About us

ESMA was founded with the aim to connect social marketing people, research and practice at the European level.

By creating a community where people practicing and researching social marketing in Europe can connect with other colleagues to share experiences, knowledge, findings, methods, and practices ESMA endeavours to contribute to the development, evidence base and promotion of the social marketing discipline in Europe.

ESMA aims:

to establish a community of Social Marketers in Europe
to enhance and facilitate knowledge and experience exchange in the different fields of social and behaviour change
to promote the use of social marketing as an approach to social change in Europe

What is ESMA

The European Social Marketing Association (ESMA) is a professional association for individuals and organisations practicing, researching and teaching social marketing in Europe. ESMA endeavours to contribute to the development, evidence base and promotion of the social marketing discipline in Europe and the world.

Social marketing adapts established marketing approaches and techniques used in the commercial sector, alongside other behaviour change concepts to achieve socially beneficial outcomes, such as better health, safer communities, or cleaner environments.

Who are ESMA people?

people who practice social marketing
academics and researchers
people who work in the behaviour change/social change fields
programme managers in government bodies and institutions (department/ministry of health or environment etc.)
policy officers and social policy advisors
not-for-profit programme managers
future programme managers
managers of professional education programmes
behaviour change communication consultants
public health officer

Our Mission

For social marketing to be the means of solving social issues across Europe and the world.

We will achieve this mission by:

developing the evidence base for social marketing
helping social marketers meet, share and collaborate with each other and people from other disciplines and cultures
advocating for social marketing to be practiced in all sectors
teaching people how to do effective social marketing
ensuring that people are aware of social marketing and recognise its benefits

Why we need ESMA

Most social marketing information and knowledge exchange comes from the USA, Australia, Canada, or the UK. There is a need for a broader exchange and development of a social marketing at a European level, including the UK.

Some of the key characteristics of how social marketing is defined and practiced in a European context include:

a commitment to social democracy and citizen centric social policy
being strategic
adopting a whole-system approach
a focus on engagement and building relationships
working to address social determinants
a passion about social justice/fairness
an understanding of inequalities