Top-quality Social Marketing Campaign

As technology continues to play an integral role in our generation, it is no surprise that social media is a huge contender in the marketing world. The social marketing campaign our group chose to focus on is Bell Let’s Talk. According to Bell, “Bell Let’s Talk is a multi-year charitable program dedicated to mental health” (Bell Let’s Talk, 2014). The campaign took place on January 28, 2014 and raised $5,472,585 through users sending and receiving text messages, mobile and long distance calls, tweets and Facebook shares (Bell Let’s Talk, 2014). For every communication that was sent on January 28, five cents was donated to mental health programs (Bell Let’s Talk, 2014).

From a communications standpoint, this campaign proved to be highly successful. With 109,451,718 text messages, mobile and long distance calls, tweets and Facebook shares sent in one day, the organization had to be doing something right. The organization placed great emphasis on using one specific hashtag, #BellLetsTalk, to grow the conversation. Bell promotes mental health year round, but focuses on this one day each year to encourage as many people to join in the conversation as possible. Bell was active on many social media forums well in advance of January 28 to make people aware of Bell Let’s Talk Day and remind them how to get involved. As we learned in the modules, the objective of social marketing is to create change by turning a negative behavior into a positive behavior. Bell does this by encouraging the public to open up about mental health in a positive manner, in an attempt to change negative stigmas that are associated with mental illnesses. Bell also did a great job because they built strong partnerships with leading organizations in the mental health field, and utilized key speakers to stand up for mental health and speak on behalf of Bell.

Bell benefits in many ways from being part of this campaign. Bell has established partnerships with key organizations in the community, the United Way, various universities and the Canadian Mental Health Association, just to name a few. The campaign has also received endorsement from influential individuals who are now spokespeople for the Bell Let’s Talk initiative, such as: Clara Hughes, olympic champion and Seamus O’Regan, former Canada AM co-host. Gaining support from these valuable individuals and organizations can flourish into future partnerships that could allow Bell to expand its market. Another benefit Bell has in being part of this campaign is showcasing to current employees and possible future employees that they place importance on mental health in the workplace. This proves to the community that this organization takes care of their staff. The Bell Let’s Talk Day campaign helps support brand positioning and creates brand preference for Bell because most customers will choose a brand that is associated with a cause versus a brand that is not. Lastly, creating social change in the mental health field would be a benefit as this benefit would stretch beyond the walls of Bell and would benefit the entire community.

References

Bell Let’s Talk. (2014). Our initiatives. Retrieved March 10, 2014 from http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/our-initiatives/