50 years of social marketing: seeding solutions for the future

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is synthesise social marketing literature over the past fifty years and deliver a set of guiding tenets to propel social marketing’s agenda forward. Design/methodology/approach Across three strands, this paper amalgamates theoretical and practitioner evidence from social marketing. This synthesis commences with a review, summary and critical discussion of five decades of social marketing research. Across Strands 2 and 3, the authors review 412 social marketing interventions reported across 10 evidence reviews and 238 case studies. Findings This paper demonstrates social marketing’s use of fundamental marketing principles and capability to achieve behaviour change outcomes. Social marketers have built frameworks and processes that non-profit organisations, government agencies and policymakers seeking to enact change can use. This paper delivers five tenets that summarise the findings of the three strands and delivers research priorities for the next 50 years of social marketing research to drive the field forward. Research limitations/implications Drawing on five decades of learning, this paper proposes research priorities that can be applied to refine, recalibrate and future-proof social marketing’s success in making the world a better place. Practical implications This paper demonstrates the value of social marketing science and helps bridge gaps between theory and practice, and further strengthens social marketing’s value proposition. This paper provides confidence that money invested in social marketing programs is well spent. Originality/value This paper delivers a forward-looking perspective and provides social marketing academics and practitioners with confidence that it can assist in overcoming society’s most pressing issues. The paper encompasses key social marketing literature since it was founded 50 years ago. Five tenets will guide social marketing forward: evidencing marketing principles, operationalisation of processes, principles and activities, implementing systems thinking, creating and testing marketing theory and guiding a new social marketing era.

When Less is More: A Short-form Tool to Increase Segmentation Implementation

“…Segmentation has been recognised as important to help social marketers better understand people, so that they can design social change programs to better meet the needs of more people (French, 2017). However, reviews of social marketing research and practice have shown that segmentation is one of the least used principles (Dietrich et al, 2022; Kubacki et al, 2017). It has also been noted that segmentation in social marketing is overly reliant on simple demographic or geographic variables (Dibb, 2017).…”

“…However, reviews of social marketing research and practice have shown that segmentation is one of the least used principles (Dietrich et al, 2022;Kubacki et al, 2017). It has also been noted that segmentation in social marketing is overly reliant on simple demographic or geographic variables (Dibb, 2017).…”

“…Social marketing has emerged as an effective behaviour change approach and has been shown to be even more effective when more of the foundational marketing principles are applied (Carins & Rundle-Thiele, 2014; Firestone, Rowe, Modi, & Sievers, 2017; Xia, Deshpande, & Bonates, 2016). However, segmentation remains one of the least used marketing principles in both social marketing research and practice (Dietrich, Rundle-Thiele, Schuster, & Connor, 2016, Dietrich et al, 2022; Kubacki et al, 2017). There are several opportunities for segmentation to optimise the social marketing process.…”

Rethinking the Idea of Social Marketing: A Case for Upstream Social Marketing

“…This section will form a case to respond to the question, 'What is social marketing?' The literature on it clearly indicates that social marketing as a theoretical term is debatable (Akbar et al, 2022 andDietrich et al, 2022). Alves (2010) emphasises that clarity is limited about social marketing, that causes misperception among researchers and scholars.…”

“…Over the years, research has been carried out to examine the effectiveness of social marketing (Dietrich et al, 2022;Wettstein & Suggs, 2016;Truong, 2014;Helmig & Thaler, 2010;Stead et al, 2007;Gordon et al, 2006). The review by Stead et al (2007) suggests that there is evidence of social marketing effectiveness when the aim is to achieve change at an individual level (downstream), but the effectiveness is limited when it comes to policy or environmental change (upstream).…”