Social change through marketing

How can B-schools and management education students be agents of change?

Think of some iconic campaigns that you remember: Dove Real Beauty, Digital India, Vicks India, Dabur India ...What is common to all these is good marketing to create social change. This is also called Social Marketing.

Management education plays a pivotal role in changing an individual’s behaviour and attitude. The teaching pedagogy, curriculum and co-curricular activities that encompass social issues engage students through interactivity, creativity, and relevance using digital content. This enhances receptiveness towards social marketing issues. The interdisciplinary and project-based learning environment in B-Schools helps foster the feeling of connectedness.

Today consumers purchase products of firms that care about the societal welfare and proactively engage in promoting their values and beliefs. So how can B-Schools and management education students be social change agents?

One way is to leverage the curriculum, which includes courses like ‘Integrated Marketing Communications’, ‘Advertising’, ‘Brand Management and Communications’ and so on. Second is to use advertising that influences a consumer to bring about a positive social change by its innate nature of ‘creating desire’. Management students can learn to showcase other behavioural changes through social marketing campaigns and guide newer audiences adopt to these.

Most management institutes have ‘Public Relations and Media Committee’, which covers their social events and boosts visibility. Students can learn to foster relationships with the external stakeholders through PR activities. They can learn to create a brand voice by creating compelling stories. They should learn the importance of painting an inclusive story around the brand that can redefine mainstream conversations and speed up social acceptance. Another way is to use the institute’s Marketing Club, which provides a platform for participation in inter- and intra-institute competitions such as debates, case studies, workshops and so on. This helps keep the spirit of positive social and environmental change alive and fosters peer learning. The Social Responsibility Committee is also important as it attracts students who want to make a difference in society. For example, working with NGOs, helping underprivileged children and engaging with other causes will ensure that they are personally and professionally in tune with giving back to society.

These interventions provide a novel approach to educate and change the behavioural intention and attitude of management students.

The writer is Associate Professor in the area of Marketing, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru