Up and Out of Poverty: The Social Marketing Solution

“Philip Kotler, pioneer in social marketing, and Nancy Lee bring their incisive thinking and pragmatic approach to the problems of behavior change at the bottom of the pyramid. Creative solutions to persistent problems that affect the poor require the tools of social marketing and multi-stakeholder management. In this book, the poor around the world have found new and powerful allies. A must read for those who work to alleviate poverty and restore human dignity.”

–CK Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor, Ross School of Business, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, 5th Anniversary Edition

“Helping others out of poverty is a simple task; yet it remains incomplete. Putting poverty in a museum is achievable within a short span of time–if we all work together, we can do it!”

–Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace and Managing Director, Grameen Bank

“As an MBA student at Wharton in the 1970s, Philip Kotler’s textbook was the marketer’s Bible. Now, decades later, Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee have made a profound contribution to understanding and addressing the blight of global poverty. Marketing seems an unlikely weapon in the fight against poverty. But poverty is affected by behavioral choices, and behavior is influenced by information. Social marketing views the poor as rational consumers of information who change their behaviors when presented with information in a compelling way. . .the very thing marketers do so well, whether selling the benefits of a toothpaste that prevents cavities or those of bednets which can prevent malaria.”

–Rich Stearns, President, World Vision US

“Kotler and Lee set the record straight in this important book: Social marketing uses a range of tools to influence behavior and reduce poverty, beyond simply the sale of subsidized commodities like condoms and mosquito nets. Kotler’s pioneering work in this field continues to inspire practitioners.”

–Karl Hofmann, President and Chief Executive Officer of PSI (Population Services International)

“Up and Out of Poverty will prove very helpful to antipoverty planners and workers to help the poor deal better with their problems of daily living. Philip Kotler and Nancy R. Lee illustrate vivid cases of how the poor can be helped by social marketing solutions.”

–Mechai Viravaidya, founder and Chairman, Population and Community Development Association, Thailand

Related Article

Up and Out of Poverty: Author Q&A

Online Sample Chapter

Why Poverty Hurts Everyone

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 1 and Index)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  xiv

About the Authors  xv

Foreword  xvi

Preface  xix

Part I Understanding the Poverty Problem and Its Broad Solutions  1

Chapter 1 Why Poverty Hurts Everyone  3

Chapter 2 Examining a Barrel of Current Solutions  21

Chapter 3 The Social Marketing Solution   47

Part II Applying Marketing Perspectives and Solutions  71

Chapter 4 Segmenting the Poverty Marketplace  73

Chapter 5 Evaluating and Choosing Target Market Priorities  101

Chapter 6 Determining Desired Behavior Changes   131

Chapter 7 Understanding Barriers, Benefits, and the Competition for Change  163

Chapter 8 Developing a Desired Positioning and Strategic Marketing Mix   185

Part III Ensuring an Integrated Approach  217

Chapter 9 Developing a Social Marketing Plan  219

Chapter 10 The Public Sector’s Role in Poverty Reduction  239

Chapter 11 The Nonprofit Sector’s Role in Poverty Reduction  261

Chapter 12 The Private Sector’s Role in Poverty Reduction  285

Chapter 13 Getting the Three Sectors to Work Together  307

Index  327