No, this is no re-mix of Social Media Club, but it’s a potentially Global Social Marketing Association, speaking in terms of behavior change.

I was prompted to write about this topic when I received an email from Craig Lefebvre on the Social Marketing listserv announcing a new petition–a call for global engagement. Though I had created a humble petition of my own on iPetition over a year ago, I am very excited to see this one having momentum, both online and offline.

The petition has just almost 100 signatures and anyone is welcome to support it. The great (and strategic) piece of this petition is that is was launched with the buy-in of the Social Marketing Quarterly’s Editorial Review Board, which consists of many of the field’s thought leaders. The petition states:

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We, the undersigned, agree that the moment has arrived for the development of a social marketing organization. We will support, in words and actions, the creation of a global social marketing organization by July 2010. To work towards this end, we share the following core principles:

• Social marketing starts from the personal perspectives of the people with whom we work.

• Social marketing is a well-established professional discipline with a strong academic and practical foundation.

• Social marketing is a systematic approach to large-scale behavior and social change.

• Social marketing is a “community of practice” that is open to all disciplines and types of practitioners and can be applied to a range of environmental, public health, and social issues.

• The development of a professional social marketing organization should be a widely participatory and transparent process.

• A social marketing organization should represent the views of practitioners, organizations, academics, researchers, donors, policy-makers and others who advocate for, practice, and support the use of social marketing applications to address social problems.

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Other steps to move forward have been outlined and consist of:

• Create an Ad Hoc Guidance Group of no more than 20 members.

• Establish a date for convening a “Congress” for the social marketing organization prior to the 2010 National Conference on Social Marketing in Public Health.

• In next four months, the Guidance Group will oversee a process that solicits Delegate nominations from the social marketing community.

• We suggest that work groups be created from this group of delegates to achieve certain objectives.

• The outcomes of this Congress will then be presented for discussion and affirmation to a larger group of the social marketing community attending the social marketing conference in Clearwater Beach, FL in June 2010. Officers should be elected at this time and the organization formally announced to colleagues, stakeholders and professional communities.

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I’ve signed it. And so has the legendary marketer himself: Philip Kotler! Won’t you join us? At the very least, I’m going to do my best to get to next June’s 20th Anniversary of the Social Marketing in Public Health Conference, where it’s hoped that the association will officially be launched. Go here to sign the petition directly.

flickr credit: Gataen Lee

We have journalists, policy makers, psychologists, gurus, non-profiteers, communication firms, academics, new media techs, international developers, champions for the environment, public health professionals, humanity, researchers, consultants, publishers and many more from across sectors.

Delegates represent South Africa, India, the U.S., England, Portugal, China, Australia, Bangladesh, Slovenia, New Zealand, Senegal in West Africa, Wales, Scotland and many more!

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To follow conference updates, Dr. Stephen Dann is commanding the Twittering front @WSMC, and you can following using Twitter Search #WSMC08. Also, presentations and pictures may be gathering on Flickr and Slideshare down the line. I look forward to a posting full of pictures later myself, but here are some great recaps thus far (though, literally, I could post on each one individually!)

Craig Lefebvre: In his keynote, Lefebvre (who I finally got the wonderful opportunity to connect with), brought us social marketers into the danger zone and challenged us, as a global community to form a social marketing global platform. I won’t do Lefebvre’s vision for the field justice in this space, but Lefebvre is laboring tirelessly to rally support for an international professional network, that would be inclusive of those in social marketing, environment issues, public health, business thought leaders, psychologists, economists, marketers, social entreprenuers and more! It could/would involve a case study database, a journal, educational development and shared experiences for all: thus highlighting the variety of roles us social marketers, can, do and should have in the social change sector. Currently, Lefebvre has raised a quarter of a million dollars to support this organization and asks: What will you do?

Philip Kotler: A guru favorite for many conference delegates, Kotler laid out his most recent work on the subject of poverty. Kotler and colleague Nancy Lee, in their next book, apply social marketing to the problem of poverty. Within the presentation, Kotler identified four main methods currently being used to reduce poverty:

1. Economic Growth Strategy
2. Redistribution Strategy
3. Massive Foreign Aide
4. Population Control

In this book, Kotler and Lee lay out a 10-step process for demystifying the poverty problem while providing resaons why it is all of ours problem. Looking at the World Bank and The U.N.’s Millenium goals, and the approachng deadline for results, this application is most needed.

Nancy Lee: In a wonderfully graceful way, Lee provided four clear examples on how social marketing utilizing all four of the 4Ps – product, price, place, promotion. Lee concluded that her state, Washington, hopes to become a role-model to gain the attention of those in Washington D.C. and further establish social marketing as a working strategy and field. My favorite part of her presentation was her exclamation that social marketing must become a required course. I highly agree, and ask: What is one way, us in the trenches, can make social marketing a required course? My answer: ask for it. Students, and those interested in social and behavior change: investigate social marketing. Ask about it. Reach out. Demand it.

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These are my first three updates, and the computer area is closing, so thus, I must close. More to come in following days!

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