Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to contend that one way to advance the social marketing discipline is by introducing students to social marketing concepts during the early stages of their marketing education. Thus, it describes an interdisciplinary group Social Marketing Plan (SMP) project that was included as a class project in an introductory marketing course. An analysis of the SMP's impact on student learning is presented. Design/methodology/approach -Foundations of Marketing (Foundations) students at a US university completed an SMP project as a course requirement. Project impact was assessed with post-project measures of students' ability to apply social marketing concepts in a SMP. Project impact was also assessed with post-project measures of attitudes toward working on interdisciplinary teams and pre-and post-project comparisons of declarative marketing knowledge, environmental awareness, environmental attitudes, and environmental intentions. A post hoc comparison of the commercial marketing knowledge of a control group and Foundations students was also conducted. Findings -End of semester surveys showed that Foundations students understood and were able to apply social marketing concepts, enjoyed the SMP project, appreciated the value of working in interdisciplinary teams, and believed that future SMP projects should include students from other disciplines. Foundations students also reported significant increases in environmental awareness, attitudes, and intentions, and commercial marketing knowledge. Contrasts with a control group revealed that adding social marketing concepts to an introductory marketing course did not impede Foundations students' learning of commercial marketing concepts. Originality/value -The paper provides evidence that incorporating a social marketing project into an introductory marketing course is an effective method for introducing students to social marketing concepts, therefore advancing the social marketing discipline. Changes in student environmental attitudes and intentions to act to preserve the environment also suggest that a SMP project can be an effective method of doing social marketing.
Purpose – This paper examines how social marketing communication messages influence physical activity attitudes when a health organization is revealed as the message source. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines how social marketing communication messages influence physical activity attitudes when a health organization is revealed as the message source. Findings – Results from three studies using experimentally manipulated messages (Studies 1 and 3) and real TV commercials (Study 2) suggest that work-framed social marketing communication messages may be more effective than fun-framed messages when the sponsoring health organization is disclosed, versus not disclosed in the ad. Research limitations/implications – This research extends the literature on source-effects on message effectiveness by suggesting that the type of message sponsor (i.e. a health organization) may influence attitudes toward the physical activity promoted in the message content. Practical implications – The results suggest that health organizations may be able to maximize communication effectiveness by employing work – rather than fun-framed messages, when it is evident that the message source is a health organization. When individuals are unaware that a health organization is the message source or when a non-health organization is the message source, fun-framed messages may be as effective for encouraging physical activity. Social implications – This research may assist health organizations to make the best use of their limited resources by providing guidance for the development of social marketing communication messages that encourage people to be physically active. Originality/value – Although source effects on marketing message effectiveness have been well established in the marketing literature, this study is the first to suggest that a health-organization message source interacts with work- versus fun-framed message content to impact the persuasiveness of messages designed to encourage physical activity.
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