Social Marketing Communication Campaign

Question: Discuss about the Social Marketing Communication Campaign. Answer: Introduction: The Australian Road Safety Foundation is a non-profit organisation in Australia who strives to improve road safety awareness among the common public. The main goal of this organisation is to enhance driver education and bring the reduction in the impact of trauma caused due to road accidents. Improvement of road safety outcomes is the primary focus of the organisation that can be achieved through constant research and innovations. Educational programs are conducted for persuading policy makers for addressing road safety issues. The key areas of operation are advocacy, education and research (Hughes et al., 2015). According to World Health Organisation (2013) non-profit organisations that look after road safety help in developing a sustainable strategy for the reduction of economic and social costs of road accidents. Such organisations provide a platform for future advocacy programs through research. Support and help must, therefore, be provided to these organisations so that they can fulfil their objectives of bringing community development (Bahadorimonfared, 2013). Non-profit organisations incorporate practical solutions for addressing community issues by embracing innovations. The magnitudes of the issues are well understood by the organisations that go on to put a focus on solving the root-causes of the issues (Yannis et al., 2014). As opined by McIntosh and Howe (2014) a number of non-profit organisations have come forward to improve scenario of road accidents across the world. They provide effective and quality common services to agencies, departments and boards that have a shared objective. Different tools and aids are used for promotion of the social message. A number of factors work together for successful implementation of the campaigns (Ivers e al., 2014). Campaign focus The program would aim to discourage drink driving and reduce the incidence of road accidents due to drink driving. Drink driving would be discouraged by disseminating the case studies of accidents caused by drink driving and stories of individuals whose life has changed due to drink driving accidents in direct or indirect manner. A number of accidents are caused every year due to drink driving; however, the consequences are not known to everyone. Mortality rate is high in case of such accidents, and vehicle users, as well as pedestrian users, are victims of such careless driving (Curtis et al., 2016). People in the community have an understanding of the impact of drink driving, but there is a lack of accurate understanding of the implications of drink driving among the masses (Wilson et al., 2016). Informing the potential drink drivers about the definite case studies that have led to a number of drastic aftermaths would, therefore, be beneficial in order to change the mindset of the people. Chances lie that individuals would develop an awareness of the impact of drink driving when they come to know about the true stories of people who have been impacted due to drink driving. Their feelings, viewpoints and thoughts hold the potential to make a mark on the minds of people, thereby restraining them from drinking and driving. SWOT analysis A Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis is to be conducted for determining the current effectiveness of the non-profit organisation and the possibility for development regarding initiatives for reducing drink driving. Strength- Australian Road Safety Foundation has effective communication with key stakeholders in the community, and therefore the relationship between the organisation and the stakeholders is strong and noteworthy. The organisation is involved in collaborative initiatives for alcohol-impaired driving. The Acts and policies of road safety are adequately followed by the organisation. There is a scope of creating new thought process among the public that encourages accountability for drinking and responsible alcohol consumption (Mitchell Dunlop, 2016). Weakness- The main weakness is the misconception that behavioural changes occur out of awareness. There is also a lack of substantial research on initiatives that are novel and innovation but have been proved to be effective in changing behaviours. Lack of comprehensive advancement to drink driving is also another issue. Traditional campaigns trying to incorporate fear among the public have not been successful in the recent years. Opportunities- the positive campaign can be created that has the focus on promoting leadership in a community. Women of age between 21 to 30 years can be targeted in this proposed initiative as this section of the community has not been addressed in the previous initiatives. Social media can be used for disseminating the case studies and stories that individuals have to share. Threats- It has been proved that the alcohol industry makes the women and youth its target with promotion campaigns that are effective. It is not sure that women would respond to the campaign. Initiatives for drink driving have been found to reach a point of saturation (Bazzo et al., 2017). Target market Since Australia has a culture of high alcohol intake, mostly in a younger population, the majority of the drink driving accidents have the involvement of individuals of the younger age group. Young adults have the tendency to drink with the clear intension of becoming intoxicated, and therefore accidents are common to occur (Fitts et al., 2016). Around 86% of Australians of the age 14 years and over have the tendency to drink one or more times in their lifetime. 