Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change

Author(s): Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman

Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Jul., 1971), pp. 3-12
Published by: American Marketing Association
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Social Marketing: An Approach
to Planned Social Change

PHILIP KOTLER N 1952, G. D. Wiebe raised the question "Why can't you sell
brotherhood like you sell soap ?"1 This statement implies that
and sellers of commodities such as soap are generally effective, while
GERALD ZALTMAN
"sellers" of social causes are generally ineffective. Wiebe examined
four social campaigns to determine what conditions or character-
istics accounted for their relative success or lack of success. He
found that the more the conditions of the social campaign re-
sembled those of a product campaign, the more successful the
social campaign. However, because many social campaigns are
conducted under quite un-market-like circumstances, Wiebe also
noted clear limitations in the practice of social marketing.
A different view is implied in Joe McGinniss's best-selling book
The Selling of the President 1968.2 Its theme seems to be "You
can sell a presidential candidate like you sell soap." Once Nixon
gave the word: "We're going to build this whole campaign around
television . . . you fellows just tell me what you want me to do and
I'll do it," the advertising men, public relations men, copywriters,
makeup artist, photographers, and others joined together to create
the image and the aura that would make this man America's
favorite "brand."
These and other cases suggest that the art of selling cigarettes,
soap, or steel may have some bearing on the art of selling social
causes. People like McGinniss-and before him John K. Gal-
braith and Vance Packard-believe everything and anything can
be sold by Madison Avenue, while people like Wiebe feel this is
exaggerated. To the extent that Madison Avenue has this power,
Can marketing concepts some persons would be heartened because of the many good causes
and techniques be effectively in need of an effective social marketing technology, and others
applied to the promotion of would despair over the spectre of mass manipulation.
social objectives such as Unfortunately there are few careful discussions of the power
brotherhood, safe driving, and limitations of social marketing. It is the authors' view that
and
family planning? The applica- social marketing is a promising framework for planning and
bility of marketing concepts implementing social change. At the same time, it is poorly under-
stood and often viewed suspiciously by many behavioral scientists.
to such social problems is ex-
The application of commercial ideas and methods to promote social
amined in this article. The au-
goals will be seen by many as another example of business's lack
thors show how social causes
of taste and self-restraint. Yet the application of the logic of
can be advanced more suc-
marketing to social goals is a natural development and on the
cessfully through applying whole a promising one. The idea will not disappear by ignoring
principles of marketing analy- it or ralling against it.
sis, planning, and control to
1 G. D. Wiebe, "Merchandising Commodities and Citizenship on Tele-
problems of social change. vision," Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 15 (Winter, 1951-52), pp. 679-
691, at p. 679.
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 (July, 1971),
2 Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the President 1968 (New York: Trident
pp. 3-12. Press, 1969).

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 4 Journal of Marketing, July, 1971

