II Anno Competenza Linguistica Inglese 2008

Scienze linguistiche per le imprese, la comunicazione internazionale e il turismo

II anno competenza linguistica inglese 2008

Source Material 26 agosto 2008 per l’appello del

05 settembre 2008

Pre-discussion Reading

Totale pagine: 14

Materiale a cura di Richard Straub

Extract from Marketing Consultant’s promotional material

A Marketing Riddle - Question: What am I? I am the best low cost marketing strategy in the world. I'm cheap, but few businesses use me.

Answer: Credibility!

Credibility is being believed and trusted by your customers and potential customers. You can't buy it. No amount of advertising or promotion can hand it to you on a plate. Yet you can achieve credibility by trusting in and using your own product expertise. Gaining credibility is the best marketing strategy in the world. And it is the cheapest. It can have an enormous impact on income, and it can achieve rapid results. You will be amazed at how easy it is and the difference it will make. You can start immediately.

Most businesses sell their products and services just by talking about their features and benefits. They do not prove any particular expertise in their industry, or even in the product. They just basically say, "Buy this because it's good". The more they say it and the better the message looks, the more they congratulate themselves on a successful marketing campaign.

Traditional advertising has had its day.

There is more evidence all the time that people avoid advertisements. They are looking for information instead. Many households turn down the sound during TV commercials. Paradoxically the more people resist advertising; the more companies spend on it. In desperation, some businesses now resort to "shot gun" methods such as newspaper advertising and direct mail.

Forget selling; prove your expertise.

Start to position yourself as the expert on your product or service. You don't do this by claiming to be the expert, or displaying your impressive CV. You do it instead by sharing your knowledge and giving your customers helpful, relevant information, without a sales gimmick.

The Story Rossi’s paper

Pietro Rossi is managing director of Cartier Trentino, a paper manufacturer that employs 450 people. Rossi was keen to expand his business through establishing his credibility rather than traditional advertising. He wrote a series of information sheets that can easily be downloaded from his website. The sheets give customers information about the paper they are going to buy – in particular, the sheets explain something about how the paper is made and how Rossi’s company does not use processes that may damage the environment. Attention is drawn to the fact that all the paper comes from constantly replanted and monitored Scandinavian forests and the chemicals used to turn the paper white are not traditional bleaching agents but eco-friendly natural products. There are photos of the paper making process to illustrate certain points, but there is no direct sales pitch. Rossi is however, clearly the author. The sheets are a winner with customers, and the public generally. They have cost next to nothing and prompt many questions, including emailed questions from potential overseas buyers. Rossi says, “customers are ever more aware of environmental issues and appreciate knowing that the paper we produce has a very low environmental impact.” Rossi believes the information sheets have been so successful he is finding other avenues for his ‘credibility drive’. He says, “I'm trying to establish my reputation as the expert paper manufacturer who is also responsible and environmentally aware when ordering and purchasing raw materials. It guarantees me sales”.

Does your business pass the credibility test? Do your just try to sell your product or service? Or do you gain credibility and trust from your promotions, by sharing your specialized knowledge?

Social marketing

Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals for a social good.

Although 'social marketing' is sometimes seen only as using standard commercial marketing practices to achieve non-commercial goals, this is an over-simplification. The primary aim of 'social marketing' is 'social good', while in 'commercial marketing' the aim is primarily 'financial'. This does not mean that commercial marketers can not contribute to achievement of social good.

Increasingly, social marketing is being described as having 'two parents' - a 'social parent', the social sciences and social policy, and a 'marketing parent', the commercial and public sector marketing approaches. Beginning in the 1970s, it has in the last decade matured into a much more integrative and inclusive discipline that draws on the full range of social sciences and social policy approaches as well as marketing.

Applications of social marketing

Health promotion campaigns in the late 1980s began applying social marketing in practice. Notable early developments took place in Australia. These included the Victoria Cancer Council developing its anti-tobacco campaign "Quit" (1988), and "SunSmart" (1988), its campaign against skin cancer which had the slogan Slip! Slap! Slop! WorkSafe Victoria, a state-run Occupational Health and Safety organization in Australia has adopted social marketing as a driver in its attempts to reduce the social and human impact of workplace safety failings.

On a wider front, by 2007, Government in the United Kingdom announced the development of its first social marketing strategy for all aspects of health.

Social marketing theory and practice has progressed in several countries such as the U.S, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and in the latter a number of key Government policy papers have adopted a strategic social marketing approach, for example: 'Choosing Health' public health white paper 2004.

