The International Social Marketing Association (iSMA) was founded at the Global Social Marketing Conference in Brighton, UK [2008] in response to a “Visioning Session.” Spearheaded by Craig Lefebvre, PhD, Jeff French, PhD, MBA, MSc, and Win Morgan MPH, discussions supporting the concept of an international association dedicated to the practice of social marketing, quickly took root. Later that year an online petition to establish a global social marketing association enjoyed over 500 signatories. By 2009 the organizing committee had developed a business plan and surveyed community members about their needs and preferences. The organization was incorporated in 2010 with the purpose of promoting the use and development of social marketing worldwide for the common good. The founding Executive Committee consisting of Win Morgan of Levin Morgan (President), Craig Lefebvre of socialShift (Vice-President) and Tom Beall who was then with Ogilvy PR (Secretary-Treasurer). Gael O’Sullivan of Abt Associates was Chair of the Communication Committee and Jay Kassirer of Cullbridge | Tools of Change was Membership Chair and Webinar Manager. Jeff French was also a founding committee member and led the organizations first elections process and consensus definition building working group.

The goal of the new organization was to promote social marketing as a framework to solve social problems, and to market the use of social marketing approaches to address social challenges. “Our vision was to create a big inclusive tent for people interested in, practicing, or teaching social marketing”, Morgan recalled.

One of the early achievements of the association, working collaboratively with the European Social Marketing Association (ESMA) and the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM), was the ratification of an international consensus definition of Social Marketing in 2013. Within a few years, the Pacific Northwest Social Marketing Association (PNSMA) and the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA) had also signed on to the consensus document.

From the outset, iSMA was intended as an international body where social marketers from regions across the globe could meet and work together as equals. To both facilitate and demonstrate this, iSMA’s webinars and eventually also its Board meetings were each held twice to accommodate time zones around the world. The organization made a concerted effort to recruit members from India, South America, and Africa, and encouraged members to establish their own regional and national social marketing organizations.

True to that vision, iSMA is now enjoying a growing membership of about 1,000 social marketing practitioners from around the world and has become an umbrella organization, a connective force for multiple regional associations including:

The Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM)
The European Social Marketing Association (ESMA)
The Pacific Northwest Social Marketing Association (PNSMA)
The Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA)
The Africa Social Marketing Association (ASMA)
Asociación Latinoamericana de Mercadeo Social (LAMSO)

Win Morgan stepped down from his position as President in 2017. Patrick Cook is iSMA’s current President. More information on Board Members can be found under “Board of Directors”.