This article discusses the meaning, power, and Thus marketing management occurs when people
limitations of social marketing as an approach to become conscious of an opportunity to gain from a
planned social change. First, this will require more careful planning of their exchange relations.
delineating the generic nature of marketing phe- Although planned social change is not often viewed
nomena and some recent conceptual developments from the client's point of view, it involves very much
in the marketing field. This will be followed by a an exchange relationship between client and change
definition of social marketing and an examination agent.6
of the conditions under which it may be carried The practice of marketing management as ap-
out effectively. The instruments of social market- plied to products and services has become increas-
ing are defined, followed by a systems view of the ingly sophisticated. The responsibility of launching
application of marketing logic to social objectives. new products on a national basis involving the in-
vestment and risk of millions of dollars and the
What is Marketing? uncertainties of consumer and competitor responses
The following statement testifies that there is has led to an increased reliance on formal research
no universal agreement on what marketing is. and planning throughout the product development
and introduction cycle. Marketing management
It has been described by one person or another
examines the wants, attitudes, and behavior of po-
as a business activity; as a group of related busi-
tential customers which could aid in designing a
ness activities; as a trade phenomenon; as a
desired product and in merchandising, promoting,
frame of mind; as a coordinative, integrative
and distributing it successfully. Management goes
function in policy making; as a sense of business
through a formal process of strategy determination,
purpose; as an economic process; as a structure
tactical programming, regional and national imple-
of institutions; as the process of exchanging or
transferring ownership of products; as a process
of concentration, equalization, and dispersion; as 6 Arthur H. Niehoff, A Casebook of Social Change
(Chicago: Aldine, 1966); Warren G. Bennis, Ken-
the creation of time, place and possession utili-
neth D. Benne and Robert Chin, The Planning of
ties; as a process of demand and supply adjust- Change (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston,
ment; and many other things.3 1969).
In spite of the confusing jumble of definitions, the
core idea of marketing lies in the exchange process.
Marketing does not occur unless there are two or
more parties, each with something to exchange, and * ABOUT THE AUTHORS. Philip Kotler
is A. Montgomery Ward Professor of
both able to carry out communications and distribu-
Marketing at the Graduate School of
tion. Typically the subject of marketing is the ex- Management, Northwestern University.
change of goods or services for other goods or ser- He is the author of Marketing Manage-
vices or for money. Belshaw, in an excellent study ment: Analysis, Planning and Control
of marketing exchange and its evolution from tra- and Marketing Decision Making: A
Model-Building Approach. Professor
ditional to modern markets, shows the exchange
Kotler is also advisory editor of the
process in marketing to be a fundamental aspect ofHolt, Rinehart and Winston Marketing
both primitive and advanced social life.4 Series, former chairman of the College
Given that the core idea of marketing lies in on Marketing of the Institute of Management Sciences, and
exchange processes, another concept can be postu- presently a director of the American Marketing Association.
lated, that of marketing management, which can
be defined as: Gerald Zaltman is associate profes-
sor of behavioral science, Department
Marketing management is the analysis, planning,of Marketing, Graduate School of Man-
agement and Faculty Associate of the
implementation, and control of programs designed
to bring about desired .exchanges with target Center for the Interdisciplinary Study
of Science and Technology at North-
audiences for the purpose of personal or mutualwestern University. He holds an MBA
gain. It relies heavily on the adaptation and degree from The University of Chicago
coordination of product, price, promotion, and and a PhD in sociology from The Johns
place for achieving effective response.5 Hopkins University. Professor Zaltman
is author of Marketing: Contributions
from the Behavioral Sciences, co-editor of Creating Social
3 Marketing Staff of the Ohio State University, "A Change (in press), Perspectives on Social Change (in press),
Statement of Marketing Philosophy," JOURNAL OF and a contributor to numerous books and journals. His major
MARKETING, Vol. 29 (January, 1965), p. 43. research interests and writing concern the diffusion of inno-
4 Cyril S. Belshaw, Traditional Exchange and Modern vations, communication, social change, and the sociology of
Markets (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., science.
1965). The authors would like to express their appreciation to th
5Philip Kotler, Marketing Management: Analysis, Educational Foundation of the American Association of Ad-
Planning and Control, Second Edition (Englewood vertising Agencies for their support which permitted activities
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972). leading to many of the ideas expressed in this article.

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Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change 5

mentation, performance measurement, and feedback

other sentiment held by any individual who wishes
control. to present such sentiment to the public.7
There has been a shift from a sales to a market- Social advertising has become such a feature of
ing orientation in recent years. A sales orientation American society that it is no longer a question of
considers the job as one of finding customers for whether to use it, but how to use it. It has been
existing products and convincing them to buy these very successful in some cases and conspicuously un-
products. This sales concept is implicit in The Sell- successful in others. At fault to a large extent is
ing of the President 1968, since one is actually not the tendency of social campaigners to assign ad-
developing a new "product" for the job, but rather vertising the primary, if not the exclusive, role in
trying to sell a given one with a suggestion that it accomplishing their social objectives. This ignores
is somewhat "new and improved." The marketing the marketing truism that a given marketing ob-
concept, on the other hand, calls for most of the jective requires the coordination of the promotional
effort to be spent on discovering the wants of a tar- mix with the goods and services mix and with the
get audience and then creating the goods and ser- distribution mix. Social marketing is a much larger
vices to satisfy them. This view seems privately idea than social advertising and even social com-
and socially more acceptable. In private terms, the munication. To emphasize this, the authors define
seller recognizes that it is easier to create products social marketing in the following way:
and services for existing wants than to try to alter Social marketing is the design, implementation,
wants and attitudes toward existing products. In and control of programs calculated to influence
social terms, it is held that this marketing philoso- the acceptability of social ideas and involving
phy restores consumer sovereignty in the determi- considerations of product planning, pricing, com-
nation of the society's product mix and the use of munication, distribution, and marketing research.
national resources. Thus, it is the explicit use of marketing skills to
In practice, since at any time there are both prod- help translate present social action efforts into
ucts in existence and new products being born, most more effectively designed and communicated pro-
marketing efforts are a mixture of selling and mar-grams that elicit desired audience response. In
keting; that is, a change strategy and a response other words, marketing techniques are the bridging
strategy. In both cases, marketing management is mechanisms between the simple possession of knowl-
becoming a sophisticated action technology that edge and the socially useful implementation of what
draws heavily on the behavioral sciences for clues knowledge allows.
to solving problems of communication and persua-
sion related to influencing the acceptability of com- The Requisite Conditions for Effective
mercial products and services.. In the hands of its Social Marketing
best practitioners, marketing management is applied Some clues concerning the difference between
behavioral science. social advertising and social marketing are contain-
ed in early papers by Lazarsfeld and Merton and by
Social Marketing Wiebe which attempt to explain the limitations of
An increasing number of nonbusiness institu- social advertising.8
tions have begun to examine marketing logic as a
Lazarsfeld and Merton's Analysis
means to furthering their institutional goals and
Lazarsfeld and Merton took exception with the
products. Marketing men have advised churches
view of many people that mass media can easily be
on how to increase membership, charities on how to
used to control people's minds: "It is our tentative
raise money, and art museums and symphonies on
judgment that the social role played by the very
how to attract more patrons. In the social sphere,
existence of the mass media has been commonly
the Advertising Council of America has conducted
overestimated."9 They believed that the effective-
campaigns for social objectives, including "Smokey
ness of mass media for propaganda purposes de-
the Bear," "Keep America Beautiful," "Join the
pended on three conditions, one or more of which is
Peace Corps," "Buy Bonds," and "Go to College."
lacking in most propaganda situations. The first
In fact, social advertising has become an established
phenomenon on the American scene. Sandage says: 7 C. H. Sandage, "Using Advertising to Implement the
True, (advertising's) communication function has Concept of Freedom of Speech," in The Role of Ad-
been confined largely to informing and persuading vertising, C. H. Sandage and V. Fryburger, eds.
(Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1960), pp.
people in respect to products and services. On 222-223.
the other hand, it can be made equally available 8 Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton, "Mass
to those who wish to inform and persuade people Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social
in respect to a city bond issue, cleaning up com- Action," in Mass Communications, William Schramm,
ed. (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1949),
munity crime, the "logic" of atheism, the needs pp. 459-480, and same reference as footnote 1.
for better educational facilities, the abusive tac- 9 Lazarsfeld and Merton, same reference as footnote 8,
tics of given law and enforcement officers, or any p. 462.

