Half-Course: Social Marketing

Course Number 1975

Professor V. Kasturi Rangan
Early Fall, 15 Session half-course
1.5 credits
Exam

Target Audience

Anyone with an interest in the role of marketing in advancing social products, services and causes. Much of the course is slanted towards topics in consumer marketing, since much social marketing involves "behavior change." The course will also cover topics in nonprofit branding, marketing strategy (in Art and cultural institutions), and CSR (corporate social responsibility). This is not a professional skills development course, but is meant to provoke deeper thinking on management issues facing social marketers. The subject matter of the course is both conceptual and decision oriented. Several of the cases in the course are drawn from international settings. Regardless of whether one wishes to seek a career in the social or private sector, this course is likely to be of value to those interested in marketing careers.

Overview

Social Marketing has several perspectives. The most obvious one is what we experience in the western world--the one that has to do with marketing actions to "change behavior" that is aimed at social good. Thus, programs aimed at drug abuse, smoking cessation, recycling, and so on, all have a marketing component. Most such programs are implemented by nonprofits or government agencies. The course will start off with a module on this core aspect of social marketing.

But there are many more perspectives. The role of marketing in upstream donor development activities, cause marketing partnerships with businesses, and the role of the nonprofit brand all require much marketing thinking, and will constitute significant parts of the course. There will also be coverage of the marketing challenges as faced by Arts and cultural institutions. Finally, much CSR activity of firms involves strategic marketing thinking and execution, and will be part of the course as well.

The course will be structured according to three main topics:

  1. SOCIAL MARKETING
  2. NONPROFIT MARKETING AND BRANDING
  3. CAUSE MARKETING

The course will by-and-large be anchored around cases. About half of the material is likely to be from international contexts. Some sessions will be anchored around readings and chapters from the book assigned to the course.

Course Evaluation and Grading

40% of the grade will be based on class participation
20% of the grade will be based on one short (1,000 word) write-up of any one of the 15 cases used in the course
40% of the grade will be based on a short (1,500 word), 2-hour final exam.