This is a deck I created for my presentation at the International Government Communicators Forum (Sharjah, UAE) with a goal of helping government communicators move beyond “awareness building” and into actual behaviour change using a social marketing framework.

1. @mikekujawski | CEPSM.caIGCF – Sharjah, 2019
Integrating Behavioural Science in Government Communication
Tips on moving beyond “awareness building” and into actual behaviour change

2. Managing Partner & Senior Consultant
Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing (CEPSM.ca)
How exactly? Through consulting, training, and
speaking
Niche: Only work with public sector and non-
profit organizations
Specialty Areas: Strategic marketing, social
marketing / behaviour change communication,
digital/social media engagement,
organizational and personal brand building,
digital literacy, social network analysis, open
source social media intelligence
Sample Clients: United Nations, Elections
Canada, Public Safety Canada, Health Canada,
Justice Canada, Canadian Intellectual Property
Office, Governments of Tanzania, Kazakhstan,
Singapore, Malaysia, United States
I help public sector organizations in Canada and around the globe adapt to digital disruption
and improve their strategic marketing, communications, and behaviour change initiatives.
What exactly do I do?

3. Our little world faces many
BIG challenges...

12. hansonrobotics.com/robot/sophia/

13. tesla.com/en_CA/models

14. bostondynamics.com/atlas

16. goo.gl/gWjDE5 (full video is NSFW)

17. It’s hard for governments to keep
up with the pace of change.

19. Relying on communications
alone to change behaviours is
not enough

20. Social marketing can provide
a much more effective and
strategic approach.

22. MARKETING AND
SOCIAL MARKETING
ARE NOT THE SAME AS
COMMUNICATIONS

23. The strategic planning process
for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging
offerings that have value for
your audience.
Marketing
WANTS AUDIENCES TO ACT

24. Goal setting Research Segmentation Targeting Positioning
Product/Service
Price/Opportunity Cost
Place/Channel
Promotion/Tactics & Messaging
The Strategic Marketing Process
Communications typically
focuses on this element only

25. The execution of the messaging
element of marketing. Also used
to create and strengthen
relationships inside and outside
the organization.
Communications
WANTS AUDIENCES TO LISTEN

26. What about Social Marketing?
*not to be confused with “social media marketing”

27. SOCIAL POLICY
SOCIAL SCIENCE
COMMERCIAL MARKETING
PUBLIC SECTOR MARKETING

28. Social Marketing
A process that applies
marketing principles and
techniques to create,
communicate, and
deliver value in order to
influence target
audience behaviors that
benefit society as well
as the target audience*.
*based on the best available scientific evidence and with genuine selfless intent

29. Health Belief Model
Theory of Planned Behaviour
Social Cognitive Theory
Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change)
Social Norms Theory
Theory of Reasoned Action
Fogg Behaviour Model
Diffusion of Innovation Theory

30. Key components of social marketing
Should have a long term
outlook based on continuing
programs rather than one-off
initiatives (3-5 years).
Should be strategic rather
than tactical
Should focus on aggressive
listening rather than
aggressive promotion
Research should be
conducted throughout to
inform the development of
the strategy
Should bring about changes
in the social and structural
factors that impinge on an
individual’s opportunities,
capacities, and right to a
healthy and fulfilling life
Should involve upstream
targeting of individuals/groups
who have the power to make
policy, regulatory and
legislative changes that protect
and enhance people’s quality
of life

31. A few noteworthy differences
between commercial and
social marketing

32. Has three main categories of outcome objectives
Knowledge objectives:
based on statistics that could
motivate the target
audience. Audience should
know benefits of proposed
behaviour and the available
tools to help them
Belief objectives: tied to
attitudes, opinions, or
feelings held by audience.
Must believe they are
capable of performing the
desired behaviour and that it
will produce desired results
Behaviour objectives:
simple clear and doable
actions

33. EXAMPLE: Drug-Impaired Driving
Knowledge
Increase target audience
knowledge of the safety and
legal risks they face with
respect to DID, including
cannabis
Belief
Increase the percentage of
the target audience who
believe that drug impaired
driving is unacceptable
Behaviour
Reduce percentage of the
target audience who would
drive while high or accept a
ride with someone who is

34. Uses evidence-based segmentation
frameworks
Transtheoretical Model - Prochaska and DiClemente

35. EXAMPLE: Healthy Eating
Stage of Change Audience Segment Thought Pattern
Precontemplation I don’t need to follow my diet as long as I feel okay
Contemplation I am not currently following my diet but I know I should
Preparation I am following my diet from time to time. I know I
should but it is hard
Action I am following my diet almost all of the time. I will do
what I need to do to stay healthy
Maintenance I have been following my diet for at least 6 months
now

36. Prioritizes audience segments using methods
not considered in commercial marketing
TARPARE – A method for selecting target audiences -RJ Donovan, 1999
T Total number of people in
the segment
Segments encompassing larger groups of individuals are more
attractive
AR Proportion of At Risk
persons in the segment
Segments at higher levels of risk should be given priority
P Persuadability of the
segment
A segment that is easily persuaded to take the desired action
(low hanging fruit) should be given higher priority
A Accessibility of the
segment
Target audiences that are easier to reach are more attractive
as less work will be needed to make an impact
R Resources required to
meet the needs of the
segment
The fewer resources required to meet the needs of the
segment, the greater the expected return on investment
E Equity, social justice
considerations
The need to target specific disadvantaged segments