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 6 Journal of Marketing, July, 1971

condition is real or psychological monopolization This approach is standard in many closed societies
by the media; that is, a condition marked by the and organizations and suggests another key differ-
absence of counterpropaganda. This characterizes ence between social advertising and social market-
the totalitarian state and accounts for the greater ing. Whereas a social advertising approach con-
effectiveness of these regimes in molding public trives only the event of mass media communication
opinion through mass media. It is found occasion- and leaves the response to natural social processes,
ally in free societies under special circumstances, social marketing arranges for a stepdown commu-
such as a wartime effort. For example, Kate Smith's nication process. The message is passed on and dis-
effectiveness in selling war bonds over the radio cussed in more familiar surroundings to increase
during World War II was partially due to the mara- its memorability, penetration, and action conse-
thon nature of the event and the fact that every- quences. Thus supplementation, monopolization, and
one believed in the cause; i.e., there was no counter-canalization are critical factors influencing the ef-
propaganda. However, most campaigns in a free fectiveness of any social marketing effort.
society in peace time compete with so many other
causes and everyday distractions that the monopoly Wiebe's Analysis
condition is lacking, and this condition reduces the An additional contribution was made by Wiebe
effectiveness of such campaigns. in his attempt to understand the differential effec-
Lazarsfeld and Merton said the second condition tiveness of four social campaigns."1 He explained
required for effective mass propaganda is canaliza- the relative effectiveness of these campaigns in
tion, the presence of an existing attitudinal base terms of the audience member's experience with
for the feelings that the social communicators are regard to five factors:
striving to shape. They asserted that typical com- 1. The Force. The intensity of the person's mo-
mercial advertising is effective because the task is tivation toward the goal as a combination of
not one of instilling basic new attitudes or creating his predisposition prior to the message and
significantly new behavior patterns, but rather ca- the stimulation of the message.
nalizing existing attitudes and behavior in one di- 2. The Direction. Knowledge of how or where
rection or another. Thus, the seller of toothpaste the person might go to consummate his mo-
does not have to socialize persons into new dental tivation.
care habits, but rather into which brand of a fa- 3. The Mechanism. The existence of an agency
miliar and desired product to purchase. If the pre- that enables the person to translate his moti-
existing attitudes are present, then promotional vation into action.
campaigns are more effective, since canalization is 4. Adequacy and Compatibility. The ability and
always an easier task than social reconditioning. effectiveness of the agency in performing its
The authors accept this idea but would add that task.
many business marketing situations also involve the 5. Distance. The audience member's estimate of
task of reshaping basic attitudes rather than ca- the energy and cost required to consummate
nalizing existing ones. For example, consider busi- the motivation in relation to the reward.
ness efforts to influence farmers to change time- To show how these factors operate, Wiebe first
honored farming practices, doctors to try out new analyzed the Kate Smith compaign to sell bonds
drugs, and males to dress with more fashion and during World War II. This campaign was emi-
flair. Canalization is always easier, but the authors nently successful, according to Wiebe, because of
would like to emphasize' that business marketers, the presence of force (patriotism), direction (buy
like social marketers, often try to diffuse funda- bonds), mechanism (banks, post offices, telephone
mentally new products and services which require orders), adequacy and compatibility (so many cen-
major attitudinal reorientations. ters to purchase the bonds), and distance (ease of
Lazarsfeld and Merton call the third condition purchase). In fact, extra telephone lines were in-
supplementation by which they mean the effort to on the night of the campaign at 134 CBS
stalled
follow up mass communication campaigns with stations pro- to take orders during her appeal. The
grams of face-to-face contacts. In trying to explain effort to buy bonds
the success of the rightist Father Coughlin move- ... was literally reduced to the distance between
ment in the thirties, Lazarsfeld and Merton observe: the listener and his telephone. Psychological dis-
This combination of a central supply of propa-tance was also minimized. The listener remained
ganda (Coughlin's addresses on a nationwide net- in his own home. There were no new people to
work), the coordinated distribution of newspapers meet, no unfamiliar procedures, no forms to fill
and pamphlets and locally organized face-to-face out, no explanation, no waiting .. .12
discussions among relatively small groups-this In the case of a campaign to recruit Civil De-
complex of reciprocal reinforcement by mass fense volunteers, many of the same factors were
media and personal relations proved spectacularly present except that the social mechanism was not
successful.'o
11 Same reference as footnote 1.
10 Lazarsfeld and Merton, same reference as footnote 8. 12 Same reference as footnote 1, p. 633.

