Marketing for Behavioural Change

Any 60 points at 200-level or above

MGMT341

MGMT341

Timetable Note

NOTE: Due to the sensitive nature of the topics discussed in class and the interactive nature of the lectures, lectures for MKTG315-21S2 are not recorded using the ECHO360 lecture recording system.
No tutorials.

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Ann-Marie Kennedy

Assessment

Assessment in this course is designed to measure the extent to which a student is able to recognise and apply marketing concepts. It is also intended to reward those who:
• Consistently do the readings and other assignments on schedule,
• Regularly attend lectures
• Submit work that reflects on the discussions had in class

Weightings and descriptions of the various pieces of assessment are available on Learn.  Please ensure you check Learn regularly for the most up to date information about the assessment for this course.

Concepts Test – 30% - Open Book, Submitted Online
The concepts test will assess students’ ability to understand theories discussed in class and apply them to specific issues in society. The test will cover material taught in Weeks 1-6 inclusive. The test will be very applied and require students to not only understand what the theories are but apply them into a variety of situations that have a practical impact on a specific situation.  

The test will be available to students for 24 hours.  Students should craft their answers and submit a single document (.doc, .docx, .pdf) on Learn.  All tests will be submitted to Turnitin.com to check for plagiarism. The test should take students no longer than 2 hours to complete. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their document is submitted on time and in working order. Corrupted files or late submissions will not be graded. In the event of an unexpected emergency students should apply for special circumstances as extensions will not be possible.

Behavioural Change Project:
The major assessment for this class is a behaviour change project.  Each student will pick one aspect of their current lives that they wish to change for the better. Examples from previous semesters include but are not limited to:
1. Exercise
2. Diet/eating habits
3. Smoking cessation
4. Drug taking reduction
5. Alcohol consumption reduction
6. Study habits/procrastination
7. Relationships/improving interpersonal aspects of your life
8. Mental health/wellness
9. Spending/budgeting/shopping habits
10. Sustainability/recycling/zero waste/etc.

Students will then spend the semester actively trying to improve this part of their life and measuring their behavioural change towards specific goals they have set themselves.

Students can choose any aspect of their behaviour that they want as long as the chosen project does not put themselves or anyone else at harm. The behaviour change project is completely confidential and no student will be reported for any aspect of what they have written unless it is suspected the student may harm themselves or someone else, in which case the appropriate course of action will be taken to ensure the safety of the student and others.  

Students will complete a diary outlining their weekly progress towards changing their behaviour and conclude by preparing a group social marketing campaign plan that encourages others to change their behaviour, based on the student’s own experiences.  

Choosing an Appropriate Topic
The most important part of the project is picking a behaviour that is suitable.  The chosen behaviour must be important to YOU. It does not have to be life altering for the rest of the population, but it should be important to you as you carry out the project. The chosen behaviour should also be something that has the potential to bring betterment to the student and society as a whole. If you are concerned about your chosen project please discuss it with Ann-Marie sooner rather than later.

The behavioural change project is made up of two components – a weekly diary that tracks your progress as you change your own behaviour and the final group assignment that outlines a social marketing campaign to encourage others to change their behaviour as well. You are not required to share your personal change with your group members, but are encouraged to share what you have learnt that might benefit others in the same position as you and thus create an effective campaign.

Diary Assignment – 20%
The Diary assignment is designed to allow you an opportunity to reflect on the discussions in class and apply it to your behaviour change project. The purpose of the diary is to monitor your behaviour change and progress towards your final goal.  The best diaries will incorporate aspects discussed in class that week and encourage students to reach specific goals on a regular basis.

Each week we will make suggestions on how you should apply what we are learning in class to the diary, which is a crucial part of the learning process. The main focus of the marking on these diaries is your ability to link what we are doing in class to your own behavioural change process. Corrupted files or late submissions will not be graded. In the event of an unexpected emergency students should apply for special circumstances as extensions will not be possible.  

