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132 CHAPTER 6 ■ Increasing School Meal Uptake in a Deprived Region in England

inequalities. The health inequalities gap in Northeast England is attributed
mainly to a historic legacy of industrial and mining industries.

TH E SOCI A L M A RKE TI NG P ROCES S

Conducting the Scoping Work
During the scoping phase, the following work was done:

• A steering group to manage the project was set up.
• A stakeholder strategy was developed, and key stakeholders were
identified and engaged.
• Due to the limited budget for this project, an audit of other resources,
which could be tapped into, was done.
• A review of the secondary literature was conducted by a researcher. This
review looked at key policy drivers and examined other interventions
that had been developed to tackle this problem internationally,
nationally, and locally.
• After the review of the secondary data, knowledge gaps still remained, so
primary research was conducted with head teachers, parents, and children.
• The qualitative research highlighted distinct differences among the head
teachers. Based on these insights, head teachers, who were the primary
target audience, were segmented further.
• Behavioral goals were set.
• The marketing mix was developed and pretested with the primary target
audience.

Establishment of the Steering Group
The steering group was made up of people who were passionate about the issue
being addressed and who also had time to dedicate to the project. Other people
who were interested in the project but did not have any time available to carry
out work for the project were involved through the stakeholder strategy.
Specifically, external partners with a vested interest in addressing the issue and
the authority to represent their respective organizations were invited to a prospec-
tive steering group briefing, where the issue being addressed was presented and the
social marketing process explained. In addition, expectations for the steering
group and commitment needed from it were made clear. From this initial meet-
ing, a steering group of six people was established, which included three local
catering managers, one representative from the School Food Trust, and one proj-
ect manager from the NSM Centre. The group chair, who managed the project’s
budget, worked for the NECE, the organization that instigated the project.