WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When PRSA's National Capital Chapter inducted the first 50 luminaries into its Public Relations Hall of Fame Oct. 1, many were lauded for their commitments to public service. But few could say they had made a career of it. PR NEWS spoke with award-winner William Novelli, a pioneer in "social marketing," who, after building the PR firm that bears his name, returned to public service in 1990. He now heads the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
PRN: You came from a traditional marcom background. To what degree can commercial PR principles be used to influence social issues?
WN: Traditional marketing principles are very applicable to social change. You are studying a target audience and understanding what you can get them to do on the basis of their social norms and expectations.this is very similar, whether you're doing Nike or Planned Parenthood.
The problem comes when people think the two are absolutely synonymous, which they aren't. You'll see an ad agency say, well we know how to sell soap, therefore we can do safe sex or smoking. The implication being that you simply do the same thing you do in the commercial field.
PRN: So what's different?
WN: In the field of social marketing, you want to change people's behaviors, but that's not your only outcome. You've got to change the whole environment. But you can't just run against the grain and basic values of the society. I can remember working in Egypt on marketing contraceptives. Islamic religious leaders would say, "This is against the Holy Koran." I couldn't say, "Yeah, maybe it's against your basic values, but it's very modern, so try it."
In the case of my work now.I want to change the environment to make it more conducive to protecting kids from tobacco. Coca-Cola [by comparison] is not trying to change the overall environment. They're trying to work within the overall environment and within public policies.
PRN: Yet the lines are fuzzier now. There are countless examples of corporations attaching themselves to social causes in an effort to shore up their reputations as good citizens. Can this backfire?
WN: One rule of thumb is the issue or cause ought to be consistent with what the company has stood for. Take for example, Sallie Mae. They're in the mortgage business. Say they're looking for a social issue that's consistent with what they do. Well the issue could be making houses more affordable for low-income people.
Sometimes a company will say, "We're in trouble, so let's try to attach ourselves to a social cause." That may or may not work. A good example might be Denny's. They've been in trouble and now they're saying, "Let's associate ourselves with Save the Children and try to improve our image." If the public sees this as transparent, it could end up being worse for them.
PRN: So would you say social marketing is a risky venture for businesses?
WN: It tends to have a tougher sale, because you're trying to get people to do something they don't want to do. It's also harder to prove you've moved the needle. We can't say that Tobacco Free Kids is responsible for 42% of whatever just happened. Because there are so many external variables, so many players in the field, so many ways [people] could be influenced.
PRN: In the absence of a bottom line indicator like sales, how do you measure your effectiveness?
WN: We utilize process measures. Say you want more middle-aged and older African-American women to get mammograms. You decide to reach them through black beauty parlors...[with brochures] created by African-American doctors. Well, the outcome you want to measure is, does mammography go up among that target population? But the process measures might be: Do you get the brochures created? Are they comprehensible to people? Do you get them into broad distribution beauty parlors? Do women take them and read them? Do they act on them? Each of these steps is something you can count. Of course, even if all these things happen, that doesn't guarantee a positive outcome. But if the process breaks down at any point, you know why the idea didn't work. It's a process of elimination.
PRN: How do you use qualitative measurement?
WN: Focus groups are the best example, but they often get misused. A lot of people do a bunch and think of it as quantitative. But focus groups can never be statistically reliable. They're just there to help you get a feel for things. One thing we've wanted to do is criticize [specific] individuals who work for the tobacco industry. We thought if we could bring this thing home...we could shame people and create more public outrage. But we've done qualitative research [on this strategy] and in each case, respondents were uneasy with the idea. They are willing to dislike the cigarette industry, or to dislike a certain company, but when you get to attacks on real people, they think that's too much. As a consequence, we haven't taken that approach.
PRN: What are the biggest challenges for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids?
WN: Corporate America and Legislative America. We don't have corporate people on our side because they shy away from social issues. They think, "Well if the government regulates smoking, tomorrow they'll come after us. We're in the trucking business, or ice cream, or beer."
The second huge challenge is the idea that [tobacco] is a partisan issue. We've got to get Congress and conservative legislators at the state level to recognize that this is biggest public health opportunity in the country and they've got to do something about it.
William Novelli will be a featured panelist at the PR News "Best Practices in PR Measurement" seminar on November 16. He can be reached at 1-800-284-KIDS or [email protected].