Social Marketing Case Study
Binge drinking among youths in colleges and universities is on the rise. Binge drinking has become an important topic in alcohol research; however, the field lacks definitional precision and empirical cohesion. It has caused a numerous amount of acute impairment to many young adults and has also caused numerous other health consequences. Social marketing could be an effective measure in reducing binge drinking among the youth across the country. Recent research shows that unattractive social consequences are associated with binge drinking. These social consequences may include: annoying others, embarrassing oneself, sexual harassment, and burdening friends. Social marketing take into serious consideration the customer insights; it is always important to know their values and beliefs on a particular issue before implementing it.
Segmentation Planning
Segmentation of the target audience will help you narrow down higher risk binge drinkers. The attitudes and values may help when it come to developing communications that will effectively engage them. For more accurate segmentation we used a PCT tool that helped identify pen portraits of higher risk youth binge drinkers and it also gave insights of where the target audience will response positively to marketing communications. This tool uses the data collected to define people according to their behavior. For instance, frequency of drinking alcohol, responsiveness to communications, and key demographics.
Objective
The objective of this study is to reduce high-risk binge drinking in youth as well as driving to change the perception that binge drinking is cool. The social marketing campaign will increase awareness among the youth and will also impact their behavioral change. This case study is an example of how social marketing can impact social norms and how unhealthy behavior such as binge drinking can be controlled.
Guiding theory
Social marketing has evolved to include methods such as the Kotler’s 4P approach (product, price, place, promotion). This market mixing strategy forms reliable tactical marketing tools that blends to bring out the response required from a particular target market, in this case binge drinkers. This approach is an appropriate guiding theory for our social marketing. Moreover, the approach also dictates that in social marketing each party must offer something that the other party might value. This is also known as ‘exchange’.
Positioning Strategy
We looked at the already existing plans to curb binge drinking and incorporated them into our social marketing programme. Also, some key local stakeholders helped us endorse and implement our campaign on binge drinking among the youth. The national insights to the audience barriers and motivations to reduce binge drinking were also used in the social marketing.
Social Product Exchange
We managed to organize a music event as part of our social marketing strategy for the youth. Music is loved by many youth and the binge drinkers included; therefore, this was something that was perceived of great value and it effectively brought out the message about binge drinking to the youth. Moreover, this event outlaid resources such as time and psychological effort in exchange of the promised benefits of reduced binge drinking.
Evaluation
The final stage of the social marketing programme is to evaluate the change in behavior of binge drinking in the region. It should have reduced the rates and consequences of binge drinking among the youth. The evaluation can be done by reviewing the guiding theory of the social marketing activity. Interviews with the target audience may also be important for evaluation.
