24762 Marketing for Social Good
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · Spring 202624762 Overview
- University of Technology Sydney
- Spring 2026
- Marketing
- Pre-recorded lectures, weekly workshops
- Three individual coursework tasks
What the subject is about
Marketing for Social Good at the University of Technology Sydney teaches social marketing: drawing on marketing ideas, alongside other approaches, to change behaviours in ways that help people and communities.
- Assessed by A case study video (40%), a stakeholder engagement poster (30%) and a personal statement (30%), with no final examination.
- Hardest step Moving from describing a social problem to critically evaluating past efforts with named concepts, theory and social justice principles.
- Do first Learn to define the core concepts, social marketing, systems thinking, competition and the streams of influence, before you apply them.
What you get in the full 24762 Study & Assessment Guide
- 13 chapters, 64 pages — every assessed topic, week by week
- 31 original practice questions, each with a model answer
- 13 worked examples, solved the way 24762 marks
- 20 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Before-you-submit checklist for the Assessment 1 (40%) — what markers reward, what costs marks
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full study & assessment guide.
How 24762 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Case study analysis (Individual) | 40% | A video of at most 10 minutes analysing a social problem of your choice: background, systems analysis, competition, critique using cultural diversity and social justice principles, and recommendations. Week 8; the Canvas assignment page shows 21 September at 23:59. |
| Assessment 2: Stakeholder engagement plan (Individual) | 30% | A printed A3 poster plan for engaging Indigenous community members in a co-designed, culturally competent programme led by Indigenous people, with a 1-minute presentation; presented and handed in at your Week 10 workshop. |
| Assessment 3: Personal Statement (Individual) | 30% | A one-page, A3-style poster or infographic of no more than 800 words responding to a mock social marketing job advert. Due on Canvas by Friday 23 October at 23:59 (Week 12). |
Each weight is printed on its Canvas assignment page and in the assessment overview, and the three add to 100%. The overview states that to pass the subject you must achieve at least 50% of the total marks, and that Subject Information is the definitive source where details differ. The case study due date changed: the overview says before Friday 18 September, while a later capture of the Canvas assignment page shows 21 September; follow the Canvas page.
Assessment structure
What other students are asking about 24762
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for 24762 at UTS?
- The 24762 study guide in AskSia Library covers Marketing for Social Good in 13 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in 24762?
- No final exam is listed in the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from; 24762 is assessed by Assessment 1: Case study analysis (Individual) 40%, Assessment 2: Stakeholder engagement plan (Individual) 30%, Assessment 3: Personal Statement (Individual) 30%.
- What does 24762 cover on what social marketing is?
- In AskSia Library's 24762 guide, the What Social Marketing Is chapter explains social vs commercial marketing · what it is not · value wheel · social justice principles · benchmark criteria · (Week 2).
- What does 24762 cover on stakeholder engagement with indigenous communities?
- In AskSia Library's 24762 guide, the Stakeholder Engagement with Indigenous Communities chapter explains participant orientation · stakeholder mapping · free, prior and informed consent · data sovereignty · the poster · (Week 2, Assessment 2).
- What does 24762 cover on strategic social marketing: upstream to downstream?
- In AskSia Library's 24762 guide, the Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream chapter explains the river metaphor · upstream, midstream, downstream · policy makers as audience · barriers to strategy · (Week 3).
Current 24762 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 27 August | Census date | Week 5 of the Spring 2026 program. |
| 21 September, 11.59 pm | Case study analysis video due | The Canvas assignment page shows 21 September; the assessment overview gives Friday 18 September. |
| Week 10 workshop (week starting 5 October) | Stakeholder engagement plan poster | Presented in class and handed in to the instructor; there is no Canvas due date. |
| Friday 23 October, 11.59 pm | Personal statement due | Submitted on Canvas in Week 12. |
Dates are as published in the Canvas assignment pages, the assessment overview and the subject program for the Spring 2026 offering. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What 24762 covers
24762 runs over twelve teaching weeks in Spring 2026, with pre-recorded lectures and workshops from Week 2. Weeks 1 to 3 define social marketing, participant orientation and strategy from upstream to downstream; Weeks 4 to 8 add systems thinking, critical perspectives, research, theory and segmentation; Weeks 9 to 12 cover the intervention mix, planning and value creation.
The mark comes from three individual tasks weighted 40%, 30% and 30%.
