North American Social Marketing Conference 2026 ignited by SPARKS!
BIG IDEAS | SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
The NASMC 2026 Program: Online and In-Person
NASMC 2026 is being programed to provide a meaningful experience for both in-person and online delegates.
The plenary program will bring everyone together, with virtual delegates joining the audience in Victoria through a live stream.
The parallel program will then follow two distinct formats: delegates attending in person will take part in sessions at the Victoria Conference Centre, while virtual delegates will have their own dedicated program of online presentations.
The online sessions have been selected from the main Call for Abstracts and assessed through the same review process as the wider conference program. They therefore reflect the same standards of quality, relevance and practical insight.
Virtual tickets include access to the live-streamed plenary sessions and the dedicated online parallel program. They do not include access to the parallel sessions taking place at the venue in Victoria.
FULL ROSTER OF ACCEPTED ABTRACTS
Get a sense of the NASMC Ignited by SPARKS program but taking a look over the full list of accepted parallel sessions at the event.
| SESSION TITLE | TRACK | FORMAT |
| Adapting Social Marketing Production Models for a New Era of AI Media Targeting | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Adult Toilet Training: Keeping “Unflushables” Out of the Wastewater System | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| AI as the 6th Intelligence in Social Marketing | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Research Management: Understanding Behavioural Drivers for Organizational Change in Higher Education | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Autism Spectrum Disorder in a developing economy: Etiological and publicity precept from social marketing perspective | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Barriers to soliciting positional social media opinion leaders | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Beyond Awareness: Translating Environmental Concern into Meaningful Action | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Beyond Demographics: Using Cognitive Bias Segmentation to Improve Health Communication Effectiveness and Health Outcomes | HEALTH | 45 minute Presentation |
| Beyond Evidence-Based Practice: Fifteen Years of Practice-Based Evidence in Conservation Social Marketing | ENVIRONMENT | 30 minute Presentation |
| Beyond Single-Behavior Metrics: A Cross-Domain Scale for Evaluating Water, Energy, and Food Waste Conservation | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation |
| Beyond the Scare Tactics: A Peer-to-Peer Social Marketing Framework for Youth Substance Prevention | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Break Up With Your Bottled Water: Designing a Tiered Messaging Strategy to Rebuild Trust in Tap Water | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation |
| Building a Community Well-Being Framework: Lessons in Co-Creation, Systems Thinking, and Shared Data | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Building trust with uninterested property owners | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Co-Designing Social Marketing Initiatives to Reduce Social Isolation Among Immigrant Parents in a Mid-Sized Alberta Community | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Community-Based Social Marketing Research to Understand Household Behaviors Related to Nonpoint Source Pollution in Western Montana | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Designing for Behaviour Change: A Practical Roadmap for Nonprofit Audience Targeting | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Downstream Emotions: Using Social Marketing Framework | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Driving Engagement in the Digital World: A Longitudinal Analysis of Integrated Social Marketing and the Rise of Virtual Communities | SAFETY | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Empowering Providers and First Responders to Act on Opioid Use Disorder | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Encouraging Proper Elm Wood Disposal to prevent the Spread of Dutch Elm Disease | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Engaging Youth to Develop Effective and Scalable Strategies to Promote Plant-Based Proteins | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation |
| Ethnic Media – working with media partners build your social marketing strategy | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Fighting CLOGS with social marketing and soccer spirit | ENVIRONMENT | 30 minute Presentation |
| Food Stewardship in Contract-managed Foodservice | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Freestyle - Oklahoma State Department of Health: Lead Poisoning Prevention Campaign | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Freestyle - Service Oklahoma: “Ready, Set, Tag!” Campaign | SAFETY | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Freestyle - The Oklahoma Nutrition Information and Education Project: Choose Homemade Campaign | HEALTH | Poster |
| Friends with Benefits: Launching the iSMA Orbit Subcommittee, “Increasing Academic/Practitioner Collaboration” | ENVIRONMENT | 30 minute Presentation |
| From Attention to Action: Teaching and Translating Social Marketing for Sustainable Behavior Change in the Age of AI | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation |
| From Documentation Gates to Access Culture: Social Marketing, Disability Stigma, and Help-Seeking in Higher Education | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| From Insight to Impact: A Social Marketing Approach to Strengthening a Pregnancy Medical Home Model | HEALTH | Poster |
| Gang Life Is No Life: Helping Manitoba Youth Find Their Path | SAFETY | 20 minute Presentation |
| Giving preventable injuries a glow-up: Adapting a longstanding social marketing campaign to emerging audiences | SAFETY | 20 minute Presentation |
| Hero Appeals and Anticipated Pride: Promoting Help-Seeking for Healthier Communities | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| How the Peak Saver program helps balance BC Hydro's power grid | ENVIRONMENT | 30 minute Presentation |
| Igniting awareness of home fire safety through firefighter-resident contact: Lessons from the FireSafe project | SAFETY | 20 minute Presentation |
| Integrating Social Marketing into Brazil's National School Feeding Program: A Community-Based Approach to Childhood Obesity Prevention | HEALTH | Poster |
| Integration of a Disability Lens in Social Marketing | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Is It a Visibility Problem or a Field Problem? Comparing the Professional Trajectories of Social Marketing and Social and Behavior Change Communication | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Little Butts, Big Problem: What a Quasi-Experimental Pilot Reveals About Cigarette Litter Behavior Change | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation |
| Making Publishing Possible for Practitioners: How You Can Submit or Review with Social Marketing Quarterly | HEALTH | 45 minