and increase sales . Andreasen points out that the Internet has become a powerful tool for social marketers to build communities through which they can promote a cause:
Internet proved itself to be a very powerful tool, allowing Amnesty International to create a community (network) of advocates called Fast Action Stops Torture that linked individuals and organizations around the world to bring attention to cases of human torture.
Social networking is allowing more people to connect to more customers and is helping in creating brand awareness more quickly and to reaching larger masses: “Social networking sites are allowing planners to connect with more people more often, and in a shorter period of time than they could face-to-face meetings, phone calls or e-mails.” Some social networking sites that have become a rave for marketers are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Researchers have pointed out that the word of mouth campaigning through social networks has the greatest influence on individuals . They study the role of networking sites and how they influence individuals. They also provide a profile of individuals who are mostly affected by such websites. Social marketing is greatly influenced by social networking websites may have on social marketing. Individuals are greatly influenced by social networks and word mouth publicity of a brand related cause.
Research has proven that the effectiveness of social marketing is enhanced with the use of social marketing. Social networking websites enable mingling of like-minded people and form a network. Social marketing in such a network it is easy to reach out to the targeted customer.
Uhrig, Bann, Williams, and Evans conducted an empirical study, which showed that more and more people are participating in social network websites. Therefore influencing individuals through social networks for purpose of social marketing becomes easier.
Thackeray, Neiger, Hanson, and McKenzie believe that second generation applications can enhance consumer engagement. Therefore, they believe that it holds immense potential for social marketing campaigns. As the marketing medium entails less cost and access to a greater number of audiences, Web 2.0 is believed to have a greater potential of reaching the right target customers.
The above review of literature on social marketing demonstrates a few principles about the process. First, social marketing can be done for both profit and non-profit marketing. Brand communication through social marketing is empirically believed to hold greater influence on consumer behaviour.
Third, the advent of Web 2.0 technology has increased the potential of social marketing with the capability to reach out to a greater number of consumers. Therefore, social marketing has gained a greater and more influential relevance in the new age marketing where word of mouth marketing has started gaining greater importance through social networking.
Whom does the Web 2.0 social marketing target?
This section delineates a consumer profile that can be derived from previous Web 2.0 based social marketing campaigns. The section will first discuss the empirical researches, their methodology and findings and then demonstrate the kind of people who are mostly targeted through social marketing through Web 2.0 technology.
Social marketing research in Web 2.0
Social networking has gained immense importance for marketers. Social networking helps social marketers to boost their image, increase brand awareness and increase engagement.
Customer profile
In order to understand the customer profile that needs to be targeted through social media marketing through Web 2.0 it is important to understand the customer profile that most predominantly use this new technology. Their usage behaviour and demographic profiling needs to be understood.
Then the question arises if the target customers for the brand are the ones who are using this social media. Uhrig et al. point out that in 2007, 75 percent of the adult population used the Internet and more than 90 percent of the users where in the age group of 18 to 29 years. Of these users there was a likely tendency for them to socialise or network in some way:
Among all Internet users, 39% read someone else’s online journal, Web log or blog; 30% post a comment or review online about a product or service they received; 22% comment to a news group, Web site, blog, or photo site; and 19% create content for the Internet. (Uhrig et al. , 2010, p. 342)
An empirical research conducted by O’Connor & Lundstrom showed that college students – an average age group of 17 to 25 years – have a typical information seeking behaviour. They seek information regarding anything through the Internet search engines, which they believe to be reliable and faster. The empirical study they conducted derived three groups of demographics that make up similar behavioural pattern among target consumers.
The demographic profile predominantly consisted of female, above 18 years, Caucasians. However, the control group were male. 65 percent of the group reported that they used the Internet as their first source of information provider. The study findings suggested that social marketing derived greater behavioural change than traditional marketing. 94 percent of the participants said that they preferred the Internet as a preferred medium of gather information. Therefore, Internet is a more successful medium for social marketing for youths.
Darian & College studied the effectiveness of social marketing to change alcohol consumption behaviour of college students. They conducted a study related to the behaviour of the students and their alcohol consumption habit. The researchers did a profiling of the students based on their drinking habit and utilized the results to devised the product, marketing, pricing and distribution strategy.
Their research suggests that traditional marketing is not a suitable method to change behaviour of alcohol drinkers. Further, as college students were found to gather most of their information regarding a product from their friends and peers it could be logically concluded that social networking provided such as venue online.
Therefore, the friends and peers through social networks can become effective influencers. Here too the social marketing campaign was targeted towards youths in order to change their drinking habits and bring forth a more suitable campus environment that would help in stopping alcohol abuse.
Smith et al. conducted an empirical research into the effectiveness of social networking as influencers and the personal motivation of consumers to have been influenced. This research was conducted based on two studies – first was a questionnaire survey and the second was an in-depth interview with the influencers.
The first study demonstrates that social network of friends and peers have a high degree of influence on the consumer. Further, this research also found that consumers increasingly seek information from brand sites and review websites like CNET Network in order to get a prior knowledge of the product. The survey respondents were also asked to present their internet usage pattern.
The study demonstrated that more connected users are more likely to provide review to the brand sites than less connected users (Smith et al., 2007). Therefore, the study finds that the more connected people are the ones who provide advice to the less connected people. This implies that marketers have to target the people who are more connected in social network as they act as influencers in brand purchase and help in spreading word-of-mouth campaign for or against a brand or product.
The second study shows that the influencers are motivated to help others in making the right decision. A third questionnaire survey shows that word of mouth campaigns are more helpful in case of heath marketing or social marketing. However, the researchers believe that it is wrong on part of the marketers to reach out to the connected few.
Therefore, the word-of-marketing is based on the principle of connecting with the high internet users who act as the influencers. Therefore, the research demonstrates that there is a great amount of internet-based marketing but it targets usually those people who are better connected.
Charging embedded premium for the products sold and donating the premium for a social cause is an effective method of social marketing. Researchers believe that it has greater potential to attract customers than price discount . Researchers have tried to understand the product social marketing fit that would allow embedded premium to be a successful marketing strategy.
They conducted a questionnaire survey and the survey results showed that social marketing is an effective method of increasing brand image and can increase brand awareness and identity. It also increase brand acceptance wherein people try to help the poor and give out premium price in order to help the needy.
Horn points out that one of the best way to reach to the teen consumers is through the Internet. This allows marketers to adopt new media as a potential form of attaining greater reach of the youths. Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter etc. hold immense potential in increasing the campaigning possibility in their social marketing website.
Chen point out that the risk perception a consumer holds regarding smoking or alcoholism. The research shows that the perception of an addict is influenced by three sources and of which social advertisements and peer pressure plays the largest part. Further, the risk perception that a consumer has directly affects his addictive behaviour as well as intention to start smoking.
From this findings, managers can deduce that smoking health hazard marketing can become more successful if the risk perception associated with the advertisement could be increased. Further, the target for such advertisements should be elderly males and/or people with low level of education. However, people who are less addicted to smoking, especially younger people, should be induced not to smoke through social marketing techniques.
Jones, Reis, and Andrews studied another influencer for organ donation cause and that it families. Their study shows that family members can become facilitator or hinderer of organ donation decision of individuals. Their research predicts that the attitude and belief of family members becomes a strong influence on an individual’s decision to donate organ. They conducted a questionnaire survey of 23 pairs of undergraduate university students and their parents.
The study demonstrated that the behaviour of the individuals regarding attitude, degree of family communication, and intention for making a donation. The research therefore shows implications that in order to increase organ donation rate in Australia, the social marketing targets must become the influencers i.e. the family of the targets.
Pickett-Baker and Ozaki aimed at understanding the effect on green brands of marketing and advertising techniques. They aimed at understanding if this green way of life could be established as a pattern of regular lifestyle. In order to do this, they conducted a research on consumer behaviour and advertising. Their aim was to identify the process in which consumers could be influenced to adopt greener products.
They did a questionnaire survey based on Dunla,p, Roper Stratch Worldwide Environmental Survey and Liere HEP-NEP survey . They analyzed 52 complete responses. The findings of the study suggested that there was a strong correlation between consumer confidence and environmental beliefs of individuals. The finding also report that most consumers do not identify eco-friendly products.
However, they support greener product and would like greener companies to produce them but the traditional marketing given no relevant information to them regarding this. Therefore, the research suggests that social marketing could be adopted for the marketing of eco-friendly products among groups of people who are environmentally conscious.
Stasio questions the relative success of social marketing in changing behaviour. The study demonstrates that a social marketing purely targeted towards its cause would be successful. However, it must be one without any hidden agenda. They show that when these prisoners are targeted among a group their long-term success is greater. Therefore, in order to make the process successful the communication objectives of the social marketing must be made clear. The ideal model that is devised for the success of the program is:
At the time of sentencing, the judge would say, “John Smith, you are being sentenced to X years and Y months which will be served in the community under my supervision. Our goal is to admit you back into our community after you pay your debt or your offensive and demonstrate your ability to live by our rules. Starting today, we will develop, with your involvement, a plan to achieve that goal. The plan will require hard work of you, beginning in prison and continuing- and getting harder- after you return to the community. It will also require that your family, friends, neighbours and any other people interested in your welfare commit to the goal of your successful return.
Therefore, the aim of the program was to provide social inclusion to the prisoners and help them rehabilitate. This is more of a correctional centre but with the aid of peers and family of the prisoner.
Peattie & Peattie studies the effect social marketing campaigns have on reducing consumption. The research develops a social marketing model that can be adopted to reduce consumption propensity to consumption. They have shown that health oriented consumption marketing can successfully reduce the propensity for consumption. Social marketing can successfully harness satisfaction among consumers:
One element of commercial marketing that social marketers may be able to harness to successfully market consumption reduction, is expectations management. Within services marketing in particular, there is a longstanding recognition that customer satisfaction is a function of the match between a customer’s experience and expectations. Therefore satisfaction can be achieved either by raising service standards, or by managing expectations downwards.
The research also demonstrates that a social marketing campaign can become successful if consumers view it as “normal”. The other trend in demographics is the increase in the number of people who are “hard-working, high-earning, consumption-intensive, lifestyle” will be more influenced as adhering to less consumption can make their experience more satisfying . The study shows that the research shows that there are
1.4 million Britons have purposefully reduced their incomes in exchange for a better quality of life, and a further 600,000 planned to downshift between 2005 and 2006. The research revealed that just under a million 35–54 year olds were making serious plans to downshift and over 1.3 million under 35s in full time employment planned to downshift by the year 2013.
The research indicates that consumption reduction social marketing can be targeted to a demographic age group of 35 years to 54 years and that there are a lot of employees people just below the age of 35 who were planning to downshift consumption in the next two years.
The literature review provides various facets of social marketing and shows how social marketing is beneficial to the marketers. It also shows when and where it must be used and to target which demographic profile. The review also demonstrates the suitability of the campaign and the influencers of the chosen demographic profile chosen.
Implications
The literature review shows that there is a lot of research regarding the social marketing in non-profit as well as for-profit sector. However, the use of social marketing with the aid of the new media has not been thoroughly researched upon. The above literature review demonstrates that there are areas of research that need to be advocated. First, there is no consensus regarding the definition of social marketing that makes the concept unclear.
Second, social marketing has the potential to influence consumer behaviour is a well researched and empirically proven fact. However, the influence a brand campaign associated with a cause and its success is not clearly delineated in the available pool of research. There is a lot of therefore further research is required to understand the effectiveness of the social marketing campaign for cause related brand marketing.
Third, the social marketing and its association with social networking websites is unclear from the present literature. There is literature on successful social marketing. There is literature on successful marketing campaigns through social networking websites, their benefits, and the model in which they work. From the two stream of available literature, it can be intuitively deduced that there is a great deal of potential that social marketing through Web 2.0 holds, especially to reach out to the younger generation. This area needs to be further analyzed.
Recommendation
The above analysis of the empirical study of the social marketing campaigns show that such campaigns can be targeted at any demographic group but it must be conducive to the target that the brand tries to achieve and on the basis of the target the influencer and the media for disseminating the campaign should be decided.
For instance, when targeting the youth as a target for a social campaign the influencers are friends and peers and family and the media that should be adopted for dissemination are reality television shows or social networking websites like Facebook or Twitter.
The literature review demonstrates that [people who are well connected through in Web 2.0 are more likely to participate in online campaigns and become active advocates for the same. Therefore, social marketers aiming for a cause to be marketed along with their brands should become regular participants in the social networking websites in order to make a group of like minded people to enhance their influence on other potential consumers.
Conclusion
Social marketing is in its maturing stage of life cycle . Marketers have repeatedly identified the hidden potential of social marketing and the advantages it holds for the success of the brand image. Marketers believe that cause marketing can boost brand image, identity, customer loyalty, and engagement. Therefore, social marketing is identified as a secret tool for marketers to induce customers to spend in a recession hit economy.
Web-based marketing has become the new rave. Online marketing especially through social networking websites that provide accurate hit of target customers through advertisements. the literature review suggests there is a great potential for targeting social network marketing as a medium for social marketing.
This is because it is easier to reach to the target customers given their demographic profile and interests and campaign their products. Therefore, the cost of campaigns also reduces considerably and helps in influencing customer more as social marketing campaigns has a greater potential to influence and change behaviour.
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Social marketing involves the application of marketing skills and technology in influencing human behaviours with a view of overcoming certain issues in society.
Moreover, social marketing is a powerful tool in influencing human behaviours because it involves the use of downstream and upstream strategies, as well as applying theories of behaviour change to address some of the social issues.
Speeding is a social issue in New South Wales because it causes about 40% of road deaths, results into more than 200 deaths, and is responsible for over 4000 injuries per year (Blender, 2009).
In this view, this report analyses RTA campaign and examines application of two behavioural change models.
Following rampant cases of road accidents, the Road Transport Authority (RTA) of New South Wales, Australia, launched an anti-speeding campaign with a video entitled “Speeding: No One Think Big of You” (NOTBOY).
The RTA speeding campaign was remarkably successful because it enabled RTA to reduce the occurrence of accidents on the roads of New South Wales.
According to Bender (2009, p.158), RTA campaign was “one of the cleverest ad campaigns” and “very successful” because it ridiculed racing drivers, thus discouraging speeding behaviour among drivers.
Prior to the RTA speeding campaign, the RTA employed campaign approach that instils shock and fear on the drivers, but it never worked well.
The RTA campaign targeted the entire community to influence changes in behaviour amongst youths who regard speeding as a fun activity, way showing off, and a trendy affair.
The RTA campaign was successful because it had its basis on previous anti-speeding campaigns, but extended to use social approach, which empowered the community to create a culture that does not accept speeding.
By use of social approach, the RTA campaign made extensive awareness amongst the youths and community leading to decreased cases of accidents.
The audience targeted by the RTA campaign included divers, particularly young male drivers between the ages of 17 to 25 who like speeding on the roads of New South Wales.
Road accidents in New South Wales have been increasing exponentially due to the behaviours of young male drivers who like speeding. Statistics show that about 40% of road deaths occur due speeding in New South Wales (Dorn 2010).
The dominant group of drivers involved in the accidents is the group of young male drivers. The young male drivers speed because they perceive speeding as a means of displaying their prowess in driving (Hartig 2000).
In this view, the RTA campaign targeted the young male drivers through upstream and midstream social marketing strategies.
The upstream social marketing focused on the use of media and community as influencers of behaviour change while midstream social marketing involved the use of family and friends in discouraging speeding.
Therefore, the youths between the ages of 17 to 25 years were the target audience given that they were ready for action because they form about 17% of the speeding drivers, who experience accidents in New South Wales.
The RTA campaign proposed to change speeding behaviour of young male drivers, who used driving as a way of showing off their driving prowess.
To change speeding behaviour and perceptions of the youths, the RTA campaign aimed at making speeding a socially unacceptable trend coupled with discouraging peer approval of speeding.
Overall, the RTA campaign aimed at involving community in creating cultural and societal perceptions that discourage speeding among male youths of New South Wales.
From the principles of success, the RTA campaign focused on a single behaviour that is simple and executable in discouraging speeding. Kotler and Lee clarifies, “One of the key successes is to establish behaviour objectives that are single, simple, and doable acts that become core of the campaign effort” (2004, p.22).
By empowering the community to view speeding as a socially unacceptable behaviour, the RTA campaign managed to influence an individual’s perception, as no one would speed without having the fear of being a subject of ridicule.
The behaviour change of discouraging speeding has potential impact of transforming individual and societal perceptions on speeding as unacceptable behaviour attributed to young and immature boys.
Since none of the drivers wanted to appear as young and immature as per the implication of the “pinkie” campaign, New South Wales experienced a significant reduction in speeding and cases of accidents.
The RTA campaign experienced barriers such as peer approval and unsupportive attitude. Peer approval was one of the barriers that the RTA campaign experienced when it aimed at discouraging speeding among male youths.
The youths perceived speeding as fun, exciting, and a trendy activity. Moreover, the young male drivers viewed speeding as a way of expressing their masculinity and showing off their prowess skills in driving.
Hence, as the RTA campaign tried to depict speeding as a socially unacceptable behaviour, it was like denying the youths their masculinity. Andreasen (2005) claims, “barriers in the environment external to the individual make it difficult or impossible to act in employing the downstream approach of social marketing” (p.74).
Hence, it was hard for the RTA campaign to influence the youths using the downstream approach because their culture approved speeding. Moreover, unsupportive attitude of the youths is another barrier, as they do not like driving at low speeds.
Youths associate low speeding with rawness and female drivers who cannot drive well. Competitively, the youths were struggling to gain experience in speeding and become veteran drivers, while the RTA campaign restricted the same.
To overcome barriers of peer approval and unsupportive attitude, the RTA campaign employed upstream and downstream approaches of social marketing by involving the media, friends, family, and community.
The use of media ensured that the campaign gained extensive awareness among youths and the entire society. Moreover, the RTA campaign empowered the community to participate actively in discouraging speeding behaviours because a significant number of drivers speed on the roads of New South Wales.
Donovan and Henley (2010) state that a social marketer can enhance the effectiveness of a campaign strategy by “adopting upstream approaches that create changes in the environment, as well as downstream approaches targeting individual undesirable behaviours” (p.45).
Friends and family members are downstream influencers who helped in overcoming peer pressure and unsupportive attitude, which were barriers to the RTA campaign.
Thus, by employing both upstream and downstream approaches, the RTA campaign managed to overcome barriers and change behaviours of youths through the influence of community members.
The RTA campaign has significant benefits to the New South Wales. Following its launch, the RTA campaign has considerably reduced cases of accidents in New South Wales because many youths have reduced their speed of driving.
Hence, reduced rate of accidents due to speeding is a considerable measurable benefit. Another benefit of the campaign is that there is increased awareness of speeding, thus depicting speeding among youth as unacceptable behaviour in the society.
Brennan and Binney (2010) state that about 94% of the general population recognised anti-speeding message in the RTA campaign, while 58% of the young males realised that speeding is unacceptable behaviour in the community.
Such figures indicate that the RTA campaign was quite successful in creating a culture in the community that perceives speeding as a socially unacceptable behaviour.
Thus, New South Wales has significantly benefited from the campaign, as many youths will no longer speed and cause accidents that lead to loss of lives and cause injuries.
Behaviour Change Models
Social Norm Theory
Social norm theory is one of the theories that explain the change in behaviour among male youths due to the RTA campaign. Social norm theory postulates that change of behaviour of an individual occurs to influence one’s perception on what is normal.
Schultz et al. assert that social norms influence human behaviours because they “not only spur, but also guide action in the direct and meaningful ways” (2007, p.429).
In the case of speeding amongst youths, the theory explains that the culture of speeding emerged due to pluralistic ignorance, which made youths view speeding as a socially acceptable behaviour.
From the perspective of the youths, speeding was quite acceptable because it was a means of displaying their masculinity as well as prowess in driving. Speeding was one of the social norms that the youths practised because it was a trendy activity for the young male drivers to exhibit their skills.
Through their pluralistic ignorance, the youths assumed that all drivers were speeding, and thus they wanted to attain the status of speeding like everyone else.
According to the social norm theory, an intervention that exposes the reality of the norms is indispensable in correcting pluralistic ignorance. Although the youths were driving at high speeds, they were comfortable because it was normal according to their norms.
In this view, the RTA campaign developed a strategy that focused on changing the youths’ perceptions. The perceptions of the young male drivers were contrary to the reality. While the young male drivers perceived speeding as fun, exciting, and expression of masculinity, the society perceived it as a dangerous affair.
Thus, the RTA campaign employed both downstream and upstream strategies of social marketing to influence the community to perceive speeding as unacceptable behaviour. Terry and Hogg (1999) state that a change of human behaviour occurs through a systematic process where dominant social norms influence the development of behaviour.
Thus, for the RTA campaign to overcome dominant behaviour of speeding among the youths, it empowered the community to create a culture that views speeding as a despicable behaviour.
Theory of Planned Behaviour
The theory of planned behaviour postulates that behaviour is a product of benefits, social norms, and cost associated with a given activity. Before one performs a given activity, one has to analyse the benefits and costs associated with social norms.
Therefore, the young male drivers found pleasure in speeding because they got recognition from their peers coupled with expressing their masculinity. According to Armitage and Christian (2003), attitudes predict behaviours for social norms moderate the attitude-behaviour relationship.
Hence, the behaviour that the young male drivers exhibited reflected their attitudes. To overcome the unsupportive attitudes of the young male drivers, the RTA campaign aimed at changing attitudes of the community members so that they can have overwhelming influence on the attitudes of the young male drivers.
Ultimately, the RTA changed the community attitudes and perceptions, branded speeding unacceptable behaviour, and reduced cases of accidents due to speeding.
Although the young male drivers attempted to hold on to their speeding behaviours, they failed because the community was already empowered to influence their behaviours.
Conner and Armitage (1998) assert that the theory of planned behaviour examines attitudes and perceptions relative to social norms of the people. As the RTA campaign changed perceptions and attitudes of the community members who are the majority, the minority young male drivers were unable to resist change.
Hence, when community members viewed speeding as a despicable behaviour, the young male drivers followed the perceptions of the community.
Eventually, the young male drivers had to comply with the demands of the society because the societal norms perceived speeding as unacceptable behaviour among the youths.
Buckworth and Dishman (2002) argue, “Behaviour is predicted by intentions and intentions are predicted by attitude and societal norms” (p.27), which have overwhelming influence on human behaviour. Therefore, the RTA campaign influenced behaviours of the young male drivers to drive at moderate speeds.
Conclusion
The RTA campaign is the most successful campaign in dealing with speed driving because it managed to change the behaviour of young male drivers as well as other drivers.
Despite the many challenges associated with social marketing, the RTA campaign employed both upstream and downstream strategies, which empowered the community, family, and friends to effect changes in behaviour of young male drivers, who perceived speeding as fun, exciting, and a way of expressing their masculinity.
Analysis of the RTA campaign shows that it complied with factors necessary for successful social marketing. Moreover, the RTA applied theory of social norm and the theory of planned behaviour in changing speeding behaviour of young male drivers in New South Wales.
Reference List
Andreasen, A 2005, Social marketing in the 21st century, SAGE Publisher, California.
Armitage, C & Christian, J 2003, Planned behaviour: The relationships between human thought and action, Transaction publishers, New York.
Bender, M 2009, The fast, the fraudulent & the fatal: The dangerous and dark side of illegal street racing, drifting and modified cars, AuthorHouse, California.
Brennan, L & Binney, W 2010, ‘Fear, Guilt and Shame Appeals in Social Marketing’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 63 no. 2, pp.140-146.
Buckworth, J & Dishman, R. 2002, Exercise Psychology, Human Kinetics, New York.
Conner, M & Armitage, C 1998, ‘Extending the theory of planned behaviour: A review and avenues for further research’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 28 no 1, pp.1429-1464
Donovan, R & Henley, N 2010, Principles and practice of social marketing: An international perspective, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Dorn, L 2010, Driver behaviour and training: human factors in road and rail transport, Ashgate Publishing, London.
Hartig, K 2000, ‘Claiming the Freeway: Young Male Drivers in Pursuit of Independence, Space and Masculinity’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, vol. 5 no 1, pp.36-49.
Kotler, P & Lee, R 2004, Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Schultz, P, Nolan, J, Cialdini, R, Goldstein, N & Griskevicius, V 2007, ‘The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power social norms’, Psychological science, vol.18 no 5, pp.429-434.
Terry, D & Hogg, M 1999, Attitudes, behaviour, and social context: The role of norms and group membership, Taylor & Francis, Mahwah.
Newtonville is a city in Massachusetts in the United States that borders Boston. Newtonville, Census, and Information (2012, para. 1) identified that the city has an estimated population of 85,000 people. The Newtonville District Council has a Leisure Services Department responsible for creating and promoting outdoor and park leisure areas.
The Leisure Services Department is grateful for the working relationship that has developed for years with the local community. The department relies on the community for acquiring expertise and program developments in volunteers with the ability to coordinate leisure activities.
The department has a 9+variety of parks that include Harvard Square Park, Fenway Park, Hunnewell Park, Arnold Arboretum, Larz Anderson Park, Jamaica Pond, Menotomy Rocks Park, Corey Hill Outlook, and Chestnut Hill Reservoir. There is indoor leisure such as golf course, swimming pools, playgrounds, and Zoo.
The department has established programs such as the Colonie Youth Service Wrap-Around Program, South Shore LGBT Seniors, The Newton dining out for seniors over 65, over-the-rainbow-supper-club, the Greater Brockton Tortoise Walking Group, Belmont Area Walking Group, and the Women’s Travel Group (Meetup 2012, para.1).
The relationship of the department and the community is that the department provides memorable experience for the local population. However, the department is facing financial difficulties of maintaining and improving its established leisure programs because of economic crisis and pressure on available funds. The department wants to involve local residents in the planning and organizing of leisure activities and the local business community in sponsoring such developments and changes.
The projects will develop when the department forms partnerships successfully with the business community. The department, therefore, has the responsibility of convincing the business community to accept the proposal of forming the partnership through convincing them of good business opportunities.
The department requested a proposal on the issue to find means of attracting and maintaining potential sponsors from the business community. The study will target the people with interest in rock climbing, camping, swimming, dog walking, and visiting parks (Trenberth 2005, p.5).
Objectives of the Study
The study will focus on acquiring high acceptance from the public and commercial interests. The study will aim to increase the range of the target market share, volunteers to work in the communal leisure and parks, and the focus on needs and wants of the families in the community. The study will also attract the interest and attention of sponsors and seek the ways to improve the facilities essential for the operations of the recreation centers and parks.
The study will ensure that the leisure service department is responsible for facilities and programs provided after the partnership with local and business communities. The partnership will be for building and fostering a good relationship through creating leisure opportunities for everybody, promoting healthy lifestyle, and offering quality facilities, services, and programs to the community.
The study will evaluate the opportunities that businesspeople have to increase their image and reputation in sponsoring the Leisure Service Department (Mowen, Kyle, Borrie & Graefe 2006, p.89).
Methodology
The study will use observation and exploration to establish the relationship between the potential of the leisure programs and the outcomes expected when the leisure service department forms partnerships with the business and local community.
The research will emphasize accuracy, reliability, dependability, and satisfaction of the data collected to enable its approval for professional use. Quantitative research designs will avoid missing some of the important details in the investigation. The data will be analyzed statistically and presented in graphs, tables, and theoretically to enable easy derivation of data by the user.
Research Design
A research design will be necessary in this research to convert research questions into an investigation project. In research, research design is in two forms, quantitative and qualitative research designs. Quantitative research method can be experimental, descriptive, or causal depending on the objectives of the research.
In this research, quantitative research design will analyze the case study using the meaning of the objectives and the framework of events and consider the study in a flexible manner to bring out the importance of the business and local community sponsorships in the leisure programs. The quantitative research method will allow the collected data to be treated statistically.
The statistics acquired will be essential in this study to determine the amount of influence the department has enforced and the capacity to succeed in attracting potential sponsors for leisure programs. Moreover, a large sample is to be in the research to acquire reliable and dependable information. The study will make the adjustments and changes required to improve the influence of the proposal to the community (Pride 2010, p.83).
According to Cameron (2009, p.135), the study will include the examination of four aspects that include the responsibility of the Leisure Service Department to improve the performance of facilities and programs after the partnership with the local and business community. The study will to build and foster relationship through creating leisure opportunities and benefits for everybody, promoting healthy lifestyle, and offering quality facilities, services, and programs to the community.
The quantitative research design will use statistical tools, such as sum, mean, and standard deviation successfully to establish the relationship between the various variables of the study that include satisfaction of the sponsors, teenagers, adults, and children in the leisure programs and the increase in the financial capability of the programs.
A properly implemented and designed study can convince the business community the significance and meaning of sponsoring leisure programs (Gauthier, Lariviere, Pong, Snelling & Young 2010, p.67).
The study brings out the demand of the leisure indoors and parks in Newtonville because of the ability of the activities to reduce stress after work, promote the health of different people, and create happiness to participants. The community should volunteer in managing leisure activities in the community to help develop and change it for the better of everybody.
The business community can support leisure destinations to create good reputation essential for the success of their business. The business community that supports the events will acquire the opportunity of promoting and selling their products or services in the parks and other leisure destinations (Buswell, Zabriskie, Lundberg & Hawkins 2012, p.184).
According to Trenberth and Dewe (2002, p.68), confirmatory data analysis technique will draw the important concepts of the study to make the final report of the data collected from the research. This helps to improve the satisfaction of the users of the findings by ensuring that only the necessary data is analyzed. Among these variables are facilities, quality of the park, and the standard of indoor programs among many other factors.
The research design used calls for sponsors from the business and local community to come to terms with the nature of leisure demand, with a view of improving the demand and customer satisfaction levels among the local population. Therefore, the collected data should be very accurate, dependable, and reliable as much as possible to users (Marshall 2010, p.234).
Data Collection
Data collection is a concept used to exemplify a procedure of organizing and gathering information in research work, either as a fraction of a process development or comparable assignment. The main intention for data collection is to acquire information that can prove the existing relationship between the existence of the department and its impacts on the community.
Therefore, in this research, data will be collected from primary and secondary sources to meet the main objectives of the study that include developing a better understanding of the needs, wants, and satisfaction levels associated with leisure activities and attractions to promote the leisure programs in a community.
In addition, the data will also help in categorizing the various leisure activities that the Newtonville District Council should promote. Through the information collected, it will be easier to implement some strategies that could help improve the lifestyle of people at Newtonville. This is because from the research, various leisure programs that Leisure Service Department promotes will be realized (Liu & Ko 2011, p.263).
Therefore, the method of data collection recommended includes a study of primary and secondary sources such as journals, newsletters, magazines, newspapers and scholarly books and primary sources, such as conducting focus group discussions and observation. Secondary sources usually vary broadly and this leads to examination of the issues at hand in detail.
The issues include researching a deposit of preset questions as it is in the case in the research requirements. Moreover, they strengthen the research process to convey the findings at length. Therefore, by employing descriptive research as a data collection method in this research, the researcher will be sure of detailing comments on the events, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of the local community in Newtonville towards leisure activities and programs.
Nevertheless, through information provided by the sources, the research will be in a better position of solving various issues concerning the needs, wants, and the satisfaction levels of the local population. This is therefore the main reason about the recommendation of using secondary and primary sources for this research (Gwinner & Eaton1999, p.49).
In addition, descriptive technique of data collection is appropriate because it enables the researcher to attain or collect detailed information concerning the issue at hand. The data is very important because Newtonville is to be among the best regions in attracting community development and changes in the leisure sector and statistics show that many of the programs are not sponsored. Moreover, customer satisfaction has become a necessity within this important service sector.
In this context, the user expects high quality data. This research will therefore focus on the ever-increasing needs, preferences, and satisfaction levels associated with the local population in engaging in leisure activities, especially those that promote their health and experience (Thompson 2012, p.498).
The quality of the findings of this study would be increased by ensuring that there is internal and external validity for the collected data. In addition, construct validity would be assured through ensuring that the constructs of the study are representing the actual reality of that exist in the study population.
Sample Plan
Sampling deals with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a population. This study will make use of both random and stratified sampling methods. These sampling methods will be advantageous in this research because they will allow low costs, homogeneity, fast data collection, and enhancement of accuracy and quality of the data collection process.
This study has a target population that depicts that characteristics required by the researcher and it comprises of the community and the business people living in Newtonville. Therefore, in this research, the target population includes the business and local community in Newtonville.
Because of limited financial and time resources, the research will only focus on the most relevant sources to accomplish the research issues at hand. This is because it is not easy to collect information from all sources. The population under study will comprise teenagers, children, and adults visiting the indoor leisure and parks for leisure (Doyle 2008, p.43).
To achieve the research using the sampling method, it is vital to choose a sampling frame to help in identifying every a single component in the sample. Consequently, the researcher would be interested in a sample frame that contains the features of the study population and may include all those community and business members (people) that live within Newtonville and could help in the survey. Therefore, the sampling frame will use a random and stratified sampling frame to avoid any risk of bias.
Therefore, each member in the population will have the same opportunities to participate for the sample. This sampling technique is appropriate because it allows all people in the population to participate in the research, hence eliminating bias problems. In addition, the method is easy and cost-effective since it only needs a considerate number of people that the research can accommodate in financial terms and in time management (Alexandris, Douka & Balaska 2012, p.58).
The target population will comprise of 10,000 people, and the research will consider 6,000 for the participants in the research process. Among the 6,000 people, 1000 participants will be the business community and the remaining 5000 will be the local community with the potential of sponsoring the Leisure Service Department.
Data Analysis and Presentation Techniques
Data analysis is the procedure of investigating, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the objective of emphasizing essential information, offering recommendations on conclusions, and sustaining decision-making. Thus, this research will employ descriptive statistics analysis technique because it provides well-planned explanations and details concerning the research problem.
The quantitative study will examine the satisfaction of the potential sponsors in supporting the programs and the influence of the research proposal presented. The research will seek to establish the segments of the potential sponsors, travel patterns, their attractions, length of leisure time, and their experiences in the leisure attractions (Fitzen 2009, p.48).
The data analysis will provide the investigation with the essential information, recommendations, and conclusions on the financial problem facing the Leisure Services Department. The data of the study will be analyzed descriptively to provide the department with information on the market and sponsor fast enough to restore its finances and improve services to the community.
Coding will categorize the issues derived from the research. Data reduction will present the data collected into tables and figures. The data collected will be interpreted in a theoretical and practical form to help the user derive the information he or she needs easily (Cheng-Hsui, Ya-Hui, & Feng-Chun 2012, p.262).
The research will measure their expenses in leisure and expectations. However, there are many government and private sector efforts to improve the level of leisure events in the local community. Therefore, the data analysis techniques will be geared at increasing the market share of the sector, as it is one effective way of promoting healthy lifestyles of people in the community.
This is important because the health sector comes with many risks that could affect the whole countries government expenditure. The leisure business is successful because of the public opinions therefore; the study will have the purpose of discovering the public and the businesspeople opinion records (Creswell 2009, p.46).
Conclusion
This study is by the need to have a better understanding of the needs and satisfaction levels associated with leisure programs in the community level. Many people in the communities complain of lack of support of sponsors in their programs. This research will identify the programs to find potential sponsors who satisfy the organizers of the program. Moreover, member satisfaction has become a necessity within this important service sector.
The analysis mainly constitutes of the reserve situation, communal surroundings, and administration settings. These controls are supplementary mediated by the research assessment of individual members of the programs according to his or hers socioeconomic actions, intellectual characteristics, knowledge, customs, feelings, and predilection. An analysis of the individual members will measure the potential of the leisure program to develop and change in quality and standards.
Lists of References
Alexandris, K, Douka, S & Balaska, P 2012, ‘Involvement with active leisure participation: does service quality have a role?’, Managing Leisure, vol.17, no.1, pp.54-66.
Buswell, L, Zabriskie, R, Lundberg, N & Hawkins, A 2012, ‘The relationship between father involvement in family leisure and family functioning: the importance of daily family leisure’, Leisure Sciences, vol.34, no.2, pp.172-190.
Cameron, N 2009, ‘Understanding sponsorship and its measurement implications’, Journal of Sponsorship, vol.2, no.2, pp.131-139.
Cheng-Hsui, C, Ya-Hui, C & Feng-Chun, F 2012, ‘Adolescents and leisure activities: the impact of expectation and experience on service satisfaction, Social Behavior & Personality’, An International Journal, vol.40, no.2, pp.259-265.
Creswell, J2009, Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, Sage Publications, New York.
Doyle, P 2008, Value-based marketing: marketing strategies for corporate growth and shareholder value, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Fitzen, L 2009, Marketing environment: what factors internal to an organization can have an influence on the way it perceives and responds to its external environment? GRIN Verlag, New York.
Gauthier, A, Lariviere, M, Pong, R, Snelling, S & Young, N 2010, ‘Assessing the importance of social and environmental supports for leisure-time physical activity in a unique socio-cultural and geographical context’, International Electronic Journal of Health Education, vol.13, pp. 59-75
Gwinner, KP & Eaton, J 1999, ‘Building brand image through event sponsorship: the role of image transfer’, Journal of Advertising, vol.28, no.4, pp.47-57.
Liu, G & Ko, W 2011, ‘An analysis of cause-related marketing implementation strategies through social alliance: partnership conditions and strategic objectives’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol.100, no.2, pp.253-281.
Marshall, C 2010, Designing qualitative research, SAGE, New York.
Mowen, AJ, Kyle, G, Borrie, W & Graefe, A 2006, ‘Public response to park and recreation funding and costsaving strategies: the role of organizational trust and commitment’, Journal of Park & Recreation Administration, vol.24, no.3, pp.72-95.
Pride, W 2010, Foundations of marketing, Cengage Learning , Boston.
Thompson, W 2012, ‘Health-related quality of life among older adults with and without functional limitations’, American Journal Of Public Health, vol.102, no.3, pp. 496-502.
Trenberth, L & Dewe, P 2002, ‘The importance of leisure as a means of coping with work related stress: an exploratory study’, Counseling Psychology Quarterly, vol.15, no.1, pp.59-72.
Trenberth, L 2005, ‘The role, nature and purpose of leisure and its contribution to individual development and well-being’, British Journal of Guidance & Counseling, vol.33, no.1, pp. 1-6.
In the article “Re-thinking and Re-tooling the Social Marketing Mix”, Ross (2012) contends that the traditional four Ps (product, price, place, promotion) marketing mix model has failed to deliver the intended outcomes in social marketing, hence the need for the model to be re-thought and re-tooled to include other marketing mix elements that are critical to the social marketing domain. The author heavily relies on documented research studies not only to demonstrate the shortcomings of the four Ps model in the contemporary marketing arena but also to conceptualise a more open-minded social marketing approach that takes cognisance of the realities on the ground.
All the arguments included in this article seem to demonstrate that, although the four Ps marketing model has so far predominated the marketing thought and practised particularly due to its pedagogic orientation, it has already been stretched beyond breaking point and is no longer feasible for use by marketers who are more into social marketing than commercial marketing (Ross 2012).
From the onset, the article highlights the incomplete nature of the four Ps marketing mix model particularly in its explanatory authority over the facets of social marketing interventions, with evidence being adduced to the fact that many techniques and intervention approaches used in the social marketing domain do not fall under the four Ps marketing mix categorisation. The main premise is that social marketing is informed by more than just ideas from mainstream marketing; hence there is a need to re-think and re-tool the four Ps model to fit current social marketing trends. In brief, the traditional marketing model is criticised for
its simplicity and naivety in solving complex marketing problems such as service provision, business to business networking or social marketing,
its focus on short-term, sales and transactions orientation hence undervaluing the significance of strategic, long-term relational thinking and brand equity,
its bias to time-specific media channels such as TV advertising at the expense of less-time specific media with capacity to provide segmentation, targeting and behaviour change interventions that form the basis of social marketing,
its incapacity to cover the various tools and strategies used in modern-day marketing,
its inbuilt orientation towards the seller rather than the customer (Ross 2012).
The author cites several scholarly debates to demonstrate why an effective social marketing tool needs to move away from one-off transactions involving the aspects of product, price, place and promotion, to a more focussed approach that entrenches the value of developing relationships with consumers and other stakeholders to develop trust and loyalty. Such an approach, according to author, must not only have the capacity to initiate long-term interventions required to change or modify behaviours, but must more willingly identify and gratify customer needs and preferences by developing and implementing “solutions rather than just products, providing information instead of only focussing on promotion, creating value instead of obsessing with price, and providing access wherever and whenever and however the customer wants to experience the solution offered to them” (Ross 2012, p. 124).
These observations demonstrate that the traditional four Ps marketing approach is a narrow and deterministic model that may be increasingly deficient in contemporary social marketing environments due to lack of the mentioned components.
In re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix, the author acknowledges that the four Ps and others Ps documented by other scholars (e.g., policy and people) are still important and in fact have a role to play in the contemporary marketing environment. However, the author stresses that “other strategies such as stakeholder and community engagement, relational thinking, co-creation, advocacy, lobbying, public and media relations, and engagement in the policy agenda are often equally as important” (Ross 2012, p. 124-125). What is of importance in social marketing, therefore, is identifying what strategies can be employed and what will work in particular contexts to deliver optimal marketing interventions. The author is also keen to stress that a feasible social marketing approach focuses on consumers, relationships, and value creation in addition to other marketing components and strategies as required.
The author draws on previous marketing research to propose a social marketing model with six components that are all interconnected to consumers as the central component. In brief, these marketing components include circumstances (social and structural environment influenced by political trends, social values, media and other external environmental factors), organisation and competition (structure of stakeholders delivering interventions and relations between them, aims and objectives, competition to the desired behaviour, policy agenda), cost (costs associated with customer behaviours, costs associated with non-intervention), consumer (consumer-oriented, community-owned, co-creation of value, research-driven, evaluation), process (theory and design, relational thinking, consumer-oriented, strategic, holistic, long-term, co-created, value-driven, stakeholder and community involvement, and channels or strategies (product, price, place, promotion, people, policy, advocacy, lobbying, public relations and media, relations, information) (Ross 2012).
Overall, the author lays a solid framework for a more expanded approach to social marketing that recognises strategies such as customer orientation, value creation, and relational thinking in the development of feasible interventions for contemporary social marketing environments, implying that the multiplicity of strategies, channels and interventions employed in social marketing can no longer be housed within the traditional four Ps marketing model.
Reference
Gordon, R 2012, ‘Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix’, Australasian Marketing Journal, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 122-126. Web.
Social marketing is not recognized as an independent science, yet it is based on the data and researches taken from a variety of different fields studying human behavioral patterns and how they can be impacted (Smith 38). Among such fields, there are psychology, sociology, history, management, and marketing. To create a powerful and influential social marketing campaign that would make a difference the developers are to take into consideration several factors such as typical psychological reactions, encouraging and discouraging factors, and stimuli. “Click it or Ticket” is a social marketing program that proved to be very successful in working through a large list of elements and persuasive techniques.
“Click it or Ticket” campaign was designed to decrease the factors leading to death and severe injuries in car accidents. Namely, the campaign targeted the patterns of wearing of seat belts by the drivers of all ages and both sexes. With the help of the “Click it or Ticket” campaign, the drivers were persuaded to buckle up while driving regardless of the time of the day. Specially collected statistical data revealed that typically drivers tend to fasten their seat belts often during the day time, but fail to do so enough at night time (Click It or Ticket: National Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization par. 1).
To change this tendency the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sponsored the “Click it or Ticket” social program that involved more careful monitoring of the drivers by law enforcement workers and fines for those who had no seatbelts on. The program proved very successful, 83 % of American drivers were registered to wear their seatbelts at night time during the program (Click It or Ticket Mobilization Week par. 1). Apart from fining and monitoring “Click it or Ticket” program was implemented through a variety of promotional techniques involving the advertising of various kinds.
“Click it or Ticket” social marketing program can be explored from the perspective of the 4 Ps of marketing which includes the product, price, place, and promotion. In 4 P’s product refers to whatever is marketed, in case of “Click it or Ticket” the product is an intangible benefit for the drivers represented by the increased safety. Price in this program may refer to two dimensions – the costs of the new behavior and the cost of not following the behavior. The two costs are counter-compared in the promotional text of the campaign which says: “In real life, you don’t get a second chance” which means that two seconds spent to fasten a seatbelt could some one’s life (Click it or Ticket par. 1).
The encouragement of this program works so well because the effort spent to buckle up is nothing compared to a large monetary fine or a severe injury. The place refers to wherever the audience is required to demonstrate the encouraged behavior. TV and radio advertising was especially effective reminding the drivers to buckle upright while driving or minutes before that. Promotion of the campaign included a demonstration of videos emphasizing that car accidents are sudden and any driver may become a victim at any time. Besides, the campaign was promoted via social media (YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook), used banners, stickers, and slogans with short and effective messages.
“Click it or Ticket” had a powerful influence on the targeted audience. For example, in California alone, the number of drivers using seatbelts regularly increased by 1.5 million (Seat Belt Enforcement Campaign Facts and Figures par. 2). In North Carolina, due to the program, the rates of serious and lethal road accident injuries dropped by 14 % (Social Marketing Success Stories par. 3).
Social Media Examiner’s (2021) video on social media initiatives was most useful to me since it provides more than twenty social media post ideas to improve the marketing of any business. This source demonstrates that social media, namely Facebook Business and Instagram, have great power and enhance marketing, promoting organizations through posts, stories, hashtags, and user-generated content. The most useful information to me was about trends, pros and cons, comparison, direct offer, and long-form content.
Effective change leadership is important when an organization wants to adopt social media initiatives. A good leader is associated with effective communication, for example, written content on social media. For example, a leader may encourage customers to generate content by creating a hashtag, like #MyInstagramLogo, and inquiring them to share their views on the logo or any other product or service the company offers (They Ask, You Answer, 2018). Leaders should clarify their vision and ensure that everyone understands them. They should lead their employees in the right direction, inspiring them to change.
I may encounter the following ethical issues: over-promising, under-delivering, and overstated statements. I would try to provide my customers with honest information about the business and stop making everyone happy to address the first issue. Over-promising can make clients disappointed and lead to their negative feedback. Therefore, it is better to follow ethical principles and make promises only if they can be 100% fulfilled. To address the second issue, I would try to be transparent and honest about the content. If the company claims to deliver products from one country to another in three days, it will need to fulfill it. Otherwise, it will be lying to the clients, thus losing its credibility. These strategies will help me address the above-mentioned ethical issues because honesty and transparency are always valued, and they help attract new customers and make the old customers stay with the company they trust.
Solar Panel is one of the green energy sources that many countries are adapting to mitigate the effects of global warming and pollution. The use of solar energy in Australia is still lagging, with 0.1 percent out of the total power generated and consumed. Australia has the highest solar radiation concentration per meter square (Csereklyei and Ancev, 2019, p. 359). This resource has made Australia top the world in renewable solar energy. With the increasing government development policies, Australia targets solar thermal technologies to raise its electricity production.
