24762 Chap.4 Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream
Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream
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 river metaphor shows why acting only downstream keeps the rescuers busy forever.
Why strategy is rare
Bowman’s seven barriers explain why organisations avoid strategic thinking, and the lecture names tobacco control as the exemplar of action at all three levels.
Linking to the tasks
For the video, identify the upstream, midstream and downstream factors in your problem; for the poster, be strategic about how engagement unfolds; for the statement, the workshop calls strategic thinking a core skill employers look for.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The French and Gordon definition
- 02
The river metaphor
- 03
Upstream, midstream and downstream
- 04
Treating policy makers as a target market
- 05
Bowman’s seven barriers
- 06
Tobacco control as the exemplar
Worked example · free
Place three interventions on the stream
- 1The minimum unit price is upstream, because it changes law and price for everyone.
- 1The responsible service programme is midstream, because it works through venues and staff.
- 1The quiz is downstream, because it targets individual knowledge.
- 2The gap is social norms, which the lecture places upstream with culture; peer-led work on what a normal night looks like would address it.
Key terms
- Upstream Social Marketing
- Work that targets policy, regulation, law, budgets and norms, treating decision makers as the audience.
- Midstream
- The level of communities, schools, workplaces and services between policy and the individual.
- Strategic Mindset
- A proactive outlook that tries to predict and prevent social problems rather than only react to them.
Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream FAQ
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.
Who is the audience in upstream social marketing?
Politicians and policy makers, organisations and community leaders. The lecture says to research them, segment and target the influencers, find supporters, use advocacy and relationship marketing, cost the price of inaction and name the value to them, such as health-service savings or voter support.
Why do organisations avoid strategic thinking?
Bowman lists seven reasons, including a lack of awareness of the true situation, vested interests in the status quo, being locked into daily problem solving, past success blinding people to threats and the fear that changing direction admits a mistake.
How does this week help with the case study video?
The workshop asks you to judge whether past efforts on your problem used sound strategic thinking and to identify the upstream, midstream and downstream factors. A critique that shows a campaign worked only downstream is a strong, specific limitation.
What are the three levels at which social marketing can contribute?
The lecture names policy selection and development, strategy selection and development, and operational planning and delivery. Most campaigns students know sit at the third level, which is why moving social marketing upstream is described as what makes it strategic.
What examples does the lecture give for each stream?
Upstream, restricting alcohol sale or promotion and a cycle-to-work tax incentive. Midstream, community breast cancer screening, physical activity in state schools and workplace safety training. Downstream, healthy-eating campaigns and smoking cessation services aimed at individuals.
Why does the lecture call tobacco control the model case?
Because it acted at all three levels together: services and campaigns for individuals, programmes through settings such as workplaces, and laws, taxes and marketing bans upstream. The lecture uses it to argue that strategic social marketing works across every level of influence.
Assessment move
Draw the river for your own Assessment 1 problem and label one factor in each reach. Then list what has been tried at each level and mark the empty reach; that empty space is usually your best recommendation. Learn the three upstream tools and the moves for influencing decision makers, since upstream proposals were what the strongest case study videos offered.
Working through Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream in 24762? Sia is AskSia’s AI Marketing tutor — ask any 24762 Strategic Social Marketing: Upstream to Downstream question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how 24762 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.