Types of social marketing

Using the benefits and doing 'social good' to secure and maintain customer engagement. In 'social marketing' the distinguishing feature is therefore its 'primary' focus on 'social good', and it is not a secondary outcome. Not all public sector and not-for-profit marketing is social marketing.

Public sector bodies can use standard marketing approaches to improve the promotion of their relevant services and organizational aims, this can be very important, but should not be confused with 'social marketing' where the focus is on achieving specific behavioural goals with specific audiences in relation to different topics relevant to social good (eg: health, sustainability, recycling, reducing pollution etc).

As the dividing lines are rarely clear it is important not to confuse social marketing with commercial marketing. A commercial marketer selling a product may only seek to influence a buyer to make a product purchase. Social marketers, dealing with goals such as reducing pollution or encouraging recycling, have more difficult goals: to make potentially difficult and long-term behavioural change in target populations.

In the UK companies like The Campaign Company have demonstrated the synergies between social marketing and political / cause related marketing. These can become apparent when a public sector body such as an NHS Primary Care Trust is promoting a lifestyle change which may be in an area which is politically or culturally contested and where there may be well-funded opponents to such a change.

It is sometimes felt that social marketing is restricted to a particular spectrum of client - the non-profit organization, the health services group, the government agency. These often are the clients of social marketing agencies, but the goal of inducing social change is not restricted to governmental or non-profit charitable organizations; it may be argued that corporate public relations efforts such as funding for the arts are an example of social marketing.

Social marketing should not be confused with the Societal Marketing Concept which was a forerunner of sustainable marketing in integrating issues of social responsibility into commercial marketing strategies. In contrast to that, social marketing uses commercial marketing theories, tools and techniques to social issues.

Social marketing applies a “customer oriented” approach and uses the concepts and tools used by commercial marketers in pursuit of social goals like Anti-Smoking-Campaigns or fund raising for NGOs. An example of a social marketing firm is The Media Network a company based outside Washington, DC that holds contracts with various federal agencies.

The original eight essential components of social marketing, formulated in 1971, still hold today. They are:

1. A consumer orientation to realize organizational (social) goals 2. An emphasis on the voluntary exchanges of goods and services between providers and consumers 3. Research in audience analysis and segmentation strategies 4. The use of formative research in product and message design and the pretesting of these materials 5. An analysis of distribution (or communication) channels 6. Use of the marketing mix - utilizing and blending product, price, place and promotion characteristics in intervention planning and implementation 7. A process tracking system with both integrative and control functions 8. A management process that involves problem analysis, planning, implementation and feedback functions

A social change campaign is an organized effort conducted by one group (the change agent) which attempts to persuade others (the target adopters) to accept, modify, or abandon certain ideas, attitudes, practices or behaviour.

In recent years there as has been an important development to distinguish between 'strategic social marketing' and 'operational social marketing'. Much of the literature and case examples focus on 'operational social marketing', using it to achieve specific behavioural goals in relation to different audiences and topics. However there has been increasing efforts to ensure social marketing goes 'upstream' and is used much more strategically to inform both 'policy formulation' and 'strategy development'. Here the focus is less on specific audience and topic work but uses strong customer understanding and insight to inform and guide effective policy and strategy development.

BIODIVERSITY

Saving Vegetables Under Threat Of Extinction

"White carrots and parsnips," exclaimed Marie Ghargueraud, holding up a bunch of straggly, unappealing tubers and dusting off clumps of earth. "I haven't seen these in years. I'm going to prepare a pot-au-feu for my grandchildren the way my mother did." Ghargueraud, 74, shopping for ingredients for her beef stew at the Marche St. Jean, Geneva's first completely organic market, is among a growing number of consumers who prefer organically grown produce. But few are aware that buying organic food products also helps preserve disappearing species.

Historically man is estimated to have consumed more than 7,000 species of basic foods, according to Jose Esquinas-Alcazar, a scientist with the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "Today a little more than 150 species are under general cultivation."

What's at stake is more important than simply giving consumers greater choice, according to Esquinas-Alcazar. The great potato famine of the 19th century happened because Europe's potatoes came from a common species that was not resistant to a certain disease. And the US corn crop was only saved from destruction in the 1970s thanks to cross breeding with rare strains from Africa and Latin America. Esquinas-Alcazar and other bio-scientists hope the UN Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, recently adopted by more than 80 countries, will strengthen efforts to save endangered species and encourage more organic farming.

