Perspectives in Public Health

As the awareness and use of social marketing campaigns grows, challenges and hurdles are becoming all the more apparent. Lizzy Hay discusses the suggestions made to overcome such hurdles and considers the approaches taken and challenges faced by a novel campaign aiming to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health

Jane Thomas, Head of Insight and Social Marketing at Liverpool PCT, describes how the obesity epidemic is being tackled in a city heavily affected

Dr Lucy Reynolds manages ShowCase, the National Social Marketing Centre’s new online collection of social marketing case studies. Having developed this programme since July 2008, Lucy shares her experience of the UK’s growing proficiency in social marketing delivery

Professor Gerard Hastings, OBE, Director of the Institute for Social Marketing and the Centre for Tobacco Control Research at University of Stirling and the Open University, offers an insight into how business wins hearts and minds — and the opportunities it presents for public health

Amanda Jackson, Director of Social Change at ICE Marketing & Communications, an agency working with NHS partners and PCTs nationwide helping to tackle a range of public health concerns, offers her perspective

Social marketing is a highly systematic approach to health improvement that sets out unambiguous success criteria focused on behaviour change. This paper reviews the key concepts and principles of social marketing and its recent rapid development across government in England in the public health field. This paper outlines the role of the National Social Marketing Centre and concludes with a discussion of the probable future impact of social marketing on public health practice. The paper argues that there is a close ideological match between social marketing and liberal democratic imperatives. Social marketing’s focus on outcome, return on investment and its emphasis on developing interventions that can respond to diverse needs, means it is probable that social marketing will increasingly be required by governments as a standard part of public health programmes.

The urgency and scale of contemporary health challenges are enormous. The review It’s Our Health! ¹ published in 2006 found that social marketing had considerable potential to increase the effectiveness of health improvement work, with the intention that it should build on core health promotion principles and not replace them. Health promotion has, however, lost its focus and identity in recent years in some parts of the country, partly due to repeated organizational change, and it has suffered from a lack of proactive workforce development. Over the last year, the National Social Marketing Centre (NSMC) and the Shaping the Future of Health Promotion Collaboration (StFofHP), hosted by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), have explored the relationship between social marketing and health promotion and led a debate with stakeholders. A Delphi consultation with an expert panel drawn from specialists and strategic leaders in several settings, and the academic community, is currently under way and will report in the autumn. Findings so far emphasize the wide variation in understanding and interpretation of the two skill sets, much confusion about definitions and what added value both health promotion and social marketing bring to health improvement. Some of the distinctive contributions of both are described in this paper.

In April 2009, the National Social Marketing Centre launched its new case study resource, ShowCase: a collection of 40 best practice social marketing programmes, predominantly from the UK. The process of collecting and researching these case studies has provided a unique opportunity to look at the current state of ‘evaluation’ within the field of social marketing. This paper shares some of the observations made during the review, exploring common challenges faced when evaluating social marketing. It also provides recommendations for improving this process to guide future social marketing delivery.

Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate an intervention using social marketing principles to increase breastfeeding and reduce smoking during pregnancy in a population to improve life chances for children born in a town in north east England.

Method: Breastfeeding and smoking cessation attendance rates were measured against targets set in a government—local health authority agreement.

Results: Targets were bettered in both breastfeeding and smoking cessation.

Conclusion: This social marketing-based approach is successful.

The further division of responsibilities between commissioners and providers in England will have far-reaching consequences and opportunities for developing and enhancing health improvement. Commissioners will have the opportunity to craft local solutions to local issues. To be effective, these local responses need to tackle the core determinants of health and to build the social capital that is at the heart of all communities that enjoy high standards of health. This paper argues that the new arrangements mark an evolution of the Beveridge model of healthcare (centralized, top down and professionally prescribed) to a post-Beveridge model characterized by it being decentralized, localized and utilizing professional skills in the pursuit of client and community satisfaction and engagement rather than a narrowly defined professional perspective. This paper indicates some of the key conceptual changes commissioners need to employ to take advantage of the emerging opportunities. It is argued that the new arrangements will only be fully effective if commissioners of health improvement programmes ensure they factor in health promotion and social marketing expertise, both in the strategic and operational phases of commissioning. Finally, predictions are made about changes in the values and characteristics of current health improvement organizations.