10 Key Takeaways from the International Social Marketing Conference #ISMC2016

Another social marketing conference come and gone. This time - new faces, new campaigns, new research and even a new brand for AASM. Here are 10 key takeaways that I got from #ISMC2016 in no particular order. I definitely haven't covered everything but hopefully have captured a few of the big trends that came out of this three day meeting of minds. 

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1.

Design scalable interventions and don’t assume setting the price at free will increase program uptake. People value services that they pay for as demonstrated from 40K Group where villages in India are paying $4/per student for education and the relationship of customers vs. beneficiaries works. Check them out:​ https://40k.com.au/

2. 

Social enterprises have a big role to play in fixing big social problems. This was one of the first social marketing conferences I've attended that I saw a bigger focus on the presence and need of social enterprises. However as social marketers, we have a even bigger role to play in bringing them into the social marketing ‘bubble’

3. 

Systems, systems, systems thinking – it’s complex but required to move big social issues at all levels.  Here’s a great video example of systems thinking in practice:

4. 

Social marketing courses do exist at many universities at the undergraduate and post-graduate level around Australia and across the world but we don’t have a core database housing this information.  (Don’t worry AASM is working on developing this and if you know of a program – please get in touch!)

5.

Academics vs. practitioners can continue to work together - There is still a strong presence of the differences between these two groups – but more and more we’re finding synergies together.  There is still a need for knowledge translation – how do we take these amazing PhD and academic study outcomes and apply them to practical work?

6.

Digital interventions have proven outcomes– Apps such as Reduce Your Juice developed by CitySmart demonstrated that real behaviour change is happening through social and digital platforms. Check it out: ​http://reduceyourjuice.com.au/

7.

Collaboration is key and can only happen when we stop looking at each other as ‘competitors’ and more like partners. Cancer Council Victoria demonstrated some great collaborations across other ‘cancer’ groups across Australia such as Cancer Council NSW and PapScreen Victoria. 

8.

Segmentation is still needed further in practice -  Work from Rescue Social Change demonstrates that not all peer groups are alike and interventions need to be tailored accordingly. Check out a presentation from Jeff Jordan (from a different conference) explaining this concept:

9.

The support for social marketing is growing but funding isn't - we have all come together as passionate social marketers to share ideas and projects however are all feeling the pinch of diminishing budgets, fewer grants and university support, and changing government priorities. Growing the practice means getting creative with budgets and increasing efficiency of offerings. 

10.

All ISMC attendees are now members of the Australian Association of Social Marketing – so that means, this isn’t the last time we’ll see each other. Many events and networking opportunities will continue as members of AASM. The next ISMC conference will also be held in July at James Cook University in Singapore.