Denise Gauthier of ProSpecieRara at Geneva's Botanical Gardens has been combining scientific theory and small farming practices since 1982. "Our goal is two-fold: for scientific research to rediscover and preserve ancient species and to provide seedlings to small bio farmers and individuals interested in growing them," she said.

"We try to raise different varieties, like violet potatoes and red-and-white-ringed Chiogga beets," said Claude Mudry, 53, of the 400-member Jardin de Cocagne farmer's cooperative. "It takes a lot of effort only to discover that sometimes they turn out not very pretty and maybe not really very tasty. But we continue out of curiosity and passion."

An unexpected side benefit of the efforts to save rare species is that birds not seen in a long time, like the pied flycatcher and the ash-head thrush, have begun reappearing in the tall fruit trees.

"All the international agreements in the world will remain pieces of paper without consumers demanding more diversity in their foodstuffs," warned Esquinas-Alcazar calling Europe's organic movement an example of consumer demand pushing big business to respond. He also believes that partly thanks to organic farming, "the past fifteen years has seen an increase in the number of plant foods once again available to mankind".

As for the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops, Esquinas-Alcazar said such crops cannot replace traditional farming methods when it comes to delivering disease resistant crops.

Though a constant struggle, the smallholder's drive to uphold diversity can draw some hope from a pledge by world governments to try to slow down the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

Economic Values

Nature provides the raw materials we need for survival, and forms the basis for the global economy. The world food supply today is derived from 30 crops which supply about 90 per cent of calories to the human diet. And just 14 animal species make up 90 per cent of the livestock we raise. Since we depend on so few plant and animal species to supply us with food, we are vulnerable to environmental changes and crop diseases.

Scientists have identified and named about 270,000 species of plants. Some experts estimate the total number of plants could be as high as 320,000 worldwide. Tropical rain forests support some of Earth’s highest levels of biodiversity. At least 1,650 known tropical forest plants have the potential to be grown as vegetable crops, which could reduce our reliance on the few crops grown today

Nature is also the source for many medicines such as aspirin, heart stimulants, antibiotics, anti-malarial and cancer fighting compounds. For example, a drug called Taxol, derived from the Pacific yew tree, has shown promise in the treatment of ovarian and breast cancers in trials conducted by the U.S.-based National Cancer Institute.

About a quarter of all prescription drugs are taken directly from plants or are chemically modified versions of plant substances. More than half are modelled on natural compounds. About 121 prescription drugs are derived from higher plants. Yet less than 1 per cent of rainforest plants have been tested for their medicinal properties. It has been estimated that of the world’s 250,000 known plant species, only 5,000 have been tested for their medicinal potential. In the US, more than $6 billion (US) is spent annually on medicines derived from tropical plants.

Everything we use in our daily lives was originally derived from the natural world. In 1997, a team of ecologists and economists estimated the monetary value of nature’s services to society to be at least $33 trillion (US) each year, nearly twice the $18 trillion combined gross national product (GNP) of all the world’s 194 countries that year.

Climate regulation, water purification, soil regeneration, nutrient cycling, waste recirculation, crop pollination and production of timber, fodder, and biomass are provided by our living environment for free. This dollar estimate is purely a thought experiment since nature’s services can’t be replaced, but it demonstrates why maintaining biodiversity is essential for sustaining the global economy.

Further information on biodiversity can be found consulting the BBC REITH LECTURE at:

Considerations on biodiversity

The species Homo sapiens is unprecedented and unique among all life on earth. Human sentience and intelligence far surpass those of other creatures. These gifts have allowed human beings to populate the earth, construct industry, and affect the environment in a way that no other species can. This great power comes with great responsibility, and we should avoid abusing the earth, lest we cause irreparable damage - damage like the extinction of species and the consequent reduction in biodiversity caused by deforestation, over-fishing, hunting, the illegal trade in ivory and other species etc.

Protecting endangered species is an extension of our existing system of ethics. Just as modern civilisation protects its weaker and less able members, so humanity should safeguard the welfare of other less privileged species. Animals are sentient creatures whose welfare we should protect (even if they may not have the same full 'rights' that we accord to human beings). However, the idea that extinctions will lead to ecological disaster may be an exaggeration. Fossil evidence shows that mass extinctions have occurred many times throughout the history of life on earth, one of the most recent being the mass demise of the dinosaurs. After every collapse of biodiversity, it subsequently rebounded, with the earth coming to no lasting harm. Extinctions may simply be viewed as part of the natural evolutionary process.