Social Marketing: Promoting Responsible Drinking in Public Health

This report outlines a social marketing campaign in Australia designed to promote responsible alcohol consumption, targeting the 16-24 age group, which is identified as being particularly vulnerable to harmful drinking habits. The campaign, named 'Think! Before You Drink,' uses the Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change) to encourage gradual behavioral changes. The objective is not to prohibit alcohol consumption but to raise awareness about drinking within health guidelines. The report details social marketing criteria, including exchange, competition, and the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion), along with an implementation plan covering activities, timelines, and responsible managers. The communication strategy focuses on audience identification, message development, social media presence, and retrospective effect. The campaign aims to reduce alcohol-related harm by promoting informed and responsible choices.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Target Audience...............................................................................................................................1
Health promotion Campaign............................................................................................................2
Campaign Objective........................................................................................................................3
Social marketing Criteria.................................................................................................................3
Implementation Plan........................................................................................................................4
Resources.........................................................................................................................................5
Communication Strategy.................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The purpose of this report is to enlighten the reader about the social marketing campaign in the
country of Australia for the purpose of spreading awareness of responsible alcohol drinking
activities. The below-mentioned report evaluates the facts about the habit of excessive alcohol
drinking present in the people of Australia. Further, it also evaluates the target market presence
in the country with the ways in which they can promote the objective in the market. The
implementation plan of the social marketing plan evaluates the time frame in which the
management should initiate actions in order to make the campaign successful in the community.
The current topic selected for discussion is about encouraging responsible consumption of
alcohol, in line with the health guidelines present in Australia. Alcohol drinking has become one
of the most common habits present among people. Also, with the change in time, they forgot the
adequate way of drinking due to which they face health issues. A quarter of adults living in
Australia are prone to long-term health issues due to their excessive drinking habit. The
government of the country is also taking various initiatives to control in drinking problem
present with people. It is important to address this topic because drinking has been one of major
concern for families these daysi. Before initiation of this campaign, the drug abuse campaign was
also initiated under, which alcohol was seen as the one of the most significant factors driving
people to take drugs. The campaign helped in controlling people to use drugs and stop drinking
alcohol as well. Further, the social marketing plan will help them in spreading awareness for the
same. More details about the report are discussed below:
Target Audience
As noticed by the government of Australia that the age group of 16-24 years are people who are
more into harmful drinking. The hospitals of the country also have a high ratio of people from
this category coming to hospitals due to health issues. The target audience has been selected
from the age of 16 only because it is the age where people are most prone to negative aspects in
the society. At this age, adolescents are only attractive towards the negative attributes present in
the environment. Further, people till the age of 24 are not enough focused to work and believe in
spending their time in a leisure wayii. Resulting in which, at this age, they drink without any

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boundations. So, it can be assumed that these are the people who need awareness of alcohol and
its causes in real life. The social marketing campaign will work as an awakening call for the
young age group people and will help them to reflect their life in a mirror and change for better.
Health Promotion Campaign
‘Think! Before You Drink’ is the name of the campaign name used for raising awareness
regarding responsible alcohol consumption within the health guidelines.
According to the Transtheoretical Model or the Stages of Change theory, long-term effect in the
health of a person includes many actions and adaptations over time. Some people may face
problems in attempting changes within their behaviour while other might start to work on the
path easily. The stages of change are one of the key aspects of the Transtheoretical Model. This
model helps in making changes in the regular day to day activities slowly and gradually leading
to a major positive impact on the healthiii.
The campaign will also work according to the above-mentioned theory. Initially, the campaign
will help the alcohol addict people to recognize the need for change within them, and then
suggest them ways to starting thinking about ways to change. Further, the third and fourth step
includes planning for changes and acting upon them. These activities should initially make small
changes in the daily life of people and gradually increasing its impact. Under the fifth stage, the
campaign aims to initiate a way to make the addict retrospect their past and future actions and

