Social Marketing

principles and
processes’

Jeff French
Jeff.french@strategic-social-marketing.org
I believe in evidence based presentations!
 WARNING
The views expressed in this presentation are purely
my own and those of all right thinking people
everywhere. I may start to rant because I
passionately believe that Social Marketing can do a
tremendous amount of good in the world. These
thought have been put together over many years
and should only be engaged with by citizens and
professionals who are prepared to take a critical
look at what they are doing. Those seeking to
replicate these ideas and recommended actions at
home do so at their own risk.
Which shape and colour best
represents the way you
operate at work ?
 My thesis
We face massive behavioural challenges
that can only be tackled by:

Using insight that to create value for people

&

Systemic delivery through a planned Social

Marketing approach across civic society
Health Promotion
The discipline of social marketing

Scope Develop Implement Evaluate Follow-up

The nicest thing about not planning is
that failure comes as a complete surprise
rather than being preceded by a period
of worry and depression."

Sir John Harvey-Jones (1924 - 2008)

 What SM can deliver
• Ensure that every £ is spent where it
can have the most effect

• Save you money by reducing and

redirecting funding

• Provide a clear line of connection

between investment and outcome
 ROSMI
Return

£
On
Social
Marketing
Investment

+ VFM CBA
We can’t afford the waste of not learning and reinvention
Ernest Rutherford
(1871 - 1937)

By 1902 Rutherford had

established a new
branch of physics called
radioactivity. His work
on radioactive decay
won him the 1908 Nobel
Prize in Chemistry.
He also established the
nuclear theory of the
atom. In 1919, he
announced his success
in the artificially
disintegration of an
atom.
He died at Cambridge,
 Opportunities
• Growing user , citizen power and
the need for citizen driven
solutions.

• Big demand for effective and

efficient ways to tackle
behavioural changes.

• New technology, methodologies

and evidence that enable more
user driven solutions and
customisation.
 The big societal challenges

climate
alcohol change recycling
theft
physical
activity violence

inequality
obesity poverty
pollution
HIV / Aids
smoking
drug use
sexual health
 Put your hands up generation LX
you are the ‘Charmed Generation’ Typically, people born between1950 and 1970

Highest disposable income

Huge and growing Capital worth

More technologically advanced than people think

Increasingly disability-free and healthy life expectancy

Buy over half of luxury goods

Women spend 20% more on clothes than younger

counterparts

You want it how you want it

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd
Citizens want to be listened to and
engaged
Generally
trusted to tell
the truth?
Responsive pubic services?
MORI survey in 2005 following words best described public service,

Highest ranked words:

• Bureaucratic
• Infuriating
• Faceless
• Hardworking
• Unresponsive
• Unaccountable.

The lowest ranked words:

• Friendly,
• Efficient
• Honest
• Open.
 What made it work was that it was
driven by the audience and centered
on them interacting with the activities
set up
• Over 1,000 unique users
visited the webpage (out of
around 3,000 employees).

• 7% more customers are

happy

• 4% rise in the number

who think the council is
helpful.
 How it feels – the fatal conceit
They don’t

The State and

Experts know
best
Jeff, Welcome to Your Amazon.com™
(If you're not Jeff French, click here.)
“It’s not about
telling and selling.
It’s about bringing
a relationship
mind set to
everything we do”
Jim Stengel Global Marketing Chief Proctor & Gambel
The new driver: Citizen Perceived Value
The challenge of communication and
engagement and coproduction
• The legitimacy and
necessity of action
on:
– Knowledge
– Attitude
– Beliefs
How many sociologists does it take
to change a light bulb ?

What do you get when you cross an

economist with a psychologist and a
member of the mafia?
 Valuing different sources of learning
health marketing
communic
promotion ati ons
behavioura
sociology economics
l

psychology political
sciences

community anthropolo
gy
development criminology

AND MANY MORE…

If you can get them
asking the wrong
question the answers
don’t matter
Thomas Pynchon
Wrong question:
How about a new
initiative?

the futility of isolated initiatives.

 Wrong question:
How do we tell people what to do?

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

Cut back on waste Check on neighbour Report crime
Avoid sugary foods & drinks Don’t drive using mobile phone
Don’t smoke Use helpline Don’t start fires Safer sex
Use a condom Go for a check-up Limit water use
Don’t litter Use smoking cessation service Volunteer
Complete tax forms Reuse bags Don’t bully & threaten others
Don’t carry knives Don’t speed in cars Drink sensibly
Don’t idle the car Cut down on calories Don’t steal
Postpone 1st sexual activity Exercise Use public transport
Cut-down on red meat Vote Don’t smoke while pregnant
Don’t drink & drive Don’t graffiti Get immunised
Conserve energy Register to vote Don’t drug drive
Cut back on fatty foods Recycle Don’t falsely claim benefits
Don’t vandalise Go to screening service Don’t binge drink
Don’t smoke in public places Eat 5-a-day fruit & veg
 Sometimes creative insight driven
communication does work by itself
 The Right Question
How can I create systems,
environments, products
and services that will help
people change and
communicate this is a way
that they will understand
and respond to?
Why demography is not enough
demographic
male
born 1948
British
2nd marriage
affluent
well known
family
 Insight is the key

What causes binge

drinking ? You only have
to look at the price list
(Bar manager)

Supply Side logic

Binge drinkers consider

it their right, It’s a
release for the working
class to forget their lives
(Youth worker) Socio political logic
 Insight is the key

“Its very important to get

drunk. I’m spending money
and I want to get drunk, and
if I don’t its just a waste of
money!”
Quoted in Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England

