Great involvement in Social Marketing campaigns among International Advertising Community.

The US-based Advertising Council, in partnership with the International Advertising Association (IAA) recently conducted a survey to identify IAA member involvement and experience in public service marketing and social marketing campaigns. The survey results will be released at IAA’s 41st World Congress in Washington, DC.

IAA members are dedicated to promoting social causes and advocate for increased participation across the globe. According to the survey, sixty six percent of respondents have been actively involved in social marketing efforts and fifty seven percent believe more should be done in their countries. In addition, eighty four percent of respondents say that the media outlets in their countries support social marketing efforts through donated media.

The research also indicates that social marketing efforts in other countries could be useful learning tools and they believe that working together on issues of common interest could bring about positive social change. More than fifty percent of the participants expressed interest in sharing and learning more about research and creative materials for social marketing campaigns with groups in other countries. Fifty two percent expressed interest in collaborating on a social marketing campaign internationally. Of most interest to respondents were the topics of environment (53%), education (51%), child abuse (45%) and global warming/climate change (44%).

“Social marketing has always had a strong and powerful voice in the marketing and advertising community, but we contend it will become an ever-more important piece of what we do as the collective global consciousness continues to rise,” attests Michael Lee, Executive Director, IAA. “That is why this survey is so important today, Not only to help us understand how far we’ve come but also to help raise awareness of the importance of these efforts—it was a pleasure partnering with the Ad Council to make this happen.”

“Our partnership with the IAA will serve as an important tool in understanding how the Ad Council and our public service advertising campaigns may be relevant to organizations beyond our borders,” said Peggy Conlon, President and CEO of the Ad Council. “The results from this survey demonstrate the need for more work in the field of social marketing and we’re excited about the opportunity to increase our partnerships globally.”

The survey was conducted online among IAA members from December 13, 2007 to February 11, 2008. 204 completed surveys were received from member respondents in six continents. Respondents included representatives from advertisers, ad agencies, media outlets, research companies, trade associations and universities.

For more information at http://www.adcouncil.org>