Co-Creation vs Traditional Marketing: What Works Best for Behavioural Change?
Posted by Marketing & PR on 17 Jun 2025
When you’re aiming to inspire people to change how they think, feel or act, choosing the right marketing approach matters. Traditional marketing has been around for decades, trusted for its broad reach and polished messaging.
But co-creation marketing is quickly gaining ground, especially when it comes to driving real, long-lasting behavioural change.
So, which works best? Let’s explore the strengths of each and how they stack up in the world of behaviour change marketing.
Traditional Marketing: Tried and Tested
Traditional marketing is the go-to for mass communication. It’s the adverts you see on TV, the billboards on your commute and the leaflets through your door. It’s message-first, brand-led, and usually top-down, meaning the organisation decides what the message is, then pushes it out to the public.
While traditional marketing is effective for raising awareness, promoting products, and building brand familiarity, its limitations become apparent when it comes to changing behaviours, especially those that are complex or deeply rooted. This approach often talks at people, not with them, assuming the brand knows best and leaving little room for dialogue, relevance, or shared ownership.
That’s because traditional marketing often talks at people, not with them. It assumes the brand knows best and leaves little room for dialogue, relevance or shared ownership.
What is Co-Creation Marketing?
Co-creation marketing is more of a conversation. Instead of crafting a campaign behind closed doors, brands and organisations invite their audience to take part in shaping it. This could be achieved through co-creation workshops, collaborative content development or creative idea sessions with the community.
This approach is inclusive, participatory and grounded in real experiences. It shifts the dynamic from “we tell you” to “let’s work it out together”. And when you’re aiming to shift behaviours, that sense of shared purpose can make all the difference.
Why Co-Creation Supports Behavioural Change
Changing behaviour is not about shouting louder. It is about connecting deeply. And co-creation gives people a sense of agency. When individuals help design the message, they are more likely to believe in it, trust it and act on it.
It is also a powerful way to uncover what truly matters to your audience. Through co-creation workshops, you can learn how people see the issue, what motivates them and what barriers stand in their way. You are not guessing, you are listening.
Co-creation, on the other hand, makes campaigns feel more relevant, respectful, and genuine. In the context of social change marketing, this can be the difference between a one-off reaction and a lasting shift in habits or beliefs.
When Traditional Marketing Still Has Value
There is no doubt that traditional marketing still plays an important role. It is brilliant for introducing a big idea to a broad audience or creating consistency across regions. If you need to launch a message at scale, traditional channels are hard to beat.
However, on their own, they rarely lead to genuine behavioural change. That is where co-creation comes in. Think of it like this:
● Traditional marketing spreads the word
● Co-creation makes the message matter
Together, they can be a powerful force.
A Combined Approach Works Best
The smartest campaigns blend both methods. Start by working closely with your community through co-creation marketing. Run workshops. Ask questions. Build trust. Use those insights to shape messages that feel authentic and meaningful.
Then amplify those messages using traditional marketing channels. That way, you get the best of both: depth and reach.
Our Expertise
We’ve been creating highly successful social marketing campaigns for our customers for over two decades. We love our work and utilise the latest marketing communication tools and customer insight techniques, including ethnographic research and co-creation workshops.
This enables us to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviour that benefits individuals and entire communities for the greater good.
Within our team, we have leading nationally recognised academic professionals within Psychology, Mental Health and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that advise what messages and mediums will deliver the best response when we scope out a communications campaign or deliver any targeted communications.
This provides our clients with the reassurance and confidence of knowing that their communication objectives are underpinned by recognised academic behavioural theory, executed with award-winning creative design and using the latest Marketing Automation communication tools, whether it’s on a local, regional or national project.
Perfect Circle has delivered social change for clients like schools, local government, not-for-profit organisations, the health sector and niche commercial businesses, and we’re really proud of what we’ve done so far.
If you’d like our help on your next Behaviour Change Marketing or Social Marketing campaign, we’d love to hear from you. Please visit our contact page and get in touch.
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