| Written by Winthrop Morgan | |
| Nancy Lee, with support from members of the social marketing community, has been working to establish an understanding of the differences between social marketing and social media and most importantly to clarify social marketing as a discipline. The discipline has made enormous strides since its distinction in the early 1970s, and has had a profound positive impact on social issues in the areas of public health, injury prevention, the environment, community involvement, and more recently, financial well-being. Social Marketing as a term, however, is still a mystery to most, misunderstood by many, and increasingly confused with other terms such as behavioral economics (a framework that inspires strategies), and social media (one of many promotional tactics to choose from). Some have proposed a “name change” to solve the problem (e.g., social change, social change marketing), but the benefits of keeping and strengthening this brand name outweigh the costs. We have two internationally recognized Journals: Social Marketing Quarterly and Journal of Social Marketing. We have four professional associations: International Social Marketing Association, European Social Marketing Association, Australian Social Marketing Association, Pacific Northwest Social Marketing Association, with the North American Social Marketing Association currently being formed. There are also academic degrees, courses, certificate programs and conferences worldwide using the title Social Marketing. The following (brief) Creative Brief is to inform the development of a visual image to “accompany” the brand name Social Marketing and the tagline “Changing Behaviors for Good.” Purpose: The visual image should assist in communicating, at a glance, what Social Marketing is, and should be a “visual hammer” for the “verbal nail.” Our inspiration is the graphic used for the book Nudge: |