Why We Need Marketing for Social Good
wicked problems · overconsumption and inequality · social good · the 2013 definition · (Week 1)Wicked problems first
The opening lecture borrows Rittel and Webber’s phrase “wicked problems” for issues that are multiple, persistent and complex, from pandemics and chronic disease to climate change and inequality.
- Wicked problems and why they resist simple fixes
- Overconsumption, obsolescence and inequality
- COVID-19 as a behaviour problem
- Who defines social good
- The 2013 consensus definition
- The eleven key components the subject teaches
What Social Marketing Is
social vs commercial marketing · what it is not · value wheel · social justice principles · benchmark criteria · (Week 2)Same tools, different aim
Social marketing uses the same theories, tools and techniques as commercial marketing, but its goal is positive social change rather than profit.
- Social versus commercial marketing
- Education, social media and advertising are not enough
- The seven values of the value wheel
- Five social justice principles
- Strategic and operational social marketing
- The NSMC benchmark criteria
Stakeholder Engagement with Indigenous Communities
participant orientation · stakeholder mapping · free, prior and informed consent · data sovereignty · the poster · (Week 2, Assessment 2)Participants at the centre
Participant orientation puts the people affected by an issue at the heart of a programme and involves them in selecting, developing, delivering and evaluating it.
- Participant orientation
- Stakeholder mapping in four steps
- Who to engage and in what order
- Free, prior and informed consent
- Four core engagement principles
- Indigenous data sovereignty
Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream
the river metaphor · upstream, midstream, downstream · policy makers as audience · barriers to strategy · (Week 3)A strategic definition
French and Gordon (2019) define strategic social marketing as applying social marketing principles systemically, critically and reflexively to inform policy selection, objective setting, planning and delivery.
Three streams
Downstream work influences individuals; midstream work reaches communities, schools, workplaces and services; upstream work shapes policy, regulation, law, budgets and social norms.
- The French and Gordon definition
- The river metaphor
- Upstream, midstream and downstream
- Treating policy makers as a target market
- Bowman’s seven barriers
- Tobacco control as the exemplar
Systems Thinking in Social Marketing
what a system is · Energy+Illawarra · Actor-Network Theory · habits of a systems thinker · (Week 4)What a system is
The Week 4 lecture describes a system as something that keeps itself going because its parts interact with each other, and notes that a system shows characteristics no subset of its parts creates.
- Defining a system and its properties
- Reacting, anticipating and learning structures
- The Energy+Illawarra programme
- The nine-point systems checklist
- Assemblages and Actor-Network Theory
- The four moments and Smoke-free Scotland
Critical Social Marketing and Competition
critical social marketing · internal and external competition · five forces · Hazard Merchants · (Week 5)A critical definition
Critical social marketing, in Gordon’s 2018 definition, examines the impact of commercial marketing on society and critically analyses social marketing itself, to generate critique, conflict and change for social good.
Two kinds of competition
Internal competition is people’s own thoughts, feelings and habits; external competition is the products, lobbying, norms and environments that promote counter-behaviours.
- Gordon’s definition of critical social marketing
- Critical thinking skills
- Internal and external competition
- Porter’s five forces applied
- The Hazard Merchants
- Critical debates within the field
Research in Social Marketing
the research cycle · epistemologies · research ethics · qualitative and quantitative methods · (Week 6)Eyes and ears
Research is central to social marketing and runs through every stage, from problem definition and formative research to pretesting, implementation, evaluation and feedback.
Ways of knowing
The lecture introduces paradigms, ontology and four epistemologies, positivism, interpretivism, critical theory and pragmatism, and suggests social marketing research is multi-paradigmatic and pragmatic.
Methods and ethics
Depth interviews, focus groups, ethnography, netnography, surveys and experiments each answer different questions, and Diener and Crandall’s four ethical areas frame what participants are owed.
For the tasks
The workshop asks you to do your own desk research for the case study video, to think carefully about what research an Indigenous led programme would need for the poster, and to name your research skills in the personal statement.
- Research at every stage of a programme
- Action research
- Paradigms and ontology
- Four epistemologies
- Research ethics
- Exploratory, conclusive and mixed designs
Using Theory in Social Marketing
planned behaviour · social practice theory · ecological models · Health Belief Model · stages of change · (Week 7)Why theory
The Week 7 lecture argues that we are all theorists in everyday life, and that theory helps social marketers describe, explain and sometimes predict behaviour, guide research and choose interventions.
