Transportation choices : can social marketing make a difference?

Abstract

In the US, automobile use is responsible for 25% of air pollution, resulting in health and respiratory problems, and increasing the likelihood of climate change. In order to limit these negative impacts of automobile use, governmental bodies and transportation agencies employ a number of different strategies including changes in transportation policy, infrastructure, and technology. Marketing and advertising campaigns represent another strategy which is used extensively, but which has not been thoroughly evaluated. This thesis investigates how to develop marketing campaigns that will encourage people to voluntarily switch to alternative modes of transportation such as walking, biking, or using transit. The field of Social Marketing provides valuable insight into how marketing and promotional strategies can be used more generally to encourage the adoption of behavior changes that benefit health, the environment, and the social condition; a model of the Social Marketing process and principles is assembled and used to evaluate three examples of transportation marketing campaigns in the US: San Francisco's "Spare the Air" campaign, the Chicago Transit Authority's New Residents program, and the federal "It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air" campaign. While the specific campaigns vary greatly in terms of the tactics they employ, ranging from advertising on billboards to providing free subway rides, a common thread is that these tactics must be based on careful understanding of the values of the target audience (the people the campaign is meant to reach), and the barriers they see to changing behavior.

(cont.) Campaigns that rely on environmental awareness are unlikely to influence choices because people value their own time and convenience more highly. Campaigns must show people simple modifications they can make to their transportation behaviors that will be benefit them. Finally, organizations must take better care to document and evaluate their campaigns, so that future campaigns can benefit from past experience.