Overview:
• Each week, for 6 weeks, you will record and journal your thoughts, feelings and actions associated with your behaviour change project, and apply theory from class that week.
• You need to set weekly goals to enable you to see how you are doing.
• Each week apply relevant social marketing theories to your diary to ensure you not only express what is happening but also analyse WHY you think these things are happening.
• Also, these diary entries will serve as your primary source in the development of your final assignment – make sure you put plenty of detail about what worked and what didn’t.
• This assignment is worth 20% of your final mark in this class.
• The final submission should have 6 separate reflections (1 for each week) and 1 extra overall reflection. That is a total of 7 separate reflections.
Journal format:
• You will make a total of 7 entries that are typed of about a page each. Alternative submission formats are also possible and will be discussed in class.
• This should be an honest and open discussion. We are not grading your writing style or punctuation - so relax. The style and tone of your entries is entirely up to you. You are encouraged to write in the first person. This will be your reflection about your successes and failures throughout the week. It is essential that you reflect deeply on the triggers, feelings, thoughts, settings, and people that surround your target behaviour.
• However, please use a separate heading for each week and use clear paragraphs instead of large blocks of text.
• You might think about carrying a pocket diary to enable you to record your feelings and experiences when they happen, but what you submit needs to be typed up.
• Each week we will make suggestions on how you should apply what we are learning in class to the diary, which is a crucial part of the learning process.
• The focus of the marking on these diaries is your ability to link what we are doing in class (e.g. theory and concepts from class) to your own personal change process.
Please note:
• This is an individual assignment and should be written up alone. However, it would be great to discuss your experiences with other people who are engaging in similar lifestyle changes. This is a great exercise to learn from one another. We encourage collaboration so you might consider partnering up with someone in or outside of class to see if this helps you.

Behaviour Change Consumer Insights Survey – 10% (Individual)
Social marketing campaigns are based on researching the specific target market they aim to change. In this assessment, you will have the chance to ask your class mates some questions regarding your chosen behaviour change topic so that you can understand your target market further for your group assignment.

Task: You will submit 2 survey questions which may take the form of one or more of the following: a) likert scales; b) multichoice; c) yes/no; d) open ended questions on Learn, along with 250 words explaining the relevance of the questions to gaining insights from your target market regarding your chosen behaviour (e.g. what you hope to find out).

Please use the following book which is available as an eBook in the university library to form your questions: Brace, I. (2008;2013). Questionnaire design: How to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research (2nd;Third; ed.). London;Philadelphia;: Kogan.

Be careful to pre-test your questions with friends to make sure they understand the question as Ann-Marie will not edit your questions.

Ann-Marie will collate the questions, delete replications, and send the class a link to the questionnaire. Inappropriate, offensive, or those likely to cause mental harm will be deleted. When the survey is released to the class, you will be asked to complete it by a certain date. Ann-Marie will then provide a spreadsheet of the answers to the class for use in your final behaviour change group assignment after the test.

Marking criteria: You will be marked based on the quality of your questions (3 marks per question - are the questions clear, understandable, appropriate, and will they give the answers you state you are seeking in your write up). All responses are anonymous, you will receive 4 marks for completing the survey. If you feel uncomfortable answering a question, an option of “I do not wish to answer this question” will be given on every question.

Behavioural Change Group Assignment – 40%
The purpose of this assignment is to present a social marketing campaign plan to change the behaviour you have focused on in your diary. You should use what you have learnt worked for you in your diaries as the base of the plan, in conjunction with talking to others that are trying to increase or decrease this behaviour.  You should read case studies or academic papers about your target behaviour.  You could visit blog or government sites regarding the target behaviour (e.g., Quitline). Finally you should look at similar campaigns for ideas.

The report should be no more than 5,000 words (+/- 10%) in length, including diagrams/graphs etc. The formatting expects a minimum of 12pt font with 1.5 line spacing and 1 inch margins. Cover pages, reference lists and appendices are not included in the word limit. You are not required to include contents pages or executive summaries.

This assignment is worth 40% of the final mark in this class. This report is submitted online via the Learn site as a single document file (.doc, .docx, .pdf). It is the group’s responsibility to ensure that their document is submitted on time and in working order. Corrupted files or late submissions will not be graded. In the event of an unexpected emergency students should apply for special circumstances as extensions will not be possible.  The report will be graded based on the following information.  

1 Background Information (10 marks)
a. What is the behaviour or social problem that you are addressing?
i. What is the epidemiology of the problem in your population? E.g. what causes it?
ii. Prevalence and incidence (how often and is that number increasing or decreasing each year)?
b. Characteristics of people at high risk?
i. What are the most common or serious consequences of the problem?
ii. Are there groups that have more severe consequences from this behaviour than others?

