Social marketing in public health conference adds emphasis on environmental issues

Public health, marketing and environmental science professionals from across the world will gather June 17 and 18, 2011, for the University of South Florida's 21st Annual Social Marketing in Public Health Conference at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, FL. A two-day Training Academy preceding the conference, June 15 and 16, offers participants a basic overview and skills needed to apply marketing's systematic approach to public health issues.

Sponsored by USF Health, the social marketing conference continues to carry the banner for the discipline as the cadre of skilled social marketers grows and expands applications beyond health to such diverse fields as the environment, education, and finance.

"USF's conference has done more to advance social marketing that any other single effort I know," said Philip Kotler, a pioneer in the field who coined the term "social marketing."

Social marketing applies the principles and techniques of commercial marketing in an attempt to persuade a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, change or abandon a behavior to benefit themselves and society in general. Consumer-focused research and evaluation are an integral part of the social marketing process.

The demand for social marketing is gaining momentum from several sources, including recent environmental disasters and pressures, the recession, social media growth and a Millennial generation that wants to give back. To better meet the growing demand, this year's conference has expanded its roster of leaders in the field and added emphasis on social marketing and the environment.

The featured speakers will include Doug McKenzie-Mohr, a leader in the application of social marketing to environmental issues and president of McKenzie-Mohr & Associates in New Brunswick, Canada; Nancy Lee, president of Social Marketing Services, Inc., in Mercer Island, Washington; Gerard Hastings, director of the Centre for Tobacco Control Research in Stirling, Scotland; Rowena Merritt, research manager for NSMC, the center of excellence for social marketing and behavior change in the United Kingdom; and Bill Smith, editor of Social Marketing Quarterly and president of makingchange4u in Washington, DC.

For more information, including online registration, go to www.cme.hsc.usf.edu and select "Course Calendar," then "June 2011."

Provided by University of South Florida