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changes in health and lifestyle as well. In this way, with the help of stage for change theory, the
campaign wants to make a change in the lives of peopleiv.
Campaign Objective
The objective of the campaign ‘Think! Before You Drink’ is to make successful changes in the
health of the people of age group 16-24 who are suffering from the problem of alcohol addiction.
The campaign aims to target other people of diverse age group as well but their primary motive
is to spread awareness in the people between age group 16-24 because this is the age where
people start getting attracted towards alcohol and become addicted to as wellv.
So, the aim of the social marketing campaign is to spread awareness for responsible consumption
of alcohol within people. The aim of the campaign is not to ban alcohol consumption or prohibit
people from consuming it but to spreading awareness to drink within the health guidelines.
Some surveys of Australia stated that more than 3000 people die every due to excessive
consumption of alcohol. Also, one in five males and one in ten females lie between the age group
of 18 to 24 that are binged on alcohol minimum once every week. So, the objective of the social
marketing campaign is to spread awareness regarding responsible drinking. The campaign aims
to increase the awareness regarding health guidelines so as to protect people from drinking
excessive alcoholvi.
Social marketing Criteria
Below mentioned are the social marketing criteria that will help the campaign in initiating its
success:
Exchange
The criteria to judge the success of the campaign is to consider the benefits and costs of initiating
new and different behaviour by maximizing the benefits and reducing the costs as well. The
social marketing campaign should provide a clear and precise view of the objective for the target
audience. Under the process of exchange, the cost should be directly linked to the benefits in the
society. The money invested in the campaign should increase the level of benefits derived to

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people through this campaign. Also, the cost invested should be less and the benefits received
should be morevii.
Competition
The campaign should also aim to understand what competes for the time of audience, their
attention and the inclination to behave in a particular way. The campaign should address the
direct and external factors that compete for the time and attention of the audience. Further, the
organization should also aim to develop strategies that reduce the intensity of competitionviii.
Marketing Mix
Product: The organization should aim to spread the awareness through the campaign. The
product should be adequately presented in the market using promotional strategies.
Price: The price of the campaign should be affordable so that the right person can easily attend it
and seek for their addiction of alcoholix.
Place: The campaign should target the people living in the Northern Territory of Australia
because at this place there is a maximum number of drinkers in Australia.
Promotion: The campaign is itself a promotional activity that should adequately serve its motive.
The promotion activities should help in selling the product at the place at valuable price. Further,
it should also benefit the society the society on a whole and not just communicate the messagex.
Implementation Plan
Activity Time Period
(in months)
Manager Growth
Objective
Concerned
Department
Collection of
Information
1 Marketing Head Collection of
authentic
information
R&D
Deciding Goals
and objectives
0.5 Operations Head Initiating goals
and mission
Operations
Defining audience 2 Marketing Head Deciding target Marketing

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and prioritizing
groups
groups and people
Engagement of
potential partners
3 PR Manager Attracting
sponsors
Public
Relations
Analyse problem-
related to issue
2 Operations Head Analysing issues
and comparing
with the real
world situation
Operations
Analysing changes
and implementing
in campaign
1 Innovation Head Initiating
innovative
changes
R&D
Development of
online base
1 Digital marketing
head
Development of
online platform to
make more effect
Digital
Marketing
Implementation of
social marketing
campaign
12 Manager Implementing
social marketing
campaign
Management
Resources
There would be varied resources needed for the implementation of the social marketing
campaign. Initially, the information about the alcohol drinkers of Australia would be needed
through a survey. Additional information regarding health and hygiene guidelines would also be
needed. A proper place with the adequate platform would be needed along with communication
tool and money would be required for the implementation of the campaignxi.
Communication Strategy
The below mentioned is the communication strategy for the ‘Think! Before You Drink’
Campaign:
 Identification of audience and target groups

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 Development of objective and effective campaign message
 Developing various social media presence through various tools
 Circulating the objectives and health information to target people
 Initiating retrospective effectxii
Conclusion
Thus, in the limelight of above-mentioned events, the fact should be noted that the report
evaluated the social marketing campaign. This campaign explained the responsible consumption
of alcohol under the health guidelines. The report evaluated the target market, implementation
plan and communication strategies with the help of which campaign successfully circulated their
word in the market of Australia.

