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At the very heart of business strategy is the relationship between the company and its customer. The active core that allows the company to transmit its value to its customer is through communications. Communications are so fundamental an aspect of business that people sometimes even forget how important they really are. At every level, conveying the company’s information and messages is a critical factor of success, not only for the enterprise, but for each individual business function that drives the whole.

Argues that the general area of commercial sponsorship activity, while attracting increasing interest from marketing practitioners as an important strategic option in marketing communications, has not been the subject of sufficiently rigorous and comprehensive investigation by theoreticians. States the purpose is to establish and consolidate the available body of knowledge combining an overview of the standard conceptual approaches to marketing communication with an examination of the recent academic research in sponsorship, while maintaining a focus on current marketplace practice. Argues for a coherent and structured approach to the management of sponsorship expenditure through the application of a ‘management by objectives’ approach. Parameters are established in terms of a working definition of sponsorship, a review of its commercial development and an overview of current activity. Develops a commercially ration framework within which sponsorship activity may be undertaken. Views objective‐setting as the cornerstone of sponsorship management and outlines a classification of sponsorship objectives that subsumes current practice clarifies the range of potential benefits. Examines the criteria that govern rational sponsorship selection and proposes an evaluation strategy based on stated criteria. Methods of evaluating effects of marketing communications (sponsorship particularly) are examined and new evaluation techniques are advanced to facilitate the implementation of this rigorous scientific approach.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, summarize and assess literature focused on developing social marketing programs for Aboriginal people.

The authors conducted a literature search and review of research papers concerning social marketing and Aboriginal populations over the period 2003-2013.

The research reveals very little published research (N = 16). The literature points to a wide range of findings including the importance of segmenting/targeting and avoiding pan-Aboriginal campaigns; cultural importance of family and community; the importance of multi-channels; universal value of mainstream and Aboriginal media outlets, use of print media, value of elders and story-telling for message dissemination; increasingly important role of Internet-based technology; need for campaign development to reflect Aboriginal culture; and importance of formative research to inform campaign development.

Considerable research is warranted to better develop more effective social marketing campaigns targeted to Aboriginal audiences to improve health outcomes for such groups across the globe.

This paper provides a baseline foundation upon which future social marketing research can be built. It also acts as a call to action for future research and theory in this important field.

Cervical cancer (CxCa) incidence and mortality remain unacceptably high in South Carolina, USA, presenting an ideal opportunity for intervention. To address this need, Cervical Cancer-Free South Carolina developed an academic-community partnership with researchers and students at a public university to design, implement, and evaluate a theory-based CxCa communication campaign, It’s My Time. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The goal of this campaign was to decrease CxCa by increasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and appropriate screening. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a successful theory-based CxCa prevention communication campaign for college women based on formative audience research and targeted messages delivered to audience segments through new and traditional communication channels. The health belief model (HBM) served as a theoretical framework for the campaign throughout development, implementation, and evaluation.

This campaign demonstrated the effectiveness of the HBM to address CxCa prevention, including HPV vaccine acceptability. The campaign aimed to increase perceptions of susceptibility, which were low, by emphasizing that HPV is a sexually transmitted infection. A community-based grassroots approach to addressing disparities in CxCa prevention increased benefits and decreased barriers. Social media emerged as a particularly appropriate platform to disseminate cues to action. In total, 60 percent of participants who responded to an anonymous web-based survey evaluation indicated that they received the HPV vaccine as a result of campaign messages.

This paper offers practical suggestions to campaign planners about building academic-community partnerships to develop theory-based communication campaigns that include conducting formative research, segmenting target audiences, engaging with young people, and incorporating social media.

The purpose of this paper is to recommend behavioral targets for future interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at college campuses and to advise interventionists on how to choose between many potential behavioral targets.

The authors used the community-based social marketing (CBSM) methodology over two studies. In Study 1, the authors assessed adoption rates (i.e. penetration) and likelihood of adoption (i.e. probability) for 16 potential behavioral targets. In Study 2, the authors used quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the barriers and benefits of engagement in five of the top-performing behaviors from Study 1.

The findings suggest that an intervention to promote purchasing green energy credits (GECs) has a high potential to reduce emissions. Purchasing GECs has a small penetration (<7%) and a large impact (1,405 kgCO₂e/person/year). Compared to the other four behaviors the authors examined in Study 2, purchasing GECs is also more convenient and requires very little time. Thus, the behavior should be appealing to many individuals interested in reducing emissions or protecting the environment.

The authors performed a holistic evaluation of potential behavioral targets that included a barrier and benefit analysis, in addition to the traditional CBSM method of combining impact, probability and penetration.

Improving mental health literacy is a key component of any population-based mental health program, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Effective strategies to increase awareness and reduce stigma associated with mental health are sparse and have not been evaluated in India or among other low- and middle-income countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The review was based on the literature obtained from articles identified by searches of Medline, PubMed, and Google (Scholar) with the Mesh terms “mental health literacy”, “developing countries,” and “audience segmentation” between 1979 and 2012. Information was also obtained by interacting with experts in the field of health communication and public health, one of whom (M.K.) is a co-author.

Systematic reviews of studies among occidental countries have proposed that targeted approaches to mental health literacy are not only more effective, but also more cost-effective than general population approaches. Using audience segmentation to target distinct population sub-groups is a well-established best practice in health communication, is recommended for low resource settings and in situations with a limited budget, and may be especially effective when based on socio-cultural variables.

Yet to date it has not been applied in India for mental-health-related communication. The need for such cost-effective, innovative, and equitable strategies for mental health literacy is the cornerstone to mitigate stigma associated with mental illness, and improve awareness among a proportionately illiterate population.

“We’re watching the wiring of the cerebral cortex of society”, said Jay Walker, founder and vice‐chairman of priceline.com, of the new Internet revolution. “It is dramatically transforming communication and marketing models; it is providing marketers with a new set of capabilities.” But with new capabilities come casualties; Jay Walker cautions that advertising will disappear on the Net, “It may take two or ten years, but it will disappear.” Walker’s hypothesis is borne out by the latest research findings from Roper Starch. In its latest report it identifies the “The advertising‐free zone brought to you by (fill in the brand)” phenomenon. Roper Starch predict “ad‐free zones will be popping up on the Internet soon, a reflection of consumers’ increasing antipathy towards advertising”. This paper examines the opportunities for effective online marketing that go beyond the now omnipresent banner advertisements, and provides guidelines for marketers as to how to harness the “new set of capabilities” through planning and evaluation. The paper has relevance to those involved with public relations in a marketing context (often called marketing PR), and those interested in planning and evaluating online communications campaigns.

Describes how professional fund‐raisers write and speak persuasively to many audiences, utilizing various media. Explains that the essence of fund‐raising is motivating individuals through symbolic action to behave in a desired way. Argues that fund‐raising is essentially a rhetorical exercise and that the utilization of criteria for assessing rhetorical acts is warranted. Rhetorical criteria direct the fund‐raiser to ask important questions pertaining to the purpose, audience, barriers ‐ the rhetorical problem ‐ and the structure of persuasive communication. Argues also that the fundamental Aristotelian genre is apparent in most fund‐raising rhetorical acts and the genre is identified through recurring characteristics of the rhetoric and helps to define the relationship between form and content. Maintains that successful fund‐raisers relied as much on experience and intuition as on formal rhetorical theory but rhetorical criteria may provide the practitioner with a template by which to create persuasive symbolic action in a broader context not limited to a single communicative act.