Rethinking Smokey Bear

Barry Schoenfeld

The author's definition of social marketing is 'a research-based process that adapts proven marketing tactics to raise awareness, change attitudes, beliefs, and in the end, social behaviors.' To be successful, the social marketing programs have to address complex motivations and overcome psychological barriers often requiring an almost raw appeal to the emotions.

Rethinking Smokey Bear

Social marketing has come a long way out of the forest

Barry Schoenfeldpartner and director of business development, asher&partners, LA

A few years ago, Smokey Bear turned 50. Since the life expectancy of your average bear is only 22 years, we can be pretty sure that he is alive only in the continuing series of public service ads that have featured him since the 1950s.

Because he is certainly not alive in what the nation's best PSA advertising has since morphed into – what we now call 'social marketing.'

What is social marketing,...

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