Five levels
Theories are grouped as individual, interpersonal, socio-cultural, big systems and health-focused, from the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Stages of Change to social practice theory and social ecological models.
Choosing well
A focus on behaviour should drive the choice of theory, not the reverse, and French’s open analysis approach uses a multi-disciplinary team and working propositions tested in pilots.
Principles for using theory
The lecture’s principles run from identifying audiences and behaviours, through shortlisting influencing factors and theories, to engaging the target group, piloting a prototype, evaluating and feeding the learning back.
- Why every programme needs theory
- Five levels of theory
- The Theory of Planned Behaviour
- Social cognitive and social capital theories
- Social practice theory
- Social ecological models
Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning
segmentation bases · attitude and behaviour matrix · targeting criteria · positioning statement · (Week 8)Segmentation
Week 8 rejects one-size-fits-all programmes.
- Why segment
- The three phases of segmentation
- Four segmentation bases
- The attitude and behaviour matrix
- Nine criteria for targeting
- Four positioning types
The Social Marketing Intervention Mix
the 4Ps reinterpreted · hug, nudge, shove, smack · price tactics · product levels · (Week 9)From recipes to the 4Ps
Borden’s marketing mix cast the marketer as a creative chef; McCarthy’s 4Ps made it narrower, and Kotler carried them into social marketing, where they became dominant.
The 4Ps reinterpreted
In social marketing, product is the behavioural offer, price is the cost and barriers of change, place is where change is supported, and promotion is how it is communicated.
- Borden’s mix and McCarthy’s 4Ps
- The 4Ps in social marketing
- Weaknesses of the 4Ps
- Hug, nudge, shove and smack
- Six price tactics
- Three product levels
Beyond the 4Ps: Social Media, Branding and Services
social media steps · branding · services · storytelling · advocacy and lobbying · (Week 10)Tools beyond the 4Ps
Week 10 adds social media, branding, services, storytelling, games, public relations, advocacy and lobbying to the mix, and asks that tools be used strategically, holistically and creatively.
Experience and story
How services are designed and delivered shapes outcomes, and frontline staff are the critical touch points.
- Social media and the four-step process
- What brands do
- Services and frontline staff
- Storytelling and its three features
- Public relations
- Advocacy and lobbying
Planning and Designing Social Marketing Programs
total process planning · STELa · SMART objectives · NICE principles · budgeting · (Week 11)Plan before you build
The Week 11 lecture’s key point is good scoping and planning.
- The total process planning model
- Why scoping cannot be skipped
- STELa’s four stages
- SMART objectives
- Sources of intervention ideas
- NICE design principles
Creating Value in Social Marketing
domains and dimensions of value · co-creation · value destruction · the personal statement · (Week 12, Assessment 3)Value as the goal
Week 12 argues that creating value for citizens, stakeholders and societies should be a core objective of social marketing, with citizens as co-creators and marketers as facilitators.
Domains and dimensions
Value sits in exchange, in use or in behaviour, and the lecture lists six dimensions: functional, economic, emotional, social, ecological and societal.
Co-creation and its limits
Co-discovery, co-design, co-delivery and co-interpretation create value with people, while poor experiences destroy it.
- Value in exchange, use and behaviour
- Sources of value
- Six dimensions of value
- Co-design, co-discovery and co-delivery
- Value destruction
- The mock job advert
It starts from what the opening lecture calls wicked problems, such as pandemics, chronic disease, climate change and inequality, and asks how behaviour and social change can address them.
Class discussion applies the ideas to social justice, sustainability, health, education, gender equality, Indigenous contexts, ethics and data privacy.
How it is taught
Lectures are pre-recorded and released on Canvas each week, and interactive workshops begin in Week 2 with case discussions, exercises and presentations.
The subject site warns that workshops will not summarise the week’s learning, so the lecture and readings come first.
The twelve weeks move through what social marketing is, participant orientation and stakeholder engagement, strategy from upstream to downstream, systems thinking, critical social marketing and competition, research, theory, segmentation, the intervention mix, planning and value creation.
How it is assessed
There are three individual tasks.
A case study analysis, a video of at most ten minutes on a social problem you choose, is worth 40% and falls in Week 8. A stakeholder engagement plan for a co-designed, culturally competent programme led by Indigenous people, presented as a printed A3 poster in the Week 10 workshop, is worth 30%.
A one-page personal statement answering a mock social marketing job advert, no more than 800 words, is worth 30% and is due on Friday 23 October.