37% Australians of age 14 and above drink alcohol on a weekly basis. 18% Australians above the age of 14 drinks to the extent that causes risk to them in some form or the other. 1 out of every 4 women has the tendency to drink while they are pregnant. Young Australians have their first drink at 15.7 years on average (druginfo.adf.org.au, 2017). The target market for the proposed initiative is, therefore, the younger adult population of the country. Since this is a social marketing strategy and there is no actual product to be sold, it is information that is to be promoted. The product is information on case studies of drink driving accidents and plights of the individuals suffering such accidents in a direct or indirect manner expressed in their own language. The actual product is the physical and tangible product associated with the marketing campaign (Hollensen, 2015). In the present case, it is the promotional materials given by the campaign. The core product is the overall benefit of the products (De Mooij, 2013). For the present case, it is the change in the behaviour of the people regarding drinking and their attitudes and beliefs towards drinking. Making the individuals who drink come in contact with the stories of lives of people being affected by drink driving would benefit the society by bringing a positive change in their drinking behaviour. They would be discouraged to drive after drinking or encouraged not to drink at all. The economic, social and health costs of drink driving would reduce significantly as the most important consequence of the change of behaviour. There would be a remarkable decrease in the mortality resulting from road accidents. Drink driving not only causes loss of lives but also the loss of properties. It is therefore implied that preventing drink driving would prevent the loss of properties to innocent individuals who fall victims of such careless behaviour (Hollensen, 2015). The marketing component of place as applied to this case is the locations where the promotions would take place (Armstrong et al., 2014). Various forms of media are to be used for disseminating the findings. For example, the proposed places of promotion would include online sites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The rationale behind this is that the young age population have a growing connection with social networking sites (Kotler et al., 2014). The suggested places of putting forward the videos containing talks can include movie theatres. The reason for this is promotion based on the genre can effectively reach the target market. Besides, for reaching to the young population, places like college campuses and a university would also be made the target. A large section of the young population can thereby be addressed. Another effective way would be to send mails to the target audience as this method has the probability to come in contact with influencers of the target market, that is friends and family members. Other initiatives include direct communication with individuals affected by drink driving in shopping malls and movie theatres that would target mainly women (Armstrong et al., 2014). Promotion Social media would be vital in reaching to the primary as well as the secondary target market. A Facebook page can be created wherein the individuals coming forward to share their story can put up posts and any related images. Viral advertising can be considered as one of the prime means of reaching to the target audience. Videos need to be creative and exclusive in spreading the message. Different forms of online communication are effective in reaching out to the young generation. Advertisements can be brought to the desired population based on particular psychographics and demographics (Lee Kotler, 2015). Evaluation of effectiveness of message Since the promotional recommendations are multi-dimensional, a number of tools are to be used for evaluating the effectiveness of the message. The most prominent method would be to undertake a survey before and after the proposed campaign for testing the change in behaviour, attitude and beliefs in relation to drink driving. Surveys collected just after the promotion would highlight the success of the intervention. The overall success of the imparted message can be understood through reports of reduction of a number of driving charges and suspensions and accidents. The number of offences is to be monitored rigorously (Esser et al., 2016). Conclusion In this social marketing plan, the strategy involved recommendations for imparting knowledge among the public about the impact of drunk driving. The goal would be to make them have an encounter with the real-life stories of individuals affected by this devastating causal factor. It is desirable that promotional tactics are tailored in order to reach the target audience. It is expected that the proposed campaign would achieve the desired success. References Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., Kotler, P. (2014).Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia. Bahadorimonfared, A., Soori, H., Mehrabi, Y., Delpisheh, A., Esmaili, A., Salehi, M., Bakhtiyari, M. (2013). Trends of fatal road traffic injuries in Iran (20042011).PloS one,8(5), e65198. Bazzo, S., Black, D., Mitchell, K., Marini, F., Moino, G., Riscica, P., Fattori, G. (2017). Too Young To Drink. 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