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14 CHAPTER 1 ■ Social Marketing for Public Health: An Introduction

large-scale surveys (either online or offline) were conducted in some countries,
observation and personal interviews were done in others.
The strong emphasis on marketing research in these success stories has also
demonstrated how social marketing “focuses clearly on the audience,” how “[i]t has
gone so far as to describe [itself] as ‘being obsessed with the audience,’” and how
“[i]t starts and ends with the target audience” (Sparg, 2008, p. 1).

Trend 10: Focusing on Behavior Changes
The last, but by no means the least, trend you will observe in the public health cam-
paigns reviewed in this book is their clear, strong, and consistent focus on behavior
change, the hallmark of social marketing. Each campaign yielded some measurable
behavior changes in the target audience, from quitting smoking to beginning to do
more physical exercise and from increased adoption of mosquito nets, contracep-
tives, or new needles (for diabetic patients) to the reduced rate of drink driving
(yes, again, drink driving, as in Chapter 16).

S O C I A L M A R KE TI N G F O R P U B L I C H E A LTH:
C H A P TER HI GHL I GH T S

This volume has several major features: broad geographic coverage, variety in
public health campaigns examined, currency of campaigns reviewed, consis-
tency in presentation format, and, most important of all, measurable outcomes
in each case.
Geographically, this book covers 15 countries spread across five continents.
These selected countries include highly developed nations, emerging new eco-
nomic powerhouses, and countries where the economy has not yet significantly de-
veloped. Starting from the United States, where the concept of social marketing
originated, the 15 countries covered in the book are presented in a roughly clock-
wise order on a “U.S.–made” world map (which has the United States as the central
focus point).
For each country, one—occasionally, two—successful social marketing cam-
paign(s) dealing with a public health issue especially important or unique to that
country was (were) presented. These successful campaigns varied from anti-smoking
campaigns to HIV/AIDS prevention, from promotions for healthy lifestyles to battles
against obesity, and from public educational campaigns on hepatitis B to contra-
ceptive social marketing.
Each success story in this book is told in two parts: The first part is a brief
country overview, including some essential background information about the