Social Marketing: A Behavioural Change Rebel Turning 50 (Session 6)
On 29 October, the Whitaker Institute was delighted to host Social Marketing: A Behavioural Change Rebel Turning 50 (Session 6). Most of us recognise that everyday life today is not the same as it was a few months ago let alone a few years ago what with climate change, the pandemic, social inequalities, digital technologies, global markets and so much more. It is a world shaped increasingly by collective as well as individual choice, and by systems, social and behaviour change all rolled into one. In this emerging complex world social marketing is a leading behavioural science already into a future of radical transformation. To meet the demands of our time, we must incorporate an “and” approach – citizens and stakeholders, citizens and society, citizens and systems, citizens and the planet into our way of doing and being.
Social marketing’s call to action is to get on board now, be the Change Catalyst in your life, your family and your community to open the door to a new sustainable world for all.
Presentations:
Can we make social marketing more ‘nimble’?
Dr Rowena Merritt, University of Kent
Teaching social marketing at a distance
Dr Fiona Harris, Open University
Hosted by Dr Christine Domegan, NUI Galway
A recording of Dr Merritt’s presentation is available to watch back below.
Dr Rowena Merritt
Rowena is a Behavioural Scientist who specialises in social marketing and public health. She works for the UN’s World Food Programme as their Social Behaviour Change and Communication Specialist for the Regional Bureau for MENA, Central Asia & Europe. She is also a Research Fellow at the University of Kent and Director of the National Social Marketing Centre in London.
Rowena was awarded a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 2006. Upon graduation, she helped set up the National Social Marketing Centre. Under her position at the Centre, she managed England’s first multi-trial applications of social marketing, involving ten sites across England, each focused on a different topic or audience. She then moved onto the Department of Health England where she worked on the development and implementation of the national social marketing strategy Ambitions for Health. Since leaving the Department of Health in 2010, she has worked for a range of UN organisations and NGOs, as well as national government departments in over 30 countries.
Dr Fiona Harris is a senior lecturer in management at the Open University Business School in the UK, where she has been involved in the development and delivery of modules that teach social marketing in the undergraduate business management programme since 2008. Her research interests are in social marketing and marketing ethics.