The World Social Marketing Conference, April 21-23, 2013, Toronto, Canada brings together those interested in social marketing. At the 2013 conference there will be a strong focus on the relevance and application of behavior change practice and science. In addition to new learning in the fields of health, environment, criminal justice, transport, and finance there will also be a particular focus on sustainability and intra disciplinary working to achieve social good.

The World Social Marketing Conference has secured one special issue of the Journal of Social Marketing (JSOCM) who have agreed to publish 5 papers from the 3rd World Non-profit and Social Marketing Conference.

The Journal of Social Marketing (JSOCM) focuses on research that increases our understanding of how marketers and policy makers may induce behavioral change in a targeted audience, on a temporary or permanent basis, to achieve social goals. Sample topics include public health, environmental protection, accident prevention/road safety, alcohol, obesity, drugs, gambling, and smoking/tobacco. In line with the aims of JSOCM, our special issue seeks contributions which focus on the policy implications for the emerging evidence base for effective social program design and what this means for future investment, delivery and evaluation.

Early expressions of interest and inquiries can be directed to the special issue editors:

Professor Debra Basil (debra.basil@uleth.ca)

Professor Michael Basil (michael.basil@uleth.ca)

Annual William F. O’Dell Award

Pierre Chandon and WSMC keynote speaker, Brian Wansink have been selected as the recipients of this year’s William F. O’Dell award for their article “Is Obesity Caused by Calorie Underestimation? A Psychophysical Model of Meal Size Estimation” which appeared in the February 2007 (volume 44, number 1) issue.

The award honors the Journal of Marketing Research article published in 2007 that has made the most significant, long-term contribution to marketing theory, methodology, and/or practice. The selection committee comprised Rik Pieters (Chair), Christine Moorman, and Yuxin Chen.
•Pierre Chandon is a Professor of Marketing and Director of the INSEAD Social Sciences Research Centre at INSEAD
•Brian Wansink is the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing at Cornell University

The four other finalists were as follows:

•“Consumer Packaged Goods in the United States: National Brands, Local Branding” (Volume 44, Number 1)
Bart J. Bronnenberg, Sanjay K. Dhar, and Jean-Pierre Dubé
•“The Predictive Validity of Multiple-Item Versus Single-Item Measures of the Same Constructs” (Volume 44, Number 2)
Lars Bergkvist and John R. Rossiter
•“Preference Fluency in Choice” (Volume 44, Number 3)
Nathan Novemsky, Ravi Dhar, Norbert Schwarz, and Itamar Simonson
•“A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage”
(Volume 44, Number 4)
Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari, and Sunil Gupta

The committee based its decision on

1) First round votes by the Editorial and Advisory Board of JMR,
2) Citations (SSCI and Google Scholar), and
3) The committee’s judgment, from reading the papers and supporting letters.

All papers are outstanding and excelled in at least one of the impact criteria. Yet, the Chandon and Wansink paper stood out. It received the highest number of votes by the Editorial and Advisory Board of JMR, and was unanimously and independently selected by the committee as the winner. Moreover, in addition to receiving a significant volume of citations from other scholarly articles, this article has had a significant impact on the practice of marketing, evidence provided in the strong support letter and verified by the committee. This paper has significantly changed the practice of marketing managers, communication experts, and even food scientists and dieticians. It proposes a very new, and initially counterintuitive, way of approaching a vexing problem namely how to reduce food intake (of overweight and obese) consumers. The paper shows that, counter to the shared belief in the field and in theory, overweight people do not underestimate their calorie intake more than other people do. Rather, overweight people choose larger portions and the amount of calories of larger portions are systematically underestimated by all consumers, independent of their weight status. That is important. Not only has this paper had a significant impact on theories of food consumption. It has made a dramatic impact on practice. In fact, one of the studies in the paper, showing that trained dieticians have the same bias as regular consumers have, already exemplifies its impact. Its impact goes beyond this.

The paper has proposed and found strong support for a new theory, which has changed and still is changing marketing practice.

The award is presented annually at the American Marketing Association’s Summer Educator’s Marketing Educators Conference held this August in Chicago, IL.

You can see Brian Wansink presenting at the World Social Marketing Conference in Toronto 2013.

Call for Papers Submission
Social Marketing Advances in Research and Theory (SMART) Conference
April 26-28th 2012
Vancouver, Canada

Hosted by the Center for Socially Responsible Marketing at the University of Lethbridge

The Center for Socially Responsible Marketing at the University of Lethbridge will be hosting their third “Social Marketing Advances in Research and Theory” (SMART) conference. The conference will provide a forum for presenting and discussing high quality theoretical and empirical social marketing and non-profit research, as well as an opportunity to network with other scholars working in these areas.

The SMART conference will be held April 26th – 28th, 2012 at the Georgian Court Hotel, Vancouver, Canada (www.georgiancourthotelvancouver.com). This venue is located in the downtown area of Vancouver and is a short walk from the lively restaurants of Yaletown, a ferry ride to Granville Island, art galleries in the Gastown district, and a walk along the seawall that will take you to Stanley Park. Vancouver has been recently rated as one of the best places to live in the world.

Original manuscripts and special topic sessions are sought for presentation at the conference. In an effort to accommodate all high quality manuscripts, there is no specific social marketing theme. In addition to social marketing manuscripts, nonprofit and corporate social responsibility manuscripts are also welcome. All manuscripts will be blind peer reviewed.

Submission deadline is December 10th, 2011. Submit all documents electronically to srm@uleth.ca.

Notification of acceptance will be made no later than February 10th 2012. You will receive electronic confirmation of your submission within one week. If you do not receive confirmation please email srm@uleth.ca or send a fax to (403) 329-2038 attn: Tanya Drollinger.

Manuscripts in their final stages should be submitted as competitive papers. Manuscripts representing work that is still in its formative stages should be submitted as working papers. Although abstracts (5 pages) will be considered, a full-length version of the paper is preferred for review. Papers should not exceed 15, double spaced pages, including text, references, figures and tables. The first page of the manuscript should begin with the title only. Author names should not be included in any part of the paper except the title page. Authors will give 20 minute presentations of their work. Special topic sessions will be 1 ½ hours long.

Special topic session proposals should be no more than six pages. Include a description of the intended session format, a summary of the intended session content and a rationale for inclusion of the session at the SMART conference. Special sessions should include at least three papers and authors should all attend conference.

Manuscript submissions should adhere to the following format:

First Page
1. Title of manuscript or special topic session
2. Authors’/participants’ names, affiliations, and positions (author/participant identification does not appear again).
3. Primary contact person with full name, title, address, telephone, fax, and email information.
4. Type of submission (competitive paper, working paper, or special topic session).
5. Please indicate your willingness to serve as a reviewer. Reviewers will receive no more than three papers (probably one or two), and will have at least one month for review.

Second page
1. Title of manuscript or special topic session
2. Up to 150 word abstract
3. Keywords

Third page
Begin body of manuscript or special topic session proposal

The Centre for Socially Responsible Marketing at the University of Lethbridge seeks to create and disseminate research in the areas of social marketing, nonprofit marketing, and social responsibility. For more information see our website at: http://www.uleth.ca/man/research/centres/csrm/