Page 234 - Social Marketing for Public Health Global Trends and Success Stories

57977_CH09_final.qxd:Cheng 11/5/09 4:42 PM Page 207

Target Audience Barriers, Motivators (Benefits), and Competition 207

NetMark countries. The education emphasized that ITNs were “new” products
with a special insecticide designed to kill mosquitoes (the feature of aerosols
that consumers liked best).
Insect Control

Will it kill mosquitoes so there are fewer in my house to deal with? NetMark’s re-
search showed that killing power was the prime feature that consumers sought
in an insect control device—and the main reason they purchased aerosols.
Therefore, a main campaign theme was “Mosquitoes Kill—Kill Mosquitoes.”

Barriers for Public Sector
Among some policy makers, there was an innate distrust of the commercial sec-
tor and a strong feeling that public health goods should be free to people—par-
ticularly the poorest people. There was reluctance to have people pay for a
life-saving product and an uneasy feeling that businesses would be profiting.
There was also a lack of understanding of the pricing structure and the cost of
bringing an ITN into a local shop. Many public sector people only saw the price
of an ITN in official bids for tens of thousands of nets delivered to Lagos port;
they did not understand the heavy costs of moving nets from port to shop shelf
(e.g., storage, transport, credit costs, and distributor and retailer margins). Some
desired to keep large procurements in government hands.

Barriers for Distributors/Retailers/Manufacturers
Businesspeople had to be convinced that a retail market did exist for ITNs and
that people would buy them in enough quantities to create a sustainable market.
There was concern about the turnaround time from procurement to consumer
sale so that they could pay off the 90- to 100-day letters of credit used to pur-
chase imported ITNs. Many retailers were reluctant to pay up-front for an un-
proven product and asked for a small stock of ITNs on consignment (payment
following sale). Retailers’ reluctance worried distributors who could not afford
to put a large number of ITNs into shops without some prepayment.
Distributors also felt pressure from NetMark’s constant push to expand their
sales networks into new shops. NetMark helped the distributors and suppliers
arrange longer and larger terms of credit.

Motivators and Perceived Benefits

For consumers, the motivations for purchasing an ITN ranged from getting a
good night’s sleep to protecting themselves against malaria to avoiding the cost
of treating malaria cases and the number of days lost by illness.