Investment essential for Maori Social Marketing

17 October 2003

Investment essential for Maori Social Marketing Success

Investment in Maori capacity within the management and delivery of social marketing initiatives is essential if social marketers wish to make an impact on behavioural change for Maori, New Zealand’s inaugural social marketing conference heard today.

Manager of Maori Development and Communications at the Health sponsorship Council, Trevor Shailer, told the Social Marketing for Social Profit conference that partnership, participation and a willingness to invest in Maori capacity were essential if social marketing campaigns for Maori were to be successful.

“This means further development of national Maori-managed and Maori-delivered programmes. Successful campaigns need investment in the form of Maori capacity to ensure they are effective in reaching a Maori audience,” he said.

Mr Shailer said social marketing had traditionally comprised five components – price, product, place, promotion and policy.

But reaching the Maori community involves three more ‘p’s – partnership, participation and protection. These would only be achievable if solid relationships existed between social marketing organisations and the Maori community in the form of increased Maori capacity.

Social marketers also needed to provide a “smorgasbord” of Maori and mainstream communication options if they wish to reach target Maori audiences.

Opening the conference earlier, State Services Minister Trevor Mallard said social marketing did not work unless it connected with the community.

“The answer to communicating with Maori and Pacific Island groups effectively is to do it through and with the communities themselves,” he said.

The conference runs for two days and has been organised by the Health Sponsorship Council, the Cancer Society of New Zealand, the Land Transport Safety Authority, the New Zealand Retirement Commission and the Ministry for the Environment.

“Social marketing is about creating programmes designed to influence the voluntary behaviour of target audiences, in a way that benefits society as a whole,” says Health Sponsorship Council director Iain Potter.

“Although use of the phrase ‘social marketing’ is a recent development in New Zealand, there are already some excellent social marketing programmes taking place here.

“This conference provides a first opportunity for social marketers to tackle, together, some of the big challenges facing the profession.”

Campaigns aimed at reducing smoking, obesity, unsafe behaviour in the sun and drink driving are among the existing social marketing programmes in New Zealand.

The conference is being sponsored by the Auckland Regional Council, the Greater Wellington Regional Council, Clemenger BBDO and the Land Transport Safety Authority.

For further information contact: Health sponsorship Council 04 472 5777

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