Information Campaigns

The proliferation of communication campaigns in the past fifty years -- by governments industries and special interest groups -- is implicit evidence of the widespread perception of the power of strategic communication to induce significant social change. In turn information campaigns have provided fruitful settings for the testing and modification of theories of mass communication.This eighteenth volume of the Annual Review of Communication differs from previous treatments of communication campaigns by treating the phenomenon in a theoretical framework (i.e. the management of social change); as an area of common interest for both interpersonal and mass researchers; and from a process rather than an institutional perspective.Working from the premise that information campaigns and social marketing efforts represent attempts at planned social change and that it is insufficient to examine inherently social phenomena in a social vacuum the contributors provide a social context for examining these domains. Interdisciplinary in approach this volume represents a merging of the traditions of marketing and strategic communication. The first section Campaigns and Social Structure pays particular attention to the social context in which campaigns are designed implemented and analyzed. Each chapter addresses a set of concerns campaign organizers face and as a whole illustrate the broad range of social concerns which campaigns address. The second section The Campaign Process addresses more tactical concerns pertaining to the underlying components of campaigns namely audience research planning organization and implementation and evaluation. The eclectic treatment of campaigns serves to enhance the development of both the theory for and the theory of campaigns and imparts a broad understanding of the field for students and professionals in communication political science and areas of related interest.