Public Engagement and the use of segmentation technologies. A NCCPE/ESRC report by Clive Barnett and Nick Mahony

Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) has just published a report, Segmenting Publics, co-written by Clive Barnett and Nick Mahony, which reviews the use of market segmentation technologies and other segmentation practices for the purposes of public engagement. This project, co-funded by the ESRC, investigated the use of segmentation tools in various fields - environmental policy, political campaigning, arts and heritage sectors, charities and campaigning - in the context of various imperatives, including personalisation agendas, behaviour change paradigms, and public service reform agendas. It places the proliferation of segmentation methods in the wider context of the changing dynamics of various ‘public’ issues, including the public health, development aid, environmental issues, and climate change, and in particular the increasing use of social marketing principles and the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies to address problems defined in terms of behaviour change.

The report can be downloaded on the NCCPE website here.

Findings from the report will be presented at the NCCPE Conference on 'Engange 2011: Making an impact - Public engagement and the 21st Century'. The conference will be held on the 29-30 November in Bristol.