Social Marketing: an Approach to Planned Social Change
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
E Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change PHILIP KOTLER IN 1952, G. D. Wiebe raised the question "\Vhy 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 I The Selling of the President 1968.:J 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 a.nd 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 and limitations of social marketing. It is the authors' view that 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- to such social problems is ex- stood and often viewed suspiciously by many behavioral scientists. 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 advan.ced more suc- marketing to social goals is a natural development and on the cessfully through applying whole a promising one. The idea will not djsappear by ignoring principles of marketing analy- it or raIling against it. sis, planning, and control to problems of social change. 1 G. D. Wiebe, "Merchandising Commodities and Citizenship on Tele- vision," Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 15 (Winter, 1951-52), pp. 679- 691, at p. 679. 2 Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the President 1968 (New York: Trident Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 (July, 1971), pp. 3-12. Press, 1969). 3 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 as a business activity; as a group of related busi- examines the wants, attitudes, and behavior of po- ness activities; as a trade phenomenon; as a tential customers which could aid in designing a frame of mind; as a coordinative, integrative desired product and in merchandising, promoting, function in policy making; as a sense of business and distributing it successfully. Management goes purpose; as an economic process; as a structure through a formal process of strategy determination, of institutions; as the process of exchanging or tactical programming, regional and national imple- transferring ownership of products; as a process of concentration, equalizat~nd dispersion; as 6 Arthur H. Niehoff, A Casebook of Social Change the creation of time, plac~ and possession utili- (Chicago: Aldine, 1966); Warren G. Bennis, Ken- neth D. Benne and Robert Chin, The Planning of ties; as a process of demartdand 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 .'wmething to exchange, and • ABOUT THE AUTHORS. Philip Kotler both able to carry out comm1.lnications and distribu is A. Montgomery Ward Professor of 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~Bui1ding Approach. Professor ditional to modern markets, shows the exchange Kotler is also advisory editor of the process in marketing to be a fundamental aspect of Holt 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- implementation, and control of programs designed agement and Faculty Associate of the 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 mutual western 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 the 5 Philip 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. I ~ •..--------------- ~--------------------_..q 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 Pre8ident 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.