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Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change 7

attitudes
prepared to handle the large volume in the population. There is no one product
of response,
and this reduced the campaign's success. Teachers, that can accomplish this. Various products have
manuals, equipment, and registration and adminis- to be designed that will make partial contributions
tration procedures were inadequate, and many re- to the social objective. A public education media
sponding citizens were turned away and disap- campaign providing tips on safe driving is one
pointed after they were led to believe that their such product; the offering of "defensive driving
services were urgently needed. courses" is another; the creation of insurance poli-
The third campaign, a documentary on juvenile cies which reduce premiums for safer drivers is
delinquency, did not meet with maximum success still another product. In general, the social mar-
because of the absence of a mechanism. Instead of keter remains aware of the core product (safer
being directed to an existing agency, people were driving) and tries to create various tangible prod-
urged to form neighborhood councils themselves. ucts and services which are "buyable" and which
This certainly takes far more effort than simply advance the social objective.
picking up the phone to buy a war bond, or "stop- Identical reasoning is required by those who
ping in" to register at the nearest Civil Defense market altruistic causes (e.g., charity giving, blood
unit. donation), personal health causes (e.g., nonsmoking,
The fourth campaign revolved around the goal of better nutrition), and social betterment causes (e.g.,
the Kefauver committee hearings to arouse citizens civil rights, improved housing, better environment).
to "set their house in order." This campaign met In each case, the social marketer must define the
with a notable lack of success, however, because change sought, which may be a change in values,
citizens were not directed to an appropriate mech- beliefs, affects, behavior, or some mixture. He must
anism despite the fact that one existed in prin- meaningfully segment the target markets. He must
ciple in the political party organizations. Politicaldesign social products for each market which are
party organizations apparently left much to be de-"buyable," and which instrumentally serve the so-
sired in terms of availability and compatibility. cial cause. In some social causes, the most difficult
The skepticism prevalent at the time concerning problem will be to innovate appropriate products;
the chances of anything beneficial happening as a in other cases it will be to motivate purchase.
result of the hearings was ample evidence that Promotion. The marketing man's second control
considerable psychological distance existed betweenvariable is promotion. It is the communication-
the audience and the mechanisms for action. persuasion strategy and* tactics that will make the
product familiar, acceptable, and even desirable to
The Social Marketing Approach the audience. Wiebe's counterpart to promotion is
The Lazarsfeld and Merton conditions and the "force." The social campaign strategist will tend
Wiebe factors provide a useful background fortoview- think of this as mass media communication, but
ing the conceptual framework used by marketing promotion is actually a much larger idea. To the
strategists. Marketers view the marketing problem marketing man, promotion includes the following
as one of developing the right product backed by major activities:
the right promotion and put in the right place at Advertising: Any paid form of nonpersonal pres-
the right price. These key variables in the marketing entation and promotion of products, services, or
mix have been named the four P's by McCarthy.31 ideas by an identified sponsor.
The authors shall examine each of these variables, Personal Selling: Any paid form of personal
designated control variables, in terms of some well- presentation and promotion of products, service,
known social issues. or ideas by an identified sponsor.
Product. In business marketing, sellers study the Publicity: Any unpaid form of nonpersonal pres-
needs and wants of target buyers and attempt to entation and promotion of products, services, or
design products and services that meet their de- ideas where the sponsor is unidentified.
sires. If well-designed and affordable, these products Sales Promotion: Miscellaneous paid forms (spe-
will be purchased. In social marketing, sellers also cial programs, incentives, materials, and events)
have to study the target audiences and design ap- designed to stimulate audience interest and ac-
propriate products. They must "package" the social ceptance of a product.
idea in a manner which their target audiences find
Each of these promotional tools involves complex
desirable and are willing to purchase. This cor- issues in strategy and tactics. With respect to ad-
responds to Wiebe's idea of a mechanism. vertising, the marketer has to determine the size
Product design is typically more challenging in of the total advertising budget, the choice of ap-
the social area than it is in the business area. Con-
peals, the development of attention-getting copy,
sider the problem of marketing "safer driving." theThe
selection of effective and efficient media, the
social objective is t'o create safer driving habits and
scheduling of the advertising inputs, and the meas-
13 E. Jerome McCarthy, Basic Marketing: A Managerial urement of overall and segment-level results. With
Approach, Third Edition (Homewood, Ill.: Richard respect to personal selling, the marketer must de-
D. Irwin, Inc., 1968), pp. 31-33. termine the size of the total sales force, the de-

