Oh, the social marketing newswires are crackling with excitement! I love to see how people on the social marketing list serv are sharing teaching resources, debating terminology, and helping each other with project research and implementation. Plus, I just saw this post from Ogilvy about #Mamming, which is an effort to help women embrace the awkwardness of mammograms… and get to the doctor’s office to be screened. (Do watch the video.)
Isn’t it nice to see a campaign effort that goes beyond “awareness”?
And, not so long ago, a colleague forwarded me this New York Times article about “nudging” people to the produce aisle by putting mirrors on grocery carts. While this particular article focuses on Americans, my colleague noted that obesity is a global health problem — dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, affecting people both rich and poor. The article highlights potentially useful examples of social marketing focusing on “place” — the distribution of the healthy eating concept — in the marketing mix. We can look forward to learning the results of the researchers’ formal trials (planned for later this year).
In all, it is a GREAT time to be a social marketer! What social change efforts are you seeing that pique your interest?