Social Marketing Strategy for LSES Communities: Research and Strategy Phase

The project ‘Social Marketing Strategy for LSES Communities – Research and Strategy Phase’ was funded by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, made under the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program as a commissioned project of the National Priorities Pool.

The objective of the project was to ‘research and design an appropriate, cost-effective national social marketing campaign targeted at low socio-economic status (LSES) students and communities that will assist universities to increase awareness of and raise aspiration to higher education’. The specific objectives of the strategy were to:

• Increase awareness of and aspiration to attend university amongst LSES students, families and communities
• Increase knowledge of pathways to university amongst LSES students, families and communities
• Increase number of applications to university and university pathways from people from a LSES background

This national project was undertaken with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) as the lead university, auspiced by the Queensland Widening Participation Consortium consisting of the state’s eight public universities.

The work was undertaken between 2015 and 2016. Academic researchers were drawn from two Queensland universities, QUT and University of the Sunshine Coast (USC).

This project page provides details of the Social Marketing Research stage (Phase 2) which has outputs of a Field Research Report and an Integrated Marketing Communication Plan.

Guiding Theory:

• Social Support Theory
• Stages of Change