I remember driving in the early 1970s, rolling down the window and tossing out an empty bag of McDonald’s. As disgusting as it is to think about, everyone littered and nobody knew any better. A common afternoon in the seventies included eating a baked potato saturated with a stick of butter for lunch, having a few drinks before getting behind the wheel of a car to drive to the beach, and smoking cigarettes while holding up a silver reflector to get a tan on skin that was soaked in baby oil. Seriously. WTF were we thinking?

What happened to not only change my perspective, but the perspective of a nation when it came to littering, drinking and driving, smoking and skin cancer? The answer is social marketing. Wikipedia defines social marketing as “the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good.” In 1974, the anti-litter Public Service Announcement (PSA) “The Crying Indian” launched. The spot featured a native American canoeing through polluted water, landing on a beach littered with trash and turning to show a tear rolling down his cheek. Sounds corny to today’s oh-so-cool and jaded consumer but back then it acted as the catalyst to ignite a change in behavior that still lives today. The PSA won two Clio awards and AdAge picked it as being one of the top 100 advertising campaigns of the 20th Century.

Back in the day when McDonalds chicken included knee caps, elbows and ear lobes, social marketing was primarily executed through TV and print. There was really no viral spread beyond word-of-mouth limited by traditional communication channels: face-to-face, phone and letters. Today’s Web 2.0-driven world has acted like a steroid injection to social marketing. A campaign that used to take months, if not years, to have an impact now sees action in a matter of days or sometimes even prior to the campaign launch.

As an example, look at the campaign “Spread the Word to End the Word.” The campaign’s thrust is to get people to recognize and rethink (and hopefully stop) their use of the “R-word” as it is offensive to the friends and families of the millions of people with intellectual disabilities. The “national awareness day” and official launch of the campaign isn’t until 03.31.09, yet social media has already given the message a platform, voice and following. The Facebook group alone has close to 1,000 members. Yes, the membership number may be modest, but remember the campaign has not even launched yet. Given time, hopefully it will rise to the level of the Feed A Child With Just One Click Facebook group and its 4.1+ million members.

Think about it. A marketing campaign having impact and getting traction before it’s official launch and before any money has been spent. Chicka chicka yea! For us marketeers, life doesn’t get any better. For those who the campaign is intended to benefit, one can only hope that their life does in fact get better. Thanks to Web 2.0, it certainly has a better chance of making that happen.

What social causes have you supported through your social media activity?

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