Developing benchmark criteria for assessing community-based social marketing programs

Abstract

Purpose – This article aims to propose that increased guidance on the implementation of social marketing principles for sustainability issues can advance both implementation and empirical evaluation. The primary goal of this paper is to ignite further empirical investigation of social marketing for sustainability by first presenting benchmark criteria for one social marketing model – community-based social marketing (CBSM) – and second, applying this framework to the case study of musician Jack Johnson’s “All at Once” (AAO) campaign. Design/methodology/approach – The research design is twofold. First, based on Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s CBSM model, a series of 21 benchmarks for assessing the key components of an effective CBSM initiative was developed. Second, this tool was applied to information gathered from Jack Johnson’s extensive outreach promoting AAO initiatives including reports, videos as well as interviews and in-person meetings with the Jack Johnson team. Findings – Application of the benchmark criteria to the Jack Johnson case study showed that seven out of the 21 benchmarks were integrated into the AAO campaign; seven were partially integrated and seven were not integrated in the program’s design. In particular, the use of commitments, incentives, norms and social diffusion was clearly present as was a final evaluation of the full-scale implementation of the campaign. Originality/value – The CBSM benchmarks are meant as a starting point to further assess and compare the effectiveness of CBSM initiatives. Further research should be done to explore how criteria should be weighted and which of the 21 principles need to be present in the design and implementation of an effective CBSM program.

Can the theory of planned behaviour explain walking to and from school among Australian children? A social marketing formative research study

“…Therefore, instead of trying to convince caregivers that walking to school is beneficial (e.g., increasing instrumental attitudes) for their children, a more effective approach would consist of influencing social norms in the desired direction, by changing how significant others (e.g., family members and friends) think about children walking to school. For example, choosing the appropriate reference groups to demonstrate the merit of walking behaviour in communications with the audience, or promoting the intervention through a community‐based approach both offer potential to increase walking to and from school (Burchell, Rettie, & Patel, ; Lynes, Whitney, & Murray, ).…”

Community-based social marketing: effects on social norms

“…Accordingly, this research makes three primary contributions to the literature. First, it extends research assessing the impact of CBSM principles on programme outcomes, an underresearched domain (Lynes et al, 2014). Second, the research provides insight for enhancing the SNA, which has traditionally relied exclusively on communicating social norms through media campaigns.…”

“…Increasing the visibility of behaviour is a key principle of community-based social marketing (CBSM) (Lynes et al, 2014;McKenzie-Mohr, 2011;McKenzie-Mohr and Schultz, 2014), a form of social marketing that emphasises the role of the community in fostering individual behaviour change (Bryant et al, 2014). CBSM has been applied in several domains.…”

“…walking to and from school behaviour) are visible in the community. A key principle of community-based social marketing is to increase the visibility of behaviour in the community (Lynes et al, 2014;McKenzie-Mohr, 2011;McKenzie-Mohr and Schultz, 2014). However, empirical research is needed to investigate the efficacy of this principle, together with the other principles of CBSM (Lynes et al, 2014).…”

“…CBSM prescribes a fivestage approach to programme design: selecting behaviours, identifying barriers and benefits, developing strategies, conducting a pilot and broad-scale implementation (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011). Recently, understanding of the CBSM approach has been deepened with the identification of 21 principles, including increasing the visibility of the target behaviour and establishing appropriate incentives, which underpin the five stages of CBSM (see Lynes et al, 2014). Increasing the visibility of the target behaviour is a key principle of CBSM strategy on the basis that social diffusion is most likely to occur when the promoted behaviour is visible in the community (McKenzie-Mohr and Schultz, 2014) and developed through direct contact between people rather than campaigns (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011).…”