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 8 Journal of Marketing, July, 1971

An example of careful
velopment of sales territory promotional planning for
boundaries and
a social objective
ments, the development of ispersonal
found in the Americanpresenta
Cancer
strategies, the degree and type of salesforce moti- Society efforts to raise money for cancer research.
vation and supervision, and the evaluation of sales- In their brochure directed to local units, they at-
force effectiveness. Publicity necessitates arranging tempt to educate the volunteer and professional
for significant news about the product to appear in chapters on the handling of newspapers, pictures,
various media. Sales promotion calls for developing company publications, radio and television, movies,
special display, premiums, programs, and events that special events, and controversial arguments. For
might be useful in stimulating interest or action. example, in terms of special events:
Each of these activities is a specialty in which Dramatic special events attract attention to the
the experts have achieved sophisticated levels of American Cancer Society. They bring color, ex-
knowledge and techniques. This is especially ap- citement, and glamour to the program. Well
parent when one examines social campaigns de- planned, they will get excellent coverage in news-
veloped by amateurs where the appeals and copy papers, on radio and TV, and in newsreels. ...
seem very naive. Even behavioral science consult- A Lights-on-Drive, a one-afternroon or one-night
ants to social campaign organizations often fail to House-to-House program have such dramatic ap-
make a maximum contribution because of their in- peal that they stir excitement and enthusiasm ...
ability or reluctance to view the issue in broad keep in mind the value of bursts of sound such
marketing terms instead of in strictly social or as fire sirens sounding, loud-speaker trucks, fife
ethical terms. and drum corps. .... A most useful special event
Recently Nathaniel Martin criticized the Indian is the ringing of church bells to add a solemn,
government for failing to handle family planning dedicated note to the launching of a drive or
as a marketing problem. education project. This should be organized on
Selling birth control is as much a marketing job a Division or community basis, and the church
as selling any other consumer product. And where bell ringing may be the signal to begin a House-
no manufacturer would contemplate developing to-House canvass. Rehearsals of bell ringing,
and introducing a new product without a thorough community leaders tugging at ropes, offer good
understanding of the variables of the market, picture possibilities.l6
planners in the highest circles of Indian govern- Some readers might be critical of this approach
ment have blithely gone ahead without under- to a worthwhile social objective, but two things
standing that marketing principles must deter- should be mentioned. The first is that this should
mine the character of any campaign of voluntary not be identified as the marketing approach to social
control. The Indians have done only the poorest objectives. Many persons mistakenly assume that
research. They have mismanaged distribution of marketing means hard selling. This is only a par-
contraceptive devices. They have ignored the im- ticular style of marketing, and it has its critics
portance of "customer service." They have pro- both inside and outside the profession. There are
ceeded with grossly inadequate undertrained many firms that market their products with taste
staffs; they have been blind to the importance of and sensitivity; examples include Xerox, Container
promotion and advertising.14 Corporation, and Hallmark. It is important to
recognize that this is not nonmarketing but rather
This is not to deny that the Indian government
a style of marketing that was chosen in the belief
has undertaken some innovative promotional ap-
of its greater effectiveness in accomplishing the
proaches. Referral fees are paid to salesmen, bar-
goals of the organization.
bers, and others who bring in consenting males for
sterilization. The consenting male is given a tran- Second, the issue is not whether a particular ap-
proach suits one's personal taste, but whether it
sistor radio or a small payment to cover his costs of
being absent from work. Women have been offered
works. If a "hard" marketing style raises sub-
stantially more money for cancer research than a
gifts for consenting to use intrauterine contracep-
tive devices. But Martin feels that the total pro- "soft" marketing style, it must be respected by
those who think cancer research is more important
gram lacks the qualities of an organized, well-
than personal aesthetics.
planned, and continuous marketing effort.,l5
Place. The third element of the marketing ap-
14 Nathaniel A. Martin, "The Outlandish Idea: How a proach to social campaigns calls for providing ade-
Marketing Man Would Save India," Marketing/Com- quate and compatible distribution and response
munications, Vol. 297 (March, 1968), pp. 54-60. channels. Motivated persons should know where the
15 For two analyses of the marketing issues and oppor-
tunities in the family planning issue, see Julian L.
product can be obtained. Place is equivalent to two
Simon, "A Huge Marketing Research Task-Birth of Wiebe's five conditions for an effective mass
Control," Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 5 communication campaign (direction, and adequacy
(February, 1968), pp. 21-27; and Glen L. Urban, and compatibility). The poor results of many social
"Ideas on a Decision-Information System for Family
Planning," Industrial Management Review, Vol. 10 16 Public Information Guide (New York: American Can-
(Spring, 1969), pp. 45-61. cer Society, Inc., 1965), p. 19.

