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Using Social Marketing for Public Health: Global Trends 9

• Corporate philanthropy to make direct contributions to social causes.
• Community volunteering to have employees donate their time and talents.
• Socially responsible business practices, which involve discretionary
business practices and investments to support social causes. (Kotler &
Lee, 2005)
The case reviewed in Chapter 13 illustrates a successful example of how corpo-
rate social initiatives are practiced by Terumo Corporation, a Tokyo-headquartered
global medical products and equipment manufacturer. In that case, many of the
aforementioned options were implemented.
Successful corporate social initiatives often create a win–win situation for both
the social marketing program and the corporation. Such initiatives have “the po-
tential to achieve sustainability” (Agha, Do, & Armand, 2006, p. 28). For example,
when a donor-funded project partners with a manufacturer and/or distributor
willing to market a contraceptive at a price lower than those of other commercial
brands, this partnership may make it profitable for the commercial partner(s) be-
cause the brand awareness and loyalty created through the social marketing pro-
gram could continue to benefit the manufacturer and/or distributor after the
donor support is over (Agha et al., 2006).
Successful corporate social initiatives are also believed to be an effective way
to break through clutter, a major challenge all commercial marketers and adver-
tisers are facing today. No wonder some say, “if there is nothing more distinctive
about your brand of cell phone, then surely there is a cause you can identify
with, which will raise your brand way above those of your competitors” (Sparg,
2008, p. 1). Nowadays, in many smart companies, corporate social initiatives
have been shifted “from obligation to strategy” (Kotler & Lee, 2005, p. 7).
As more and more private companies are engaged in corporate social initia-
tives, social marketing, as a subfield of marketing, originally “derived” from com-
mercial marketing, will “reblend” with commercial sectors. This “reblend” is
created through reaching shared objectives—to do a social good and to create a
win–win situation for both social causes and private companies involved.

Trend 5: Integration of the 4Ps

The 4Ps in social marketing mix strategies cannot be developed in isolation—it is
the “mix,” or “synergy,” of the 4Ps that makes a truly successful social marketing
campaign possible. Social marketing for public health is more than health commu-
nication. The other 15 chapters in this book illustrate the need for social marketers
to develop products, or at least include them in campaign efforts, and the benefit of
integrating the 4Ps to achieve campaign success.