Marketing social marketing

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the state of social marketing in the light of the Second World Social Marketing Conference. The paper refers to keynote speeches and presentations to illustrate the contradictions and confusion in contemporary social marketing thought which may be hindering the acceptance and adoption of social marketing principles. Design/methodology/approach – Arguments are based on the author's participation in, and reflections on, the conference itself. Findings – It is suggested that the name “social marketing” itself may be confusing to policy makers and practitioners, particularly with the massive growth in social media. The increased involvement of profit-making organisations is also questioned along with the usefulness of commercial marketing theory. The paper argues that in the light of current trends and obvious confusion a repositioning is required to focus social marketing theory and practice around a mission to provide better non-profit services for social/public good. Practical implications – This paper should help social marketers to focus their thinking and activities. This in turn will help policy makers, public service providers and professionals improve their services to the community. Social implications – It is hoped that these ideas will help social marketing to flourish and to be better understood by policy makers, practitioners and society at large. The overall aim of social marketing is to help people and improve society – the paper argues that social marketing must refocus on its public service role to fulfil its societal function. Originality/value – The paper contains original ideas and a unique perspective on social marketing which should stimulate debate and help social marketing grow in a socially useful way

A hierarchical model of social marketing

“…However, this association with marketing, unlike other sub-disciplines of marketing such as services marketing, seems to sit uneasily with some of the social marketing community (Wood, 2012). It is curious that some of the advocates of social marketing feel a sense of potential embarrassment or unease at being directly linked to marketing.…”

“…Whilst the literature related to the theory of social marketing is relatively thin (Spotswood et al, 2012;French et al, 2010), more recent text and papers have begun to add weight and depth to the exploration of the nature of the field (Wood, 2012).…”

Social marketing: the state of play and brokering the way forward

“…This was a change from previous social marketing conferences where social advertising and 1P marketing have had a regular presence and always led to the inevitable conversations (in person and on social media) about 'what is social marketing?' There has been a clear 'growing up' of the social marketing discipline compared to previous conferences; for a comparison, see Matt Wood's discussion of issues at the 2011 conference in Dublin (Wood, 2012). With the elevation of discussion from definitions of social marketing to the broader issues at this conference, the real contribution of social marketing as a social change strategy is being evidenced.…”

Factors potentially affecting the successful promotion of electric vehicles

“…This paper examines how marketing can help foster environmentally sustainable behaviour (a field embraced by social marketers for many years -see McKenzie-Mohr, 2011; Andreasen, 2006;Beall et al, 2012;Wood, 2012) in an important area, namely the mass marketization of zero tailpipe-emission electric cars. Specifically it explores the appeal to potential EV purchasers of the contents of the EV marketing messages employed by vehicle producers and government bodies.…”