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Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change 9

Theto
campaigns can be attributed in part cost of giving
their up smoking is largely psycho-
failure
logical, since there is actually a financial saving
to suggest clear action outlets for those motivated
to acquire the product. The current campaign to in breaking the habit. The cost of using seat belts
interest people in the pollution problem may suffer is the charge for buying them, the effort to lock
from this defect. It is succeeding in making every- and unlock them, and the psychological cost of not
one not only aware of environmental pollution but being completely sure one is better off in an accident
also fearful of it. People want to do something about wearing them or not wearing them.
it. But for the most part they cannot act because The functioning of this concept can also be illus-
there is not a clear product to "buy" (such as a trated in terms of an interesting phenomenon in
petition to sign, an election in which to choose an health care services where many poor patients prefer
antipollution candidate, or a pending piece of na- to patronize unlicensed practitioners and pay a fee
tional legislation). Nor does the average person instead of going to the free hospital. In Caracas,
have a clear picture of the alternative channels of Venezuela, for example, although there is a free
action for expressing his interest in the issue. There hospital for the indigent, many of them patronize
are so many ad hoc organizations working without private clinics which cost them 20 bolivares for
coordination and at times with cross-purpose, that consultation. Why? Because while there is no
the average person is likely to "tune out" from charge at the free hospital, there is a substantial
further messages because of personal frustration. cost to the patient in terms of energy and psycho-
Saturation campaigns unaccompanied by the pro- logical abuse. When a patient arrives at the hos-
vision of adequate response channels may result in pital, he has to wait to see a social worker first.
"interest overkill." When he is finally interviewed, the social worker
The importance of place has been recognized in asks many questions about his income to determine
several campaigns. The most notable example is whether he is really indigent. Then he sees a
the Kate Smith bond-selling campaign and its imag- number of other hospital staff members for various
inative establishment of telephone order channels tests, and again is asked about his income. Finally,
during the broadcast. Strategists of anticigarette he sees the doctor who might discover that he really
campaigns have recognized the need for action chan- needs to see a specialist who will not be available
nels by setting up smoker's clinics in many large for several weeks. Throughout the experience, the
cities. They could even go further and provide tele- person is made to feel inferior and a nuisance.
phone advice and even social calls if the economics Therefore, it is not surprising that he wishes to
would justify these additional channels. An adver- avoid these energy and psychological costs even if
tising agency is planning a campaign called "Pick it means paying for the services.
Your Issue" in which several different social issues But even monetary charges may play a useful
would be individually featured. The point would role in leading the poor back to free hospital ser-
be made that because the busy citizen does not have vices. In private correspondence, a social psycholo-
time to become involved in all issues, this should gist suggested:
not be an excuse to remain uninvolved in any It is a surprising discovery that even free medical
issues. The good citizen should "pick an issue." care presents a marketing problem. Maybe we
Each issue advertisement will contain information should apply dissonance theory and introduce such
on the organizations active in that area and inform medical care at a high price to make it look more
the citizen about where to write for further in- desirable. Then let us apply a cents-off special
formation. introductory offer to make the service attractive.
Thus, place means arranging for accessible out- The marketing man's approach to pricing the
lets which permit the translation of motivations social product is based on the assumption that
into actions. Planning in this area entails selecting members of a target audience perform a cost-benefit
or developing appropriate outlets, deciding on their analysis when considering the investment of money,
number, average size, and locations, and giving time, or energy in the issue. They somehow process
them proper motivation to perform their part of the major benefits and compare them to the major
the job. costs, and the strength of their motivation to act
Price. The final control variable that must be is directly related to the magnitude of the excess
planned is price. Price represents the costs that benefit. This type of conceptualization of behavior
the buyer must accept in order to obtain the is found not only in the economist's model of eco-
product. It resembles Wiebe's concept of distance nomic man, but also in behavioristic theory with
and incorporates some aspects of adequacy and com- its emphasis on rewards and costs, in Gestalt theory
patibility. Price includes money costs, opportunitywith its emphasis on positive and negative valences,
costs, energy costs, and psychic costs, Thus, the and in management theory with its emphasis on
cost to persons asked to appear for immunization incentives and constraints. The marketer's approach
shots includes any possible money charge, any op- to selling a social product is to consider how the
portunities foregone, the expenditure of energy, and rewards for buying the product can be increased
the psychological concerns aroused by inoculation. relative to the costs, or the costs reduced relative