Cabinet Office 2004

Personal contextual logic

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

 mobile phones s/
adulthood / matu n d peer glossy
rity frie l life l
arts & inter mu o cia a pprova magazines
drama net sic sex s
b u r g ers,
com i s ps,
excitement ga ter p u ea t c r
n ce food
nie V & DVDs
mes conve T
movies & films st
attention buy late
take drugs clothes
for fun hobbies
sugar / sweets
hair, nails, get
n
complexio plastered available time /
e e d/ boredom
sp tion engagement yout
la r a c e h go to
exhi e n i en club family ch
conv ta k ing urch
ri s k e v ents
/ fam
ilies
cars ikes d / c h & pray
o r b c re d so m ild r e
mo t et e smoke n
stre e / suss ad m ired for ething daily
is g n
tr e etw bein / ea ti ng
oth
i n help m
s g cdredit h g y
ka ti n c te o li da ys fr i
ice-s respe crunch out ends

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

 The rational exchange (Is most often internal)

Psychological cost Psychological benefit

Social cost Social benefit

v
Financial cost Financial benefit
Physical cost Physical benefit
Time cost Time benefit

Incentives to reduce or increase

 However ......
We know we are
seldom fully rationale
in the economic and
scientific sense
The Challenge of Behavioural Economics

Homer v Spock

Mid brain v Prefrontal Cortex

Mindless choosing
 Nudges are not enough
• We also need :
– Policy and political science
– Communications
– Biological science
– Environmental management
– Advertising
– New media
– Management science
– Community Development
– Health promotion
– Health Education
– Design
– Etc:

The key is using social marketing to add value

to these other fields of understanding and
So sometimes you might need to make it
 THINK! Campaign – young men
Numbers dying each year stuck at same level since 2000
Moment of Doubt campaign

Drink driving will have

immediate, negative
consequences for them
personally

The key point of

intervention after
one pint, control
centre still strong.

Result:

The number of people breathalysed during December 2007 rose by 6.4 per cent, number testing positive fell by
19.5%.

The number of deaths and serious injuries fell for the first time in six years, from 560  410 (from 2006
to 2007)
 The value/cost exchange matrix©
Active Decision
Hug Conscious / Considered
Smack
eg: eg:
Financial reward Penalty fine for
for not littering
smoking
Incentive Disincentive
Reward Punish

eg: eg:
Savings default Road bump to
scheme reduce car speed

Nudge Shove
Automatic / Unconscious
Passive Decision
Use the science of change to help people

1. channelling
– defaults
– expect error
– limiting choice
2. people like me
– copying each other
– being attractive
– familiarity
– similarity
– apparently unbiased spokespeople
3. emotions trump rational persuasion
– reciprocity
– loss trumps gain

Thaler, Sunstein, Cialdini, Fraser, Freedman, Latane & Darley

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd
‘Choice Architecture’: Understand the motivations

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

Nudges can work

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

Choice editing can work

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

 3 core principles
Behaviour and behavioral goals.

The ‘Intervention and Marketing Mix’

Audience segmentation

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

 Marketing Mix

Pre Think! total casualties grew by

3%, and total accidents by 2%. Since
Think! total casualties and accidents
declined by 12% and 11%
respectively.

For more information see:

www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk

Strategic Social Marketing Ltd

 de-CIDES behaviour framework©
(Improving lives together. Prof Jeff French Clive Blair-Stevens Harnessing the best behavioural interventionand social marketing approaches)Westminster City Council. 2010)

Control
Control
Inform Control
Inform Control
Inform
Inform
Design
Design
Design
Educate Design
Educate
Educate
Educate
Support
Support
Support
Support
5 primary intervention domains
 de-CIDES behaviour framework©
The 5 influencing domains

Control
Control Penalty Legislate Monitor Police

Inform
Inform Communicate Remind Make aware Trigger

Design
Design Alter environment System change Engineer

Educate
Educate Teach Engage Inspire Build skills

Support
Support
Service change Assist Incentive Provide
 Be Active , Birmingham City
Council & PCT
• (1.3.10) 37,500 new members

• 175 Lives saved each year

• 1600 cases of hypertension

discovered

Control
• Improved social cohesion Control
Inform
Inform
Design
• 70 per cent participants from Design
minority ethnic communities Educate
Educate
Support
Support
Inform
Inform
Educate
Educate
Support
Support
Design
Design
Control
Control
Shaping the
environment and
empowering staff
can work

Control
Control
Inform
Inform
Design
Design
Educate
Educate
Support
Support
I can see that look!
OK OK, how
do we embed
Social
Marketing
across our
work?
The courage to ‘Speak truth to power’
(Professor Peter Hennessy of Queen Mary College London

‘
The courage of power to accept
the truth, and insist on:
1. Clear Aims and behavioural goals

2. Evidence and data driven interventions.

3. Connections with organisational strategy

4. Clear evaluation metrics + VFM and ROSMI

From ‘hand made’ to ‘mass production’
More plug and play interventions

Protocols

Insight packs

Standards

Evaluation tools

Audit
 Now a bit Italian
(Creative Flair, Passion and Style)

More German
(Technocratic & Systematic)

and
More British
(Thought leaders and Pragmatists)
 When it gets tough, remember:

• Social marketing is a deeply

respectful, democratic and
empowering way to work.

• Be a reflective practitioner
(Worry, Learn and Share)
Dates for
your diary
11th - 12th
April 2011
 T h a nks
M a n y
t h e tal k
ou l i ked
If y u y t h e
y n o t b
wh
b o o k!
Professor Jeff French
PhD, MBA, MSc, Dip HE, BA, Cert.Ed
Strategic Social Marketing Ltd
Registered Company No : 6963216
www.strategic-social-marketing.org
Attabara, Conford , Hants, GU307QW