To pass the subject you must achieve at least 50% of the total marks.
What earns the marks
All three rubrics score the application of cultural diversity and social justice principles, and their top bands reward critical evaluation supported by theory and references rather than description.
The general feedback on the case study video found that most students covered the required content but did not define key concepts first or analyse what they described.
Worked example · free
Classify interventions on gambling harm by stream
- 1Proposal (a) is upstream: it changes regulation and the marketing environment for everyone.
- 1Proposal (b) is midstream: it works through venues, workplaces and services.
- 1Proposal (c) is downstream: it supports an individual’s own behaviour.
- 2Campaigns that only warn individuals stay downstream, so the gap is usually upstream, where the advertising and inducements that normalise betting are set.
Key terms
- Social Marketing
- Combining marketing ideas with other approaches to change behaviours in ways that benefit people, communities and society.
- Wicked Problem
- A complex, persistent problem with many interacting causes and no single owner, such as climate change or inequality.
- Participant Orientation
- Putting the people affected by an issue at the heart of a programme and involving them at every stage.
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Involving the actors who can affect or are affected by a programme, from defining the issue to evaluation.
- Upstream Social Marketing
- Work aimed at policy, regulation, law, budgets and social norms, with decision makers as the audience.
- Systems Thinking
- Studying how the parts of a system interact to produce effects that no single part creates.
- Internal Competition
- A person’s own thoughts, feelings and habits that act as barriers to change.
- External Competition
- People, environments, norms or organisations that promote counter-behaviours.
- Formative Research
- Research before design that finds out what moves and motivates the audience.
- Positioning Statement
- An internal sentence describing how a target group should see the desired behaviour compared with its competition.
- Intervention Mix
- The combination of tools a programme uses, broader than the 4Ps and chosen strategically.
- Value Co-creation
- Citizens creating value with an organisation and shaping the experience to suit their situation.
- Indigenous Data Sovereignty
- Indigenous peoples’ right to decide how information about their communities is gathered, held and used.
24762 FAQ
How is the mark made up in this social marketing subject?
Three individual tasks make up the whole mark. A case study analysis video of at most ten minutes is worth 40%, a stakeholder engagement plan presented as an A3 poster in the Week 10 workshop is worth 30%, and a personal statement answering a mock job advert is worth 30%. To pass you need at least 50% of the total.
Is Marketing for Social Good assessed by an exam?
The published assessment table has three coursework tasks and no final examination component: a video, a poster with a short presentation, and a one-page personal statement. Check Subject Information on Canvas, which the assessment overview names as the definitive source where details differ.
What does the case study video have to include?
Five elements: background from your own scoping research, a systems analysis of key influences, the competition to behaviour and social change, a critique of current and previous efforts using cultural diversity and social justice principles, and reflections on what future programmes should do. You must define key concepts and use references.
What is the stakeholder engagement poster about?
It is a plan for how you would work with Indigenous community members on a co-designed, culturally competent social marketing programme, led by Indigenous people, on an issue such as teenage smoking or mental health. You present it in about a minute at your Week 10 workshop and hand in the printed poster.
What are the most common mistakes in the case study analysis?
The general feedback names not defining key concepts first, describing rather than analysing, listing drivers without explaining how they work, generic critiques not tied to real campaigns, recommendations that are not actionable or theory-driven, and simple slides read aloud with little narrative.
Can I use generative AI in this subject?
The assessment overview allows tools such as Microsoft Copilot for brainstorming, explaining concepts, summarising readings and checking grammar in your own draft. Generating submitted text, graphics or answers is misconduct, and AI-generated evidence or analysis must be disclosed.
What is the difference between upstream and downstream social marketing?
Downstream work influences individuals through communication and services; midstream work reaches communities, schools and workplaces; upstream work targets policy, regulation, law and social norms, treating politicians and policy makers as the audience. The lecture argues the strongest programmes act at all three.
Questions students ask in each 24762 chapter
- Why does the subject call these issues wicked problems?
- The lecture uses Rittel and Webber’s 1973 term for problems that are multiple, persistent and complex. Pandemics, ageing populations, addiction and inequality each have many interacting causes, so a single message or policy cannot solve them, and programmes have to work on several levels at once. Chapter 01 · Why We Need Marketing for Social Good
- What is the difference between social and commercial marketing?
