What is societal marketing?

There seems to be a lot of confusion over what is meant by “societal marketing”. For one thing, it has nothing at all to with using social networking sites as a marketing tool. Also, it is not the same as niche marketing, or the targeting of marketing towards particular social groups, although there are connections.

It must also be distinguished from “social marketing”, which refers to the deliberate use of marketing techniques to achieve a social end, or what night be termed social engineering via the marketplace. Marketing condoms with the stated aim of reducing HIV/Aids infection would be an example of this.

Societal marketing has only one meaning, which is the consideration of the wider social aspects of marketing a particular product to a particular group. It is therefore an aspect of ethical marketing.

A blatant example of where this concept was ignored was the marketing by the Nestle company of infant formula in developing countries. Although the company has since modified its practices in response to international pressure, it was accused in the late 1970s of marketing its formula on the premise that its product was better for babies than breast milk. The main problem was that, in order to prepare the formula for use, it had to be mixed with water, and if the water was contaminated, which is frequently the case in African villages, the milk would be as well.

An example of the opposite approach would be the marketing of wind-up radios to developing countries. These are radios, invented and developed by Trevor Baylis, that do not require batteries or mains electricity, but contain a spring that drives an electrical generator. The spring is cranked up by means of a winding handle. These radios therefore fit perfectly in communities without guaranteed power supplies, and also satisfy local needs for keeping in touch and providing entertainment.

Societal marketing is about not selling foods that are high in sugar content in countries where there are hardly any dentists. It is also about selling healthy snacks to western schoolkids, rather than burgers and fries.

Societal marketing involves the whole chain of production, from the producer through to the consumer. The Fair Trade movement, by which producers of, for example, coffee and cocoa, are given a fair price for their goods, even if the end products are more expensive, is a form of societal marketing, particularly because the end-user is targeted as being the sector of western society that has a social conscience.

Another example is the marketing of dolphin friendly tuna, again because of the sensibilities of the consumer.

The Body Shop is an organization that has taken the societal marketing concept firmly on board. It sources its products solely from sustainable resources, embodies the fair trade concept, and markets safe and effective products to consumers who are socially conscious and have adopted the green agenda. However, its success has been achieved because it does not rely entirely on the beads and kaftans brigade for its customers. It is a mainstream retailer that sells vast quantities of goods to people who have never given a thought to where they came from.

The societal marketing message is that social responsibility is also about making profits. It does not require companies to go out of business simply because they have a conscience. Clever societal marketing makes it clear that, although profit is the bottom line, it is not the whole story.

Consumer attitudes can be influenced by a marketing strategy that emphasises the good things that a company is doing in poorer societies. For example, to go back to the wind-up radio, the company that markets it, Freeplay Energy Ltd (formerly BayGen), now makes more money from selling to western markets than to developing ones.

Societal marketing works.

© John Welford