Page 278 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

254 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

Figure 9.1 The Policy Formation Process

links that are highlighted in the public health literature, notes where mar-
keting scholarship has been applied to provide added insight into the
process, and concludes by discussing how future marketing scholarship
can be used to provide insight into one of the most vital links.

Forming Coalitions
A critical first step in fostering policy change is building coalitions.
Coalitions may be formed between private, public, professional, and
nongovernmental organizations. A common feature of most successful ef-
forts to enact significant prohealth policies is the existence of a strong coa-
lition (Coffman, 2003). Coalitions can perform several important functions.
First, they augment the level of financial, material, and human resources
that can be used by change agents. Coalitions also provide legitimacy and
access to key opinion leaders. For example, in their discussion of the suc-
cess and failure of antismoking initiatives in six states, Jacobson,
Wasserman, and Raube (1993) argued that a key cause of failure was the