Social advertising features in Lithuania

Abstract

The article analyses the meaning of social marketing, discusses the main social marketing tools, investigates social marketing models, and presents a case study of social advertising campaigns in Lithuania. The article highlights the role of social advertising by drawing attention to social challenges that require actions in order to address specific problems. In short, social advertising is used as a means for introducing an important problem to the society. The problem-solving process by using social advertising campaigns is effective when a campaign includes specific memorable characteristics; therefore, the main social advertising features are a topical subject. The authors of the article aim to investigate social advertising features in Lithuania and observe the main social marketing campaign elements that evoke strong feelings and encourage representatives of various audience groups to change behavioural pattern. The paper relies on scientific literature overview, statistical data analysis, and a case study. A case study as a research method is selected in order to investigate social advertising campaigns that were launched in Lithuania during the last decade (before and after the pandemic) as well as to perform a comparative analysis of the main elements and models used. As a result of the article, four main goals for social marketing advertising for Lithuanian market are distinguished: (1) to encourage changes in behaviour, (2) to spread information, (3) to form a public need, (4) to develop and support the promoted idea. Moreover, the performed analysis reveals the importance of publicity and strong emotional response evoked by shocking images as the main elements of Lithuanian social marketing campaigns launched during the last decade.