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References
[1] NSW Government. Trends in Alcohol Use and Health-Related Harms in NSW. Report of the
Chief Health Officer; 2016
[2] Kubacki, K., Rundle-Thiele, S., Pang, B. and Buyucek, N., 2015. Minimizing alcohol harm:
A systematic social marketing review (2000–2014). Journal of Business Research, 68(10),
pp.2214-2222.
[3] Brick LA, Redding CA, Paiva AL, Velicer WF. Intervention effects on stage transitions for
adolescent smoking and alcohol use acquisition. Psychology of addictive behaviors. 2017
Aug;31(5):614.
[4] Saunders GH, Frederick MT, Silverman SC, Nielsen C, Laplante-Lévesque A. Description of
adults seeking hearing help for the first time according to two health behavior change
approaches: Transtheoretical model (stages of change) and health belief model. Ear and hearing.
2016 May 1;37(3):324-33.
[5] Goldberg ME, Fishbein M, Middlestadt SE. Social marketing: Theoretical and practical
perspectives. Psychology Press; 2018 Jul 6.
[6] Flora JA, Schooler C, Pierson RM. Effective health promotion among communities of color:
The potential of social marketing. InSocial Marketing 2018 Jul 6 (pp. 353-373). Psychology
Press.
[7] Freeman B, Potente S, Rock V, McIver J. Social media campaigns that make a difference:
what can public health learn from the corporate sector and other social change marketers. Public
Health Res Pract. 2015 Mar 30;25(2):e2521517.
[8] McCormack L, Thomas V, Lewis MA, Rudd R. Improving low health literacy and patient
engagement: a social ecological approach. Patient education and counseling. 2017 Jan
1;100(1):8-13.

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[9] Dietrich T, Rundle‐Thiele S, Leo C, Connor J. One size (never) fits all: Segment differences
observed following a school‐based alcohol social marketing program. Journal of School Health.
2015 Apr;85(4):251-9.
[10] Dietrich T, Rundle-Thiele S, Kubacki K. Segmentation in Social Marketing. Singapore:
Germany: Springer; 2017.
[11] Dietrich T, Rundle-Thiele S, Schuster L, Connor J. Co-designing social marketing
programs. Journal of Social Marketing. 2016 Jan 4;6(1):41-61.
[12] Dietrich T, Rundle-Thiele S, Schuster L, Drennan J, Russell-Bennett R, Leo C, Connor J.
Segmenting Australian High School Students Utilising a Two-Step Cluster Analysis: Differential
Effects Following the Game on Know Alcohol Program. InRediscovering the Essentiality of
Marketing 2016 (pp. 413-414). Springer, Cham.

i NSW Government. Trends in Alcohol Use and Health-Related Harms in NSW. Report of the Chief Health Officer; 2016
ii Kubacki, K., Rundle-Thiele, S., Pang, B. and Buyucek, N., 2015. Minimizing alcohol harm: A systematic social marketing
review (2000–2014). Journal of Business Research, 68(10), pp.2214-2222.
iii Brick LA, Redding CA, Paiva AL, Velicer WF. Intervention effects on stage transitions for adolescent smoking and
alcohol use acquisition. Psychology of addictive behaviours. 2017 Aug;31(5):614.
iv Saunders GH, Frederick MT, Silverman SC, Nielsen C, Laplante-Lévesque A. Description of adults seeking hearing help
for the first time according to two health behavior change approaches: Transtheoretical model (stages of change) and health
belief model. Ear and hearing. 2016 May 1;37(3):324-33.
v Goldberg ME, Fishbein M, Middlestadt SE. Social marketing: Theoretical and practical perspectives. Psychology Press;
2018 Jul 6.
vi Flora JA, Schooler C, Pierson RM. Effective health promotion among communities of colour: The potential of social
marketing. InSocial Marketing 2018 Jul 6 (pp. 353-373). Psychology Press.
vii Freeman B, Potente S, Rock V, McIver J. Social media campaigns that make a difference: what can public health learn
from the corporate sector and other social change marketers. Public Health Res Pract. 2015 Mar 30;25(2):e2521517.
viii McCormack L, Thomas V, Lewis MA, Rudd R. Improving low health literacy and patient engagement: a social-
ecological approach. Patient education and counselling. 2017 Jan 1;100(1):8-13.
ix Dietrich T, Rundle‐Thiele S, Leo C, Connor J. One size (never) fits all: Segment differences observed following a school‐
based alcohol social marketing program. Journal of School Health. 2015 Apr;85(4):251-9.
x Dietrich T, Rundle-Thiele S, Kubacki K. Segmentation in Social Marketing. Singapore: Germany: Springer; 2017.
xi Dietrich T, Rundle-Thiele S, Schuster L, Connor J. Co-designing social marketing programs. Journal of Social Marketing.
2016 Jan 4;6(1):41-61.
xii Dietrich T, Rundle-Thiele S, Schuster L, Drennan J, Russell-Bennett R, Leo C, Connor J. Segmenting Australian High
School Students Utilising a Two-Step Cluster Analysis: Differential Effects Following the Game on Know Alcohol
Program. InRediscovering the Essentiality of Marketing 2016 (pp. 413-414). Springer, Cham.