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254 CHAPTER 11 ■ Socialism Meets Social Marketing

STR ATE G I C APPR OAC H

The overarching strategy of the Red Apple program was to
offer Kazakhstani women a contraceptive alternative to
abortion that was readily available through commercial
channels. While the program generally followed a tradi-
tional marketing model, because of the complex and evolv-
ing nature of the post-Soviet marketing environment, there
were elements of the marketing mix that warranted special
attention, especially the area of product procurement and
FIGURE 11-2 Red Apple distribution.
Logo—Source: USAID As a result, separate strategies were delineated for two prin-
Courtesy of USAID/Akbar cipal program components: (1) consumers and (2) suppliers.
Public Relations
• Consumer strategy: Develop a comprehensive, branded,
marketing/marketing communication campaign to
encourage trial and continued use of contraceptives as the
primary method of fertility regulation and a substitute for
abortion.
• Supplier strategy: Make contraceptives available through the national
network of newly privatized retail pharmacies by assuming market-entry
risks on behalf of commercial pharmaceutical suppliers and distributors
and by brokering commercial supply agreements between them and
international pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Over time, specific program tactics varied significantly; however, they
were consistently guided by the principle that the project had to be sustain-
able by the private sector in a short period of time. Often, that meant perhaps
the easiest or most direct means to achieve a particular program objective
was ruled out because it would not have been reasonable to expect the private
sector to continue or maintain it at an appropriate level in the absence of
donor support. This approach to the two main program components saw
SOMARC contracting with local marketing service companies; providing
technical assistance to design and execute a comprehensive consumer social
marketing and marketing communications campaign; and filling the com-
mercial marketplace with contraceptive products by absorbing market-entry
costs and the associated risks of working in the newly independent states, on
behalf of reluctant and skeptical pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors,
and retailers.