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 10 Journal of Marketing, July, 1971

PLANNING
VARIABLES MARKETS

Product Primary target

1. Core product
2. Tangible
products
CHANNELS

Mass and special-

ized media

Promotion

1. Advertising
Personal Secondary 2.
selling target
3. Publicity market
ENVIRONMENT CHANGE AGENCY 4. Sales

1. Economic promotion Paid agents

2. Political Research Planning
3. Technological I Unit Unit
4. Cultural
5. Competitive
Place
1.Channel types Voluntary groups Tertiary
3. Size and organizations target
4. Locations market
5. Compatibility

Price

1. Money costs
2. Opportunity Miscellaneous
costs target
3. Energy costs markets
4. Psychic costs

FIGURE 1. Social marketing planning system.

to the rewards, or trying to find a mix of product, ments (new birth control techniques and devices),
promotion, place, and price that will simultaneously cultural developments (attitudinal changes toward
increase the rewards and reduce the costs. The main birth control), and competitive developments (ac-
point is that social marketing requires that careful tions of similar and competing groups). The re-
thought be given to the manner in which manage- search unit also collects information on the past
able, desirable, gratifying, and convenient solutions effectiveness of various programs as well as infor-
to a perceived need or problem are presented to its mation on audience attitudes, desires, and behavior.
potential buyers. The change agent's planning unit formulates
short- and long-range social marketing plans on
The Social Marketing Planning Process the basis of this information. For example, the
family planning organization carefully considers the
The "four P's" of marketing management are role of different products, promotions, places, and
integrated in an administrative process framework prices. It would identify the major channels of
in Figure 1. Continuous information is collected communication and distribution, such as mass or
from the environment by the change agency. Plans specialized media, paid agents, and volunteer groups.
and messages are created and sent through channels It would differentiate the programs intended for
to audiences, and the results are monitored by the its primary target market (large and low-income
change agency. families), secondary target market (other child-
The change agency operates a research unit and bearing families), tertiary target market (sources
a planning unit. The research unit collects several of funds and additional volunteer efforts), and mis-
types of information. It monitors the environment cellaneous target markets (politicians and church
-economic, political, technological, cultural, and groups). Finally, it would continuously gather ef-
competitive influences-for important developments fectiveness measures on these programs for re-
affecting its social policies and objectives. For ex- cycling its planning.
ample, a family planning agency would monitor eco- This approach represents an application of busi-
nomic-demographic developments (income and popu- ness marketing principles to the problem of market-
lation trends), political developments (liberalization ing social change. It is already manifest in some
of birth control information), technological develop- of the larger social change agencies. For example,

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Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change 11

1. Mass media advertising campaigns

2. Special presentations to executives .. _ BUSINESS
FIRMS

DRERVIVE
SERVICE 1. Group discounts
ORGANIZATIONS /er2. Fund raising

1. Monthly DDC bulletin 1. Local advertising

NATIONAL 2. Film LOCAL \ 2. Direct mailDRIVERS
SAFETY 3. Consumer ileaflets .. SAFETY 3. Dashboard stickersDRIVERS
COUNCIL 4. Training plans for plants \COUNCILS 4. Bring-a-friend disoount
5. Tie-in sales

1. Direct recruit-

SCHOOLS 2./Flyers
et which
children bring
home to their
parents

POLICE AND
COURTS
1. Mass media advertising campaigns
2. Selective media advertising campaigns
3. Sales promotion
4. Publicity
FIGURE 2. Marketing channels and tools: Defensive driving course.