37. Example: Immunization
Segment Name
Total#ofpeoplein
thesegment(%of
total)
Atrisk
Persuadability
Accessibility
ResourcesRequired
(highscore=less
resources)
Equity
TotalVaccine Acceptors 6 1 10 7 7 3 34
Vaccine Hesitant 3 8 6 7 3 10 37
Vaccine Refusers 1 10 1 9 1 6 28

38. Factors in “social norms”
Source: Perkins and Berkowitz
Misperception
of normative
behaviour
Underlying
problem
Actual statistical
data on social
norms
Social norms
intervention
correcting
misperceptions
Increase in
healthy
behaviours
Social norms are people’s beliefs about the attitudes and behaviours that are normal,
acceptable, or even expected in a particular social context. Audiences tend to misperceive
the norms of their group and engage in behaviours that are in sync with those false norms.
Instead of using scare tactics or stigmatizing messages, the social norms approach
steers people towards healthy behavior by letting them know it’s the normal thing to do.

39. EXAMPLE: Mental Health
Misperception of
normative
behaviour
• Audience
considers
seeking
counselling for
mental health
embarrassing.
• Think less than
5% of the
population is
seeking help for
mental health
Underlying
problem
• There is still a
societal stigma
around these
issues and
bottling them up
has been
normalized over
many decades
Actual statistical
data on social
norms
• In reality 30% of
the population
is experiencing
mental health
issues. Nearly
half of that
population (15%
of total) is
seeking help.
Social norms
intervention correcting
misperceptions
• National Mental
Health
Awareness Day
in Workplace
and on Social
Media
• Influencers
sharing stories
of their own
Mental Health
Issues
Increase in healthy
behaviours
• Knowing when
to seek medical
help and not
being
embarrassed to
admit it

40. The “product” element of the marketing mix is
broken down into three distinct components
Actual product
the specific behaviour that is
being promoted
Augmented product
the tangible objects and
services offered to support
behaviour change
Core product
the benefits the target
audience will experience
when they perform the
behaviour

41. Example: Emergency Preparedness
Actual product
Make a home emergency
plan and buy or prepare a kit
that will protect you for 72
hours during an emergency
Augmented
product
-Kit preparation ap
-Emergency preparedness
kits for purchase
-Plan templates
.
Core product
Peace of mind that you will
be prepared, safe and not a
burden on emergency
resources handling much
more serious situations

42. Acknowledges competing behaviours
“I want my target audience to see ____________[desired
behaviour] as _____________ [a phrase describing
positive benefits of adopting the behaviour] and as more
important and/or beneficial than ____________[the
competing behaviour]”.

43. “I want my target audience
to see [bringing in their own
mug to a coffee shop] as
[directly contributing to the
reduction of landfill waste]
and as more important
and/or beneficial than [the
inconvenience of having to
remember to clean and bring
it every day]”.
EXAMPLE: Waste Reduction

44. Assume that your are working on a initiative where you are trying to
decrease the amount UAE parents that don’t secure their kids in age
appropriate safety seats in their vehicles.
1. Create sample knowledge, belief, and behaviour objectives
2. State potential actual, augmented, and core products.
3. Formulate your positioning using the provided template
Quick Activity
(Time Permitting)

45. “I want my target audience to see______ (desired behaviour) as ______ (a phrase describing positive benefits
of adopting the behaviour) and as more important and/or beneficial than______ (the competing behaviour)”.
Actual product: the
specific behaviour that is
being promoted
Augmented product: the
tangible objects and
services offered to support
behaviour change
Core product: the benefits
the target audience will
experience when they
perform the behaviour
Knowledge objectives: based on
statistics that could motivate the target
audience. Audience should know
benefits of proposed behaviour and the
available tools to help them
Belief objectives: tied to attitudes,
opinions, or feelings held by audience.
Must believe they are capable of
performing the desired behaviour and
that it will produce desired results
Behaviour objectives: simple clear
and doable actions
Activity Cheat Sheet
1
2
3

46. Final tips

47. Avoid short-term communications
“campaign”- based output thinking.
Social marketing is a long-term
outcome based process.

48. Ensure that you spend the bulk of
your initiative’s time researching and
understanding what audiences
perceive as barriers to change.

49. Use decisions regarding the core,
actual and augmented products to
determine positioning and drive your
messaging.

50. Keep in mind that for a social norm to
be perpetuated it is not necessary for
the majority to believe it, but only for
the majority to believe that the
majority believes it.

51. TRUSTTrue social marketing is a powerful process that should be selfless and have the best interests of the
audience in mind. There is a tremendous opportunity for government to build trust by being more open and
transparent about what behaviours it is trying to influence and why. We have so many “open government”
initiatives, why not begin to have more “open marketing/communications” initiatives by sharing the
research, strategies and results behind them?
Above all else, work on building audience

52. Shukran | Thank you

53. Mike Kujawski
Mobile: +1.613.899.1348
E-mail: mikekujawski@cepsm.ca
LinkedIn: “Mike Kujawski”
Twitter: @mikekujawski
Skype: mikekujawski
Blog: mikekujawski.ca
Website: cepsm.ca