Reviews of Social Marketing Resources from THCU

The following reviews are from the "What We're Reading" at The Health Communication Unit's website.

1.    Andreasen AR. Marketing Social Marketing in the Social Change Marketplace. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 21(1):3-13.

This article proposes a social marketing brand campaign to advance the field of social marketing — using the field's own tools. After providing the essential components of social marketing and an analysis of the current barriers to its acceptance among health promoters, Andreasen proposes a marketing strategy that includes positioning social marketing as complementary — not competitive — with community and structural approaches.

2.    McDermott L, Stead M, Hastings G. What is and What is Not Social Marketing: The Challenge of Reviewing the Evidence. Journal of Marketing Management, 21(5):545-553.

This paper examines using social marketing to tackle nutrition issues. The authors describe how they applied and tested a framework for identifying and assessing legitimate social marketing research.

3.    Thackeray R, Neiger B. Establishing a Relationship between Behavior Change Theory and Social Marketing: Implications for Health Education. Journal of Health Education, 31(6):331-335.

This article describes the relationship between behaviour change theory and social marketing practice. It proposes that social marketing is the framework to which theory can be applied, resulting in programs that are theory-driven, consumer-focused, and potentially more effective.

4.    Health Canada. Social Marketing Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to assist public servants and others with creating a complete social marketing plan. The tutorial consists of five sections of a social marketing plan. Section 1: Situational Analysis. Section 2: Market Segmentation and Target Marketing. Section 3: Setting Objectives. Section 4: Marketing Strategy Development. Section 5: Evaluation, Budgeting, and Implementation. Each section contains an explanation of key concepts, examples from Health Canada's 25 years of experience in Social Marketing, a quiz, and a summary of questions a social marketer should consider at each stage of the plan.

The Health Communication Unit, funded by
the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion, offers free workshops, consultations
services and resources on communications, including social marketing. For more information, visit http://www.thcu.ca/consultation.htm.