The pitch: Perennial advertising dilemma also applies to 'social marketing'

By JEREMY LAMBERT*

Never before have New Zealand's social marketers been so busy.

Messages abound seeking to change our attitudes and behaviours in the interests of some greater health or social "good".

The clients are mainly Government departments and the many crown entities that report to them. Their objective - to use the traditional strategies and tactics of commercial marketing to get New Zealanders thinking and acting differently in relation to identified social and health issues.

Evidence of the acceleration in social marketing activity can be seen every night on television. Advertisements encourage us to quit smoking, stay out of the sun, don't drink and drive, reduce electricity consumption, use bath mats, secure ladders, bolt bookcases to walls, wear safety belts, get breasts screened, watch the little ones around the swimming pool, push play ... and the list goes on.

Audience segmentation is, of course, integral to any successful marketing programme. And with Closing the Gaps then Reducing Inequalities and now Capacity Building being a priority for this Government, Maori audiences have been the targets of much of this increased social-marketing activity.

Delivering social marketing messages to any audience is a potential minefield. In trying to change people's attitudes and behaviours, you must first alert the receiver to the fact that what they are now doing/thinking (or indeed, not doing/thinking) is somehow wrong.

More problems arise when the frequently targeted audience not only begins to feel "picked on" but stereotyped.

On the other hand, audiences not specifically targeted by the campaign may believe that the message is exclusive and not relevant to them.

In the case of messages targeting Maori, other New Zealanders start to question the wisdom of this sort of investment for "special" audiences being funded from the public purse.

That issue is one of policy and this column is probably not the forum for that debate. But the issue of Maori audiences feeling social marketing "wear out" has been a real problem for today's advertising and PR agencies - and their clients.

Gone are the days (if they ever really existed) when a brown face fronting an ad equated to effective communication with Maori.

In an attempt to fight the target audience's cynicism, agencies have moved away from scripts and actors to Maori telling real stories around the issue being addressed.

Maori audiences have responded positively to this approach.

The Quit Group, which drives a national "stop-smoking" campaign, including the 0800-778-778 Quitline, co-ordinated the development of a series of ads using real stories to promote the benefits of quitting smoking to Maori.

Cleverly, the ads do not focus on the benefits of quitting smoking to the individual (tactics used elsewhere in the campaign among a more general smoking audience).

Rather, the stories focus on more culturally appropriate messages - in particular, the threats of smoking to whakapapa (genealogy) and whanau.

Recent research to evaluate the It's About Whanau campaign shows the success of this "story-telling" approach. Not only have Maori liked the ads but, most importantly, large numbers are using the services offered.

Other successful high-profile campaigns to use this style include the Health Ministry-funded Like Minds Like Mine mental health awareness programme to counter discrimination around mental illness and the Education Ministry's Te Mana programme.

Despite the success of these recent campaigns, challenges will always remain when communicating specifically to Maori audiences.

Indeed, it's just a matter of time before Maori audiences become bored with the present approach.

The answer lies, as with all marketing strategies, with the audience. All three identified campaigns were devised after extensive consultation with Maori, seeking their thoughts around key messages and delivery.

It appears that despite the cultural background of the audience, one old marketing adage still applies - the customer is always right!

* Jeremy Lambert is a senior consultant with Wellington-based Huia Communications.

* Email Jeremy Lambert


* The Pitch is a forum for those working in advertising, marketing, public relations and communications. We welcome lively and topical 500-word contributions.
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