So you want to learn How To Social Market To The World?

We help you design and analyze social marketing experiments on online social communities.

Review first some famous authors about the social marketing concepts:
P Kotler
A Andreasen
E Roberto
R Bagozzi
G Zaltman

Date published 17/12/2007 Topic Healthy Eating Social policy area Health Contact Zoe Stanton Contact email info@uscreates.com Contact telephone 07788428133 Organisation Uscreates Summary Experience Food at Work is a pilot initiative aimed at improving eating behaviours in a local authority workplace. The workplace was identified as a target area to improve eating behaviours as 60% of our waking hours are spent in the workplace and 1/3 of our meals and most of our snacks are eaten there. Breckland Council in partnership with the design consultancy Uscreates, developed and delivered a range of interventions aimed at addressing eating behaviours on their main site. The approach to the project was unique, with Uscreates working with the workforce to identify and develop solutions. Creative, engaging consultation methods were designed to gain an understanding of the culture of the workplace and the needs and motivations of the workforce. These included arming staff with cameras to answer questions about their environment and habits, gathering data via text messages and providing drawing templates for staff to visual communicate motivations. These insights were combined with more traditional statistical data collection methods to establish the following behavioural goals: – Increase lunch breaks taken away from workstations – Increase the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed in the workplace – Increase variety of food consumed in workplace Additional goals included: Improve knowledge on how to make positive changes to nutritional health Improve awareness of nutritional choices and effects on personal health and productivity A number of interventions were developed to address various identified market segmentations. These were developed through collaboration between a range of topic experts, a staff champion group, Uscreates and Breckland Council. The marketing mix included events, products and services all aimed at making the healthy option the easy option. These included a Visiting Chef event providing lunch inspiration, an honesty fruit bowl system providing easily accessible, affordable fruit, Health and Nutrition MOTs giving the workforce 15min one to one sessions with a dietitian and the introduction of communal eating facilities to the staff room enabling the workforce to take a quality break away from their desks. The interventions were implemented and delivered by Breckland Council workforce, West Norfolk PCT, local businesses and Uscreates. Baseline data on workforce eating habits was collected before the introduction of the interventions. Initial measurements show promising results with an increase in fruit and vegetable intake and 70% of pledged action points for change being achieved. Ongoing evaluation of the interventions is taking place. Country UK Scale Regional Robustness of outcome Self-evaluated Period 2006 – 2007 Primary audience Breckland District Council Workforce Behavioural goals – Increase lunch breaks taken away from workstations – Increase the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed in the workplace – Increase variety of food consumed in workplace Behavioural outcome Statistical analysis is currently underway. Results will be published before the New Year. The outcomes of the initiative included a set of 5 interventions introduced to the Breckland Council site providing the workforce with tools to make the healthy option the easy option. Baseline behaviour Baseline statistical data collected via an online survey sent to workforce and incentivised with raffle prizes showed: • 74% eat 1 or no portions of vegetables at work per day • 36% eat 1 or no portions of fruit a day at work • 41% eat lunch at their desk everyday • 88% ‘hardly ever’ eat lunch in staffroom Secondary audience It is anticipated that workplace interventions would have a ‘spill over’ effect on to home life, however, no measurement is in place. Delivery partnerships Uscreates were lead partners managing the overall design and delivery of the interventions. Uscreates also designed communication materials, service touch points and consultations methods. A mix of partners and organisations supported delivery of interventions: The Sandwitch Bar, a local business, was involved in supporting delivery of both the honesty fruit bowl system and ‘3 of your 5 a day lunch packs’ West Norfolk PCT supported delivery of the Health and Nutrition MOTs Breckland employees supported delivery of events and services in house Key stakeholders Breckland District Council West Norfolk PCT Uscreates British Dietetic Association (BDA) Transferable learning Devising and developing the interventions with the workforce was a success and is a fundamental part to the approach. This is recommended, as is finding a core group of employees who will be able to motivate their peers to continue giving their time and opinions. Sustainable learning Involving local businesses in delivery of interventions ensures that some interventions can be delivered indefinitely, as they are beneficial to both the organisation and the local business. Intervention marketing mix The initiative delivered a mix of services, events and printed materials aimed at the range of segmented markets identified. For example, the Visiting Chef event was aimed at members of the workforce who prepare their lunches at home. The Chef provided inspiration and demonstrations on how to create healthy, tasty lunches. The ‘3 of your 5 a day lunch packs’ were aimed at members of the workforce who purchase lunch from the visiting sandwich vans, providing healthy, tasty choices. Cost benefit Improving eating behaviours in the workplace has the potential to improve employee health, morale and productivity and reduce employee turnover and sick days, all impacting on an organisation’s bottom line. Research published in Charter for Health, Work and Wellbeing has shown that every pound spent on promoting health in the workplace could lead to a £2.50 saving for business.