2 Analyse and Select Target Audiences (10 marks) – use the class survey data, reports and journal articles to support your assertions.
a. Describe potential target audiences for your social marketing campaign in terms of size, problem incidence and severity, including demographics, psychographics, geographic, behaviours.
b. Select and justify your primary targets in terms of their relative vulnerability when compared to other potential targets. Think about the issues that we discussed in class when you are exploring the nature of their vulnerability. Why is this target more pressing or deserving of attention.
c. Knowledge (do they have accurate information or misperceptions, what benefits, costs, and barriers do they perceive)
d. Attitudes (do they feel at risk, how do they feel about the behaviour change, do they feel they can perform it, is their social support)
e. Behaviours (what are their current behaviours, do they need new skills, what would help them)

3 Set Objectives and Goals (10 marks)
a. Behaviour objective: What specifically, do you want to influence your target audience to do as a result of this project?
b. Knowledge objective: Is there anything you need them to know, in order to act?
c. Belief objective: Is there anything you need them to believe, in order to act?
d. Goals: What quantifiable, measurable goals are you setting? Ideally, this is stated in terms of behaviour change. Other potential measures include goals for campaign awareness, recall and/or response, and changes in knowledge, belief, or behaviour intent levels.

4 Review Past Campaigns (5 marks)
a. Review past campaigns that are related to your behaviour or social problem
b. Critique the most relevant campaigns and explain how they will inform your intervention

5 Develop Marketing Strategies (50 marks)
a. Product: Design the Market Offering
i. What is the desired behaviour?
ii. What is the value exchange that you are seeking to undertake?
iii. What is the core product or auxiliary products that will support the behaviour change or give the value exchange?

b. Price: Manage Costs of Behaviour Change:
i. What are the costs the target audience associates with the product?
ii. What other barriers prevent the target audience from adopting the product?
iii. Can you minimize or remove these barriers?
iv. Can you offer any incentives?
v. What prices (if any) will be set for tangible objects and services associated with the campaign?

c. Place: Make Access Convenient
i. What are the places where the target audience makes decisions about engaging in the desired behaviour?
ii. Where and when will the target market acquire any related tangible objects and services?
iii. What distribution systems will be most efficient for reaching the target?

d. Promotion: Create Messages (creative brief)
i. What are your specific communication objectives?
ii. Restate: Who is the target?
iii. What is the competitive climate?
iv. What is the principle idea or benefit?
v. What is your supporting evidence?
vi. What specific actions do you want your target audience to take as a result of this campaign?
vii. What communication style and tone will be used?
viii. What is the execution (and media types)?
ix. Include a draft poster (A4 size) that could go on a bus shelter that shows your points above.

e. Stakeholders (i.e., private, government, or not-for-profit?)
i. What groups, community leaders, or other individuals might oppose you?
ii. What groups, community leaders of other individuals might support you? E.g. Who will be a crucial ally in this intervention and how will you court this ally?

f. Policy
i. Are there any policies that would create an environment more conducive to the desired behaviour?
ii. Is there any pending legislation that would positively or negatively affect your program’s goals?

6 Develop a Plan for Evaluating and Monitoring (5 marks)
a. How will your goals be measured?
b. What techniques and methodologies will be used to conduct these measures?
c. When will these measurements be taken?

7 Presentation (10 marks)
a. Is the report free from grammatical and spelling errors?
b. Is the report written in an engaging and logical manner?
c. Is the report presented in an exciting and novel way?
i. Feel free to use diagrams, colour, headings etc. to make the report more exciting

REMEMBER, the diary and consumer insights survey are key sources of information.  Use what you have learnt, what you have struggled with, what you have overcome as a basis for developing your strategy.  For example, if you found willpower was a major hurdle for you personally, then develop a campaign that maximises individual willpower and strength.

Textbooks / Resources

Donovan, R. & Henley, N.  (2010). Principles & Practice of Social Marketing: [electronic resource]: an international perspective.

Notes

Class Representative
A class representative may be asked to volunteer in the first few weeks of class. Any problems with the course can be raised with the class rep. Their email can be found at UCSA. The class representative will take up any issues raised by class members with the lecturer concerned as they occur.

Departmental Academic Policies
The Department assumes that you have read this document.

You should also read the General Course and Examination Regulations

Dishonest Practice
The University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty.  All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.

IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.

Citations and referencing

Indicative Fees

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.