The government and the solar industry have to put up measures to ensure increased uptake of solar panels amongst her citizens and corporations. The solar panels producing companies have to integrate procedures and measures to encourage behavior change from the non-renewable and environmentally unfriendly energy sources such as coal, firewood, and fossil fuels. This paper aims to develop an integrated program consisting of the five elements of the SHIFT framework, to increase the adoption of solar panels for households in Australia.
Analysis and Discussion
Marketing plays a significant role in encouraging sustainable consumption. However, the packaging of the message and the context determine the uptake of the targeted product. For instance, pro-environmental consumer behavior change messaging and context should leverage certain psychological factors, commonly referred to as SHIFT. The acronym stands for Social influence, Habit formation, Individual self, Feelings and cognition, and Tangibility (White et al. 2019, p. 31). For the SHIFT framework to apply, goals of sustainability of the consumer behavior are aligned to those of marketing. Unlike traditional marketing, sustainability focuses on mimicking the natural circular flow of resources to renew those already been utilized.
Application of SHIFT Framework in the Social Marketing Interventions
Solar Panel User’s Segmentation Intervention
Segmentation apportions many people into groups depending on their wants, values, and social orientation. To influence particular sustainable consumer behavior, specific social parameters require critical consideration. The factors for social influence include social norms, social desirability, and social identities. Every consumer is attracted to goods and services that are socially accepted by the rest of society (Rundle-Thiele et al. 2019, p. 179). Every member of society wants to be morally accepted by their kins. Products that contribute to gaining credibility and a good reputation in society are welcomed and demanded. For instance, social norms expect and promote behaviors such as recycling and composting, conserving energy, solar panel energy production, avoiding littering, and choosing green hotels.
Social identity refers to a sense of individuality and characterization. Likewise, consumers are likely to engage in sustainable behaviors that other in-group members do. In this case, pro-environmental membership and identification will promote the use of solar panels for energy production in households. Similarly, social desirability influences sustainable behavior by adopting options that will positively impact the rest of the group. Therefore, segmentation of the Australian population in line with their social identities, desirability, and norms will play a critical role in capitalizing on the most impactful market.
Target Audience
After segmenting the population, it is prudent for mainstream marketing to target the specific audience identified. For instance, the target market for solar panels in Australia should be in regions mining coal because the objective is to reduce pollution from coal-fired power stations. Coal mining areas become the target because that is where it is extensively used. Additionally, regions that are perceived to be the largest market for coal should be targeted to offer them sustainable energy use.
While many everyday habits are unsustainable, the persistent practice of certain norms and procedures leads to habit formation. Bad habits are disrupted by a break of repetition, such as discontinuity. On the other hand, good habits are encouraged by continuously adding incentives to sustainable actions and strengthening positive habits (Trudel, R., 2019, p. 86). Therefore, after identifying the target audience, you ought to discourage using coal to generate energy and encourage good habits of solar panels in the production of electricity.
Measuring Consumer Behavior Change for Sustainable Solar Panel Use
Every time there is a plan to influence or change consumer behavior, the need to measure the level of success is insatiable. As the government and solar panel producing companies endeavor to increase the usage of renewable clean energy, different parties employ different methods to determine the level of achievement and success. Based on the results, they improve the products offered in the market to satisfy consumers.
The individual self is a psychological factor that examines individual satisfaction. People have different tastes and preferences, and they differ depending on environmental and social factors. For instance, if the solar panels have low voltage, they may discourage people who want a high energy level in their homes. Thus, solar agents should conduct a survey to show trends in the purchase of the products and determine the discouraging factors to configure the rest as per the demands of the target market or individual self.
Competition
These are other behaviors that compete for the same target audience in the geographical areas of interest. The dynamic Australian market faces competition from varied alternative energy resources. One of them is solar energy, which is cheap and environmentally friendly. Therefore, changing the market desirability of solar panels depends on the strategies employed to add value to it to get a competitive advantage.
Feelings and cognitions are SHIFT elements that promote pro-environmental actions and create positive consumer emotions. Environmentally friendly products are highly marketable, and those that are pollutants or encourage environmental degradation have low demand. Hence, eco-friendly features in solar panels will increase their market demand and earn them a competitive advantage.
Exchange
Individuals tend to hold onto the former or past products, services, and procedures. Whenever consumers need to change their behavior, they demand an alternative mechanism to enjoy the benefits they enjoyed before and more. This is the intervention of exchange or replacing the energy source with another distinguished resource-solar panel. Tangibility is the feature of vagueness and clarity of consumer behavior. Before consumers change their behavior, they evaluate its sustainability. For example, evaluating the solar panel energy source to determine its tangibility concerning the exchanged coal makes consumers accept the behavior change easily.
Conclusion
The paper contains a discussion on the development of the integrated program in light of the five elements of the SHIFT framework. It focuses on social marketing interventions to increase the adoption of solar panels by households in Australia. The interventions discussed include solar panel user segmentation, target audience, measuring consumer behavior change for sustainable solar panel use, competition, and exchange interventions. Adopting the above five discussed social marketing interventions and their SHIFT psychological factors will result in a brilliant technique to eradicate coal.
Recommendations
Australia should leverage high solar radiation concentration per square meter to socially market the solar panels. Solar panel distributors ought to merge the SHIFT framework with social marketing interventions to increase their demand. Any shortcoming mentioned or realized by the marketers should be addressed to increase its acceptability and exchange it with the previous energy generation methods.
Reference List
Csereklyei, Z., Qu, S. and Ancev, T., 2019. The effect of wind and solar power generation on wholesale electricity prices in Australia. Energy Policy, 131, p.358-369.
Eagle, L., Dahl, S., Hill, S., Bird, S., Spotswood, F. and Tapp A., 2012, Social marketing. Pearson Education Limited United Kingdom, p.1-368
Rundle-Thiele, S., David, P., Willmott, T., Pang, B., Eagle, L. and Hay, R., 2019. Social marketing theory development goals: an agenda to drive change. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(1-2), p.160-181.
White, K., Habib, R. and Hardisty, D.J., 2019. How to SHIFT consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: A literature review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), p.22-49.
Over the years, marketing has played a vital role in enabling organizations to promote their products and services which ultimately leads to increased sales. However, this organizational activity has been subjected to various controversies, many of them questioning the intention of the promotional acts (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). Moreover, sustainability has been a significant aspect of business operations which consistently impacts their performance. As such, marketing should not only improve organizational performance, but also incorporate green practices that enhance economic, social, and corporate governance (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). This paper discusses the significant aspects of social and sustainability marketing, distinguishes the two components by highlighting their principles, and gives examples of the sustainability marketing campaign in real-life contexts.
Criticism of Conventional Marketing
The critique of conventional marketing focuses on two significant spheres. First, its “excesses” are associated with intentionally inconsiderate and unpleasant products, insufficient warranties, misleading advertising and packaging, untrustworthy selling practices, and emphasis on gaudy values (Islam, 2018). In contrast, “expertness” can be described as a number of unique strategies marketers approach the customers. In the contemporary world, marketing invades the privacy of consumers since there is the intrusiveness of numerous brands that intend to convey their messages to the masses (Grönroos, 2020). In most cases, the customers have minimal interest in these marketing initiatives. A survey finds that individuals are exposed to about 5,000 advertisements a day without realizing most of them (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). These companies are often gathering information about their clients who use social media platforms and the corporations reach a point of knowing so much about the consumer segment.
The Role of 4Ps in Relation to Sustainability Issues
The 4Ps of marketing may also contribute to various sustainability issues. For example, today, the production process of various goods and services is closely linked to different environmental problems. Manufacturing carbonated drinks such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products is associated with excessive water consumption (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). Therefore, while multinational companies like the ones mentioned above engage in the making of their products, they tend to consume a large volumes of water leading to an adverse effect on the environment. In addition, automobile products account for a large percentage of carbon emissions whereas organizations in the streaming industry are known for considerable electricity consumption which leaves an adverse effect on the environment.
Pricing strategies may also lead to sustainability issues in a number of ways. In particular, most green products are generally expensive. A sustainable price tends to account for the economic, ecological, and social costs of commodity production and marketing while offering clients value. Today, organizations’ pricing approaches have been modified to encourage materialism (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). In contrast, promotional strategies of a marketing mix are limited by the frequent exaggeration and dishonesty of the messages. Charles Revlon, a doyen of a cosmetics brand argued that production facilities focus on making a product but stores sell hope (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). A region such as the United Kingdom has enacted various laws to limit dubious advertising campaigns that mislead customers.
Place or distribution approaches of a marketing mix can also lead to sustainability issues. In essence, carbon emissions from the transportation of products to the end-user account for approximately 28% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the United States (Kemper and Ballantine, 2019). Moreover, customers are increasingly disturbed by the depletion of the ozone layer resulting from GHG via shipping goods over long distances. In addition, brick and mortar stores are consuming more power as a result of reliance on non-renewable sources of energy.
Principles of Social and Sustainable Marketing
Social marketing refers to a promotional act whose aim is to raise awareness of a particular societal problem and disregards profitability. Alternatively, it can be described as the application of commercial technologies to the examination, planning, and executive of ideas intended to influence the voluntary actions of populations to enhance their personal wellbeing and the community at large (Singh and Dhir, 2019). The origin of this term dates back to 1971 when it was coined by Gerald Zaltman and Philip Kotler (Singh and Dhir, 2019). The latter clarified the variation in the objective of social marketing with other spheres of advertising by stating that social marketers tend to influence social actions not to gain but to help the audience and the society at large.
Social marketing is governed by various principles to ensure the dissemination of its messages. For example, segmentation is used to categorize the audience into various classes to maximize the influence. Instead of developing a broad campaign that targets a large group of consumers, marketers use this principle to tailor their marketing efforts specifically to the intended audience (Singh and Dhir, 2019). Another principle adopted by social marketing is to promote a particular behavioral change. In most cases, marketing approaches place precedence on advertising a purchasing behavior but in social marketing, the aim is to promote a particular communal custom. For example, a bar manager might place signs to encourage the customers to call the examination cab or a colleague for transportation instead of driving themselves home.
Sustainable marketing is defined as a promotional act that considers the well-being of the economy, environment, and society in the process of disseminating advertising messages. The purpose of promotional acts is to increase which is in contradiction with sustainability which aspires to lower the overall consumption and acts as a revolutionary change (Thomas, 2018). As such, sustainable marketing is an attitude that tries to bridge the gap between the aforementioned aspects.
Sustainability marketing is governed by three principles revolving around the economy, environment, and social aspects of the ecosystem. From an economic perspective, sustainable marketing ensures that products and services are made according to the standards required to promote the well-being of the economy (Taoketao et al., 2018). Similarly, from an environmental perspective, it is essential in ensuring green practices that do not bring harm to the environment by minimizing GHG. Lastly, from a social perspective, sustainability marketing is vital for instilling behaviors that ensure the general welfare of society (Taoketao et al., 2018). In essence, both social and sustainable marketing plays a vital role in ensuring the prosperity of the ecosystem.
Examples of Successful Sustainable Marketing Campaigns
Coca-Cola PlantBottle Campaign
The Coca-Cola PlantBottle was a marketing campaign particularly aimed at promoting environmental conservation through water management while also empowering female entrepreneurs. The world’s renowned consortium famous for its flagship lines of Coca-Cola products developed this marketing approach which launched the first fully biodegradable bottle partly produced from plants in 2009 (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). The beverage company successfully managed to substitute up to 30% of the petroleum applied to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles with sugar cane ingredients and other plants (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). This campaign can only be compared to eliminating about 1 million fossil-fuel-powered vehicles from the road to complete the same carbon emission reductions similar to the PlantBottle campaign. Moreover, Coca-Cola has ensured the technologies used in this marketing project were made available for its rivals with the objective of enabling the world to find a solution to the globe’s packaging problem.
Objectives of the Campaign
The objective of the PlantBottle campaign was to primarily enable Coca-Cola to develop a solution to address the adverse effects of plastic bottles on the environment. Due to the seamless global challenges of packaging waste and climate change, the American company invested its resources in developing a marketing campaign that introduced technology to solve these problems (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). Lastly, the aim of the PlantBottle was to facilitate water conservation exercises in the world.
Positive Impacts on Society
The PlantBottle campaign had a significant impact on society and the business world at large. For example, the American syndicate invested its resources in enhancing its environmental records and lowering its contribution to landfills by introducing recycled bottles across its product assortment (Taoketao et al., 2018). This technique has had a considerable impact on the industry by encouraging other firms to improve their sustainability practices in a bid to reduce landfills and carbon emissions. In reinforcement of the bottle launch, the Coca-Cola company has hired “eco-designer” Wayne Hemingway to establish a limited-edition made exclusively from five plastic bottles (Taoketao et al., 2018). In essence, this marketing campaign played a vital role in incentivizing the non-alcoholic beverage segment to incorporate sustainable measures for the well-being of the environment.
Coca-Cola has also highlighted some of the benefits PlantBottle technology has had on its industry. For example, allowing the intellectual property of the technique to rival corporations, enables the beverage sector to minimize the carbon footprint of packaging and assists to drive a circular economy not reliant on fossil fuels (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). The company also admitted that it shared the technology with the world, including non-competitive forms to use the technique on their products which has been seen in the fabric components of Ford Fusion vehicles and packaging for Heinz Tomato Ketchup (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). As such, the American beverage syndicate hopes that more firms will use the technology to minimize the detrimental environmental impacts.
IKEA “Steps” Campaign
IKEA is a multinational organization specializing in designing and selling furniture, home accessories, and kitchen appliances. This company has its headquarters located in Sweden and its sustainability practices have seen the commitment to making products with principles that utilize renewable and regenerated materials. IKEA introduced its “Steps” marketing initiative to increase awareness of its innovative and environmentally green store in Greenwich, London (Ngai and Falkheimer, 2017). This campaign was made possible by placing a chain of striking outdoor advertisements around the city. The outlet was constructed using replenishable building materials and sustainable technologies, and the initiatives encourage residents to visit the new brick-and-mortar store on foot.
Objectives of the Campaign
Sustainable marketing is often important for promoting the corporate social responsibilities of a business. Therefore, in IKEA’s case, the company’s introduction of the “Steps” campaign primarily focused on informing the customers to take a chance to visit its new store which was constructed in London (Ngai and Falkheimer, 2017). Therefore, the sustainable aspect of this commercial was to create awareness of practices that are eco-friendly to the ecosystem along with its components. Approximately 90% of this company’s facilities have solar panels while it also uses wind farms to generate power. It has also planted millions of trees while sending nearly 15% of waste to landfills (Ngai and Falkheimer, 2017). IKEA has done an exceptional job in utilizing numerous strategies to manage waste and renew energy.
Positive Impacts on Society
IKEA’s sustainable strategy alternatively referred to as “People and Planet Positive” has been reflected in its “Step” marketing campaign. In particular, the commercial encouraged the customers to be environmentally conscious by showing that taking long walks is essential for their physical and psychological well-being as well as combating GHG. Since the advertisement was primarily focused on promoting IKEA’s store in London, the company incorporate green practices by asking its shoppers to travel to its most sustainable outlet in the most ecological way: on foot (Ngai and Falkheimer, 2017). In particular, this commercial did an exceptional in promoting green practices in business. The main item of advertising in the campaign was IKEA’s Greenwich store, which incorporates various sustainable features such as a roof garden, solar panels, and rainwater collection systems. As such, the Swedish organization was able to influence other organizations to do the same by improving their sustainability approaches to marketing.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed the aspects of social and sustainability marketing, and their principles, and used various successful examples of real-life advertising campaigns to make a distinction between the two. In particular, social promotional acts primarily aim at influencing the society to change certain behaviors for the entire good of the masses whereas sustainability approaches of marketing engage various economic, environmental, and societal aspects to promote products and services. Moreover, exceptional examples of eco-themed messages in advertising are Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle which focused on addressing the problem of packaging while also minimizing carbon emissions, and IKEA’s “Steps” campaign. In essence, both social and sustainability marketing plays a vital role in society.
References
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