consider the work of the National Safety Council. paign organizations to full-time marketing organi-
Its staff includes an advertising manager, a sales zations which go through cycles of information
promotion management, an Advertising Council of gathering, planning, product development, measur-
America coordinator, a research director, and a ing, and reprogramming.
program director. One of its products is a defensive
driving course. Figure 2 shows the various chan- Social Implications of Social Marketing
nels through which this course is marketed along
The authors believe that specific social causes
with the promotional tools it uses. The National
could benefit from marketing thinking and plan-
Safety Council reaches potential prospects through
ning. Problems of pollution control, mass transit,
business firms, service organizations, schools, and
private education, drug abuse, and public medicine
the police and court system. For the 1970s, the
are in need of innovative solutions and approaches
National Safety Council has adopted
for gaining public attention and support. Marketing
men by their training are finely attuned to market
? . the
of . a first
four objectives
point marketing program.
is to increase the sales. . . One
needs, product development, pricing and channel
effectiveness of our existing 150 state and local issues, and mass communication and promotion tech-
safety council cooperating agencies. . . . The niques, all of which are critical in the social area.
second part of the, program is to create 500 new At the same time, social marketing is sufficiently
training agencies in communities not now served distinct from business marketing to require fresh
by safety councils. . . . A third part of the thinking and new approaches. Social marketing
marketing program will be aimed at selling big typically has to deal with the market's core be-
industry on adopting DDC as a training course liefs and values, whereas business marketing often
for all employees or selected categories of em- deals with superficial preferences and opinions. So-
ployees in plant-run training programs. . . . The cial marketing must search harder for meaningful
fourth part of the marketing plan deals with a quid pro quos to gain acceptance or adoption of
nationwide promotional effort built around a se- its products. Social marketing has to work with
ries of community special-emphasis campaigns channel systems that are less well-defined and less
running from February 1 through Memorial Day pecuniarily motivated.- Only through applying mar-
each year of the decade.17 keting concepts and tools to a large number of
This example illustrates the possibilities of the cases will the powers and limits of the social mar-
marketing approach for furthering social causes. keting approach be learned.
The National Safety Council and several other so- In addition, there is the definite possibility that
cial agencies have graduated from occasional cam- the overt marketing of social objectives will be
resented and resisted. There will be charges that
17 Chris Imhoff, "DDC's Decisive Decade," Traffic Safe-
it is "manipulative," and consequently contributes
ty Magazine, Vol. 69 (December, 1969), pp. 20 and 36.

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 12 Journal of Marketing, July, 1971

to bringing the society closer to Orwell's 1984. ing, communication, distribution, and marketing
There will be charges that' even if not manipula- research.
tive, social marketing will increase the amount of Too often, social advertising rather than social
"promotional noise" in the society, which is found marketing is practiced by social campaigners. La-
distasteful both because it emphasizes "trivial dif- zarsfeld and Merton attributed the failure of many
ferences" and because it is "noise." Finally, social social advertising campaigns to the frequent ab-
marketing will be accused of increasing the costs sence of conditions of monopolization, canalization,
of promoting social causes beyond the point of a and supplementation in the social arena. Wiebe, in
net gain either to the specific cause or the society his examination of four campaigns, concluded that
as a whole. In the charities industry, professional a campaign's effectiveness depended on the presence
marketing increases the absolute cost of raising of adequate force, direction, an adequate and com-
money, but it usually succeeds in raising more patible social mechanism, and distance. To the mar-
money after these costs are taken into account. keter, the success of the campaign depends on the
However, when one considers the entire picture, proper development of product, promotion, place,
it is possible that the total amount donated to and price considerations. These concepts were de-
charities may not increase by the same amount as fined and were shown to have applicability to social
the professional marketing costs. causes. The social marketing process calls for
The authors are concerned with these possible marketing research and the subsequent develop-
dysfunctional consequences, and they must obviously ment of a well-conceived product and appeals mov-
be subtracted from the potential benefits that social ing through mass and specialized communication
marketing might produce. Since social marketing media and through paid agents and voluntary groups
is just emerging, those concerned are encouraged to reach targeted audiences. The marketing style
to monitor it closely in the same dispassionate spirit may be hard or soft, depending on which is deemed
that business marketers have so ably analyzed and most effective in accomplishing the social objectives.
documented the many manifestations* of business A marketing planning approach does not guaran-
marketing practice over the- years. tee that the social objectives will be achieved, or
that the costs will be acceptable. Yet social mar-
Summary keting appears to represent a bridging mechanism
This article considered the applicability of mar- which links the behavioral scientist's knowledge of
keting concepts to the problem of promoting social human behavior with the socially useful implemen-
causes. Social marketing was defined as the design, tation of what that knowledge allows. It offers a
implementation, and control of programs calculated useful framework for effective social planning at a
to influence the acceptability of social ideas and time when social issues have become more relevant
involving considerations of product planning, pric- and critical.

MARKETING MEMO

The Marketing Concept and Technology .

It is a mistake to think of technology as entirely autonomous, although it has
secured for itself a great deal of autonomy. And it is a mistake to think that the
technological system is self-justifying in its own terms. The present ecological crisis
and fundamental rethinking of technology's role in the society of the future is the
prima facie illustration of this point. We are going to abandon many technological
developments even though the existing technological order justifies their further
development. We are going to introduce many new technologies for which there
is no need in the existing technological system. And we are going to evolve and
invent many new forms of technological knowledge which are either unnecessary or
simply go against the grain of the existing technological system. We are going to
do these things because we are in process of changing the nature of the dialogue
concerning the needs of society and the potentials of technology.
-Henryk Skolimowski, "Problems of
Truth in Technology," Ingenor 8 (Win-
ter, 1970/71, College of Engineering,
The University of Michigan), pp. 5-7,
41-46, at p. 42.

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