Marketing social missions—adopting social marketing for social entrepreneurship? A conceptual analysis and case study

Abstract

In aiming for voluntary behavioral change, social marketing may be particularly attractive for social entrepreneurs, but conversely, they may not have the resources or knowledge for conducting full‐blown social marketing campaigns. In response to the growing importance and role of social entrepreneurship in tackling social problems and the lack of research concerning how social marketing may play a role in such organizations, the purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper conceptual understanding of how social marketing may be of use to social entrepreneurial organizations. The research reports on a case analysis of One Drop and its Aqua expo and the utilization of social marketing in pursuit of its goal to achieve water conservation in the Northern Hemisphere. The research shows the adoption of elements of social marketing but not a conscious adoption of social marketing as a strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.