Connections: 'Social Marketing' with Gillian Kingston

Social marketing applies commercial marketing strategies to promote social issues and address problems within societies. The private and public sector is increasingly drawing on social marketing and behaviour change campaigns to inform change in areas such as health, education, and discrimination against minority groups. In this lecture Dr Gillian Kingston from M&C Saatchi World Services will discuss how strategy and research are key to a successful social marketing campaign, whilst providing examples of campaigns she has worked on across the globe for clients including the Gates Foundation, UNICEF and the Nike Foundation.

Dr Gillian Kingston is a Research Director at M&C Saatchi World Services, where she is responsible for leading and collaborating on global studies to inform and evaluate social marketing and communication campaigns for organisations such as the Gates Foundation, UNICEF and DFID. Her research has focused on issues including maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, education, and migration.

In her previous role Gillian worked as a Senior Research Manager at BBC Media Action, where she evaluated health communication campaigns across Asia and Africa. She has also taught Quantitative Research Methods at Trinity College Dublin, and worked as a researcher at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Ireland. Gillian holds a PhD in Sociology and an MSc in Applied Social Research Methods from Trinity College Dublin.