Editorial

Citation

Rundle-Thiele, S. (2012), "Editorial", Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 2 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsocm.2012.51102caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Social Marketing, Volume 2, Issue 3

At the same time as this issue of the Journal of Social Marketing goes into the print process finishing touches are being put to Australia's first dedicated social marketing conference. In the past social marketing and non-profit were combined in one Australian annual conference attracting approximately 70 delegates. In 2010, the International Non profit and Social Marketing Conference, chaired by the Journal of Social Marketing's own Editorial Advisory Board member Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett, sought to bridge academia with practice, growing the size of the Australian INSM Conference. Today, social marketing is emerging as a discipline in its own right.

Recent growth in the social marketing discipline has led to the formation of dedicated social marketing associations. Examples include (but may not necessarily be restricted to) the Australian Association of Social Marketing (http://www.aasm.org.au) and the International Social Marketing Association (http://i-socialmarketing.org/). The growing prominence of social marketing as a change agent has driven demand for training as people working in the sector seek to understand the principles underpinning social marketing with a view to improving their own practice. New programs are being launched across the globe, which can only be expected to grow the discipline even further. An example is the University of Stirling's MBA in Social Marketing and Behaviour Change which launches August 2012.

Social marketing, a field that emerged in the 1970s, is growing at a remarkable rate in 2012. As social marketing matures into an academic discipline in its own right, we are beginning to see diversity in the way social marketing is understood and implemented by governments, commercial and third sector organisations and researchers in different parts of the world. While social marketing drew heavily on its parent discipline of marketing when it first emerged the time has come to challenge marketing convention, which will likely see social marketing emerge with unique theories to guide social marketing practice.

At the 1st World Social Marketing Conference which was held in Dublin, Ireland, the appropriateness of the 4Ps (product, place, price and promotion) for social marketing was heavily debated in front of a large audience. While the 4Ps attained a tiny majority as a framework (for those who were not present a show of hands vote was conducted), the margin was minor (approximately 52 percent versus 48 percent) suggesting that many social marketing scholars can see that the application of commercial marketing theory in social marketing may be flawed.

Social marketing is not a linear process that begins with an idea, proceeds to a plan and ends with successful implementation of the plan. Rather, social marketing is an iterative process or web of interrelated forces, actions and responses. One of the most common failures found in any commercial marketplace is that marketers lose sight of the customer. Successful commercial marketers use a marketing philosophy and all of their actions are customer focussed. Let us briefly go back to definitions of marketing.

In the past, the American Marketing Association defined marketing as "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services (referred to as the 4Ps of marketing, which were first described in the 1960s) to create exchanges". Kotler, one of marketing's eminent scholars, later suggested that marketing is human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes. The 4Ps remains a dominant commercial marketing framework offering a memorable guide for commercial marketers to ensure they consider the major activities of marketing within any organisation. Does my product satisfy or even delight? Is my product available at the right time and place for the right amount? Do consumers know it exists? Are they favourably disposed? Would they use it (time and) again?

Some scholars argue that the 4Ps does not adequately summarise the functions undertaken by commercial marketing managers. As a result there are many other frameworks in the commercial marketing literature, e.g. 5Ps or 7Ps. Other scholars have proposed a set of guiding questions, e.g. 8Ds. The rationale for such frameworks was that asking the right questions may be the most critical step in problem solving:

Marketers have a need to define the boundaries of their discipline. If one asks the question, what is relevant to our study the answer is anything.

Given the marketing mix has long been debated in commercial marketing it is hardly a surprise the 4Ps was hotly debated at the 1st World Social Marketing Conference. In an era where social marketing is evolving into a discipline in its own right it is time to map a social marketing framework to better understand the functions undertaken by social marketers. This requires an understanding about what activities systematically occur in social marketing campaigns. Many literature reviews have identified that communications remains the dominant activity undertaken in social marketing campaigns. There is a need to extend and evolve thinking to ensure that social marketing grows into a discipline that utilises a broad and diverse range of activities to create exchange. A move beyond communication is required to clearly distinguish social marketing from the public health discipline.

Employing a marketing philosophy for alcohol offers a case in point for consideration. For those of you who drink alcohol consider the following question, what is better than a few drinks? Most will arrive at remarkably few alternatives. If you do come up with an alternative you will see that in the case of alcohol social marketers have few palatable competitive choices. If we are to change the binge drinking culture that is so dominant in a variety of Western cultures we need much more than messaging reminding people that drinking alcohol is associated with many short and long term risks, which in turn can lead to short and long term harm. Messaging attempts promoting moderate drinking run counter to (most) consumer's experiences of relaxing with friends or having a good time at a party with a great story to share with friends following their celebrations. Moreover, non-drinkers allude to social exclusion making a message to give up drinking a highly unsatisfactory alternative. Keeping the consumer in mind, social marketers are left needing to employ a full suite of activities to bring about change. Practising social marketers need a clear list of activities for consideration to extend their thinking beyond communication campaigns. There is a need to for a framework that can be readily applied to the diverse range of problems that social marketing practitioners are facing today. This framework may require a substantial departure from the traditional commercial marketing's 4Ps to provide a clear theory that can be used to guide the next generation of social marketing practitioners. Social marketing scholars need to commence challenging commercial marketing theory to ensure that social marketing continues to strengthen as a discipline. In time we will avoid hung debates over the applicability of the 4Ps to social marketing and adolescents in business classes in schools across the globe will be able to easily recite the six Ss (or whatever the framework) may be of social marketing.

We must separate from commercial marketing ensuring that social marketing builds a reputation that is underpinned by the good that it can do. To do this, we must remain market oriented delivering on customer's needs and wants.

Sharyn Rundle-Thiele