- Both draw on the same theories, research, segmentation and mix of tools. Commercial marketing judges success by sales and profit for the organisation, while social marketing judges it by a change in behaviour that benefits people and society, which is why its offers often look less attractive at first. Chapter 02 · What Social Marketing Is
- Who should I contact first when engaging an Aboriginal community?
- The lecture suggests starting with an Aboriginal corporation in the sector or area, such as the local land council or a peak body for that policy area. It then warns that no organisation speaks for everyone, so you must seek feedback from other stakeholders and engage Traditional Owners with free, prior and informed consent. Chapter 03 · Stakeholder Engagement with Indigenous Communities
- What does the river metaphor show?
- Rescuers keep pulling drowning people from a river until they walk upstream and find signs encouraging people to jump and, further up, poverty on the riverbank. The story separates downstream rescue, midstream removal of the signs, and upstream change to jobs, income and housing policy. Chapter 04 · Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream
- Why does social marketing need systems thinking?
- Many of the problems it tackles are systemic and caused by systems effects. Social marketing issues involve many stakeholders, from citizens to institutions, and programmes with several interacting components, so studying one part at a time misses why the problem persists. Chapter 05 · Systems Thinking in Social Marketing
- What is the difference between internal and external competition?
- Internal competition is inside the person: thoughts, feelings, habits and the short-term pleasure of the current behaviour. External competition comes from outside: harmful products and their marketing, lobbying, negative social norms and stressful environments that make the desired behaviour harder. Chapter 06 · Critical Social Marketing and Competition
- Why does the lecture call research social marketing’s eyes and ears?
- Because everything a social marketer does has to be guided by an understanding of the people it hopes to influence. The lecture places research at every stage, from problem definition through formative research and pretesting to implementation, evaluation and feedback into the next round. Chapter 07 · Research in Social Marketing
- Which level of theory should I use?
- The lecture says to let the behaviour decide. Understand what is happening and what people know, think and feel about it, then combine theories as needed; its conclusion is that programmes should draw on theory, often more than one, for example an individual model alongside an ecological one. Chapter 08 · Using Theory in Social Marketing
- What are the four bases for segmentation?
- Geographic, such as regions or areas of high deprivation; demographic, such as age, income and gender; psychographic, such as attitudes, values and lifestyles; and behavioural, such as current use or stage of change. Programmes often combine them, as WOSCAP did with a geo-demographic target. Chapter 09 · Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning
- What are the 4Ps in social marketing?
- Product is the behavioural offer, often intangible; price is the costs and barriers people must overcome, which can be psychological, cultural, social, temporal, practical, physical or financial; place is the channels and settings where change is supported; and promotion is how the change is communicated. Chapter 10 · The Social Marketing Intervention Mix
- What makes a good story in social marketing?
- The lecture names three features: identifiable characters the audience can empathise with, an imaginable plot with a clear structure, and verisimilitude, meaning the story stays believable even if parts are invented. Energy+Illawarra used narrative videos in this way. Chapter 11 · Beyond the 4Ps: Social Media, Branding and Services
- What are the five stages of the total process planning model?
- Scope, develop, implement, evaluate and follow up. The model is broadly linear, but activity within each stage is fluid; what it forbids is merging or skipping stages, such as developing a campaign before scoping is finished. Chapter 12 · Planning and Designing Social Marketing Programs
- What are the six dimensions of value?
- Functional, economic, emotional, social, ecological and societal. The lecture links each to a motivation, for example functional and economic value are extrinsic and self-benefiting, while emotional value is intrinsic, and readings add others such as hedonic and altruistic value. Chapter 13 · Creating Value in Social Marketing
How to prepare for the assessments
Treat the subject as one long case study that you build week by week. Choose the social problem you will use for the video early, and after each lecture add the new lens to a running file: its systems map, the competition, the theory that explains it, the segments it affects and the tools that could change it.
The general feedback rewarded students who defined each concept before applying it and who tied their critique to real campaigns, so keep a list of definitions with their sources and a list of named programmes. Prepare for the workshops, because they do not summarise the lectures and they are where you practise the skills the tasks score.
For the poster, plan engagement as a sequence of decisions with the community rather than as a campaign, and read the Indigenous cultures and contexts pages before you start. For the personal statement, keep your three best artefacts from the subject, such as a system map, the engagement plan and a STELa scope, and match each to a criterion in the job advert.
Finally, read each rubric before you start a task, since all three reward cultural diversity and social justice principles applied with evidence.
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