Brian Cugelman’s Website

Website Credibility, Active Trust and Behavioural Intent

Social marketing is an approach to social change that applies commercial marketing principles to behavioural change interventions, such as environmental protection, public health, safety or community development (Kotler et al., 2002). What distinguishes social marketing from other social change practices is its focus on behaviour change as the ‘bottom line’, its customer-driven approach and its typical use of appealing interactions that encourage behaviour change (Andreasen, 2002).

Social marketers are increasingly using the Internet to engage their audiences. For example, campaigns that have benefited from the Internet include Verb, Above the Influence and the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006). Conducting behavioural change online is not only cost effective, but it is also backed by strong evidence that online interventions can influence health and social behaviours. One meta-analysis of 22 papers—comparing web-based versus non-web-based health interventions—showed that online interventions significantly increased participants’ knowledge and health related behaviours (Wantland et al., 2004). Read the rest of this entry »

The Cat That Saved My Life—A True Story

I recently watched a documentary on animal psychology, which presented an entertaining collection of testimonials by biologists, zoologists, vets and other animal experts. One of the scientists told a story about his family dog which jumped in front of a moving car to save his brother, who was trapped in pot hole in the road. No doubt, animal martyr stories must top the list as the flashiest examples of pet heroism, and as persuasive anecdotes that support claims that animal have brains and feelings too. After watching this documentary, I realized they forgot to interview one important witness of animal heroism: myself. It’s now time for me to come forward, and tell my story, of the cat who saved my life. Read the rest of this entry »

Can Brotherhood be Sold Like Soap…Online?

Over 50 years ago, the psychologist G. D. Wiebe asked the question ‘Can brotherhood be sold like soap?’ In his paper, ‘Merchandising Commodities and Citizenship on Television’, Wiebe proposed that organizations which successfully ‘sell’ intangible social objects-such as goodwill, respect for the environment or community development-would be more successful if they sold their social objects the way marketers sell sports cars or mouth wash. To test this notion, Wiebe developed a set of five criteria (Table 1) and used them to evaluate how social campaigns compared to commercial marketing practices. After evaluating four social campaigns by his five criteria, Wiebe concluded that the more social campaigns resembled commercial marketing practices, the better their chance of success. Read the rest of this entry »