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Ellen O'Donoghue, Project Director, Forster, looks at how social marketing works at a practical level and assesses its effectiveness in changing attitudes and behaviours |
Slip, Slap, Slop
SunSmart's Slip, Slap, Slop campaign, launched in 1980 in Australia to encourage people to reduce their exposure to UV radiation, was one of the first public-facing social marketing campaigns.
Rather than relying on blanket advertising to get the message across, SunSmart adopted an innovative approach: identifying those most at risk and tailoring messages towards them. They used several methods of communication, including partnerships with local government, schools and sporting groups, to integrate sun protection into people's daily lives. This approach - tailoring messages to suit the audience and ensuring they're integrated into communities and lifestyles - are what social marketing is all about.
So, does it work?
Since Slip, Slap, Slop launched, the number of people wanting a suntan has decreased from 61 per cent in 1988 to 35 per cent in 1998. Skin cancer rates are evening out after decades of increase and the early detection of skin cancer is leading to better treatment and long-term survival rates.
In the UK, interest in and discussion around the theory, methods and outcomes of social marketing has accelerated over the last couple of years. One of the debates is between those who see it as a cutting edge way to motivate behaviour change, and those who see it as old wine in new bottles. Perhaps it's both: fine old wine, bottled to reach new audiences.
Social marketing versus traditional marketing
One of the easiest ways to illustrate the difference between social and 'traditional' marketing is to look at the Prochaska model. This illustrates the audience-centric approach that differentiates social marketing. Rather than dividing audiences simply on a socio-economic or geographical basis, it looks at attitudinal divisions and choices.
For example: are you a smoker who has bought nicotine gum in preparation to give up, or are you happily puffing away? Would you like to eat healthily, but don't have basic cooking skills, or are you happy with your weight and diet as they are? Clearly, different approaches will be needed to match differing attitudes.
Applying rigorous audience insights means that people can be targeted at various stages of the decision making process with information, support, rewards or whatever the research suggests will encourage them to change their behaviour for the better.
It may sound good in theory, but how does social marketing work at a practical level?
Social marketing in practice
In 2007, Forster began work on a campaign in South East London to raise awareness of the dangers of high-blood pressure and encourage those at risk to get their blood pressure checked.
The target audience was white men aged 30-50. Audience insight showed that an irreverent, humorous approach would engage them and prompt action. The campaign that ensued, 'What raises yours?' was funny and suggestive, and was ideally placed to reach the target audience, with darts star Bobby George fronting the campaign.
Initial evaluation showed that 7 per cent of people in the target area were likely to have their blood pressure checked as a result of seeing the campaign, and 2 per cent had already had a check. Aside from the practical outcomes - increase in blood pressure checks - this campaign demonstrates how social marketing can reach an audience usually unresponsive to blanket messages. Where working class, middle-aged men might ignore national advertising or messages from health professionals, messages were placed in their areas - betting shops, local pubs and at community events they'd visit with their families.
Public health authorities have quickly embraced the positive effects of adopting a social marketing model. Take the Primary Care Trust in London's Tower Hamlets. In 2007 they began an initiative to raise the number of screenings for breast cancer in the borough, where rates were much lower than the national average. The campaign was to target two unique audiences - white and Bangladeshi women, aged 50-70.
The message for white women was fronted by local women who had been screened, under a positive 'I've done it' banner. For Bangladeshi women, a local GP was recruited to encourage women to get screened. Both initiatives are running simultaneously, right now, and while yet to be evaluated, the communications teams, literally giving the message on the streets, have received a very positive response.
In each case, research is an integral, and vital, part of the process. Without it, there would simply be assumptions about what is likely to influence an audience. Once you are confident of the barriers an audience has to behaving in a certain way, it becomes clear what intervention you might put in place to change that.
Achieving behaviour change
In the last two years evidence has been increasingly gathered to support the theory that marketing in this way - audience-centric and using different and innovative channels - is the most effective way to really change behaviour, particularly among hard-to-reach groups.
Social marketing works because it listens to what its target audiences thinks, feels and wants, and only then decides how to deliver its messages. Is it new? That's debatable. But it is a rigorous, strategic and targeted approach, and one that's been shown to achieve behaviour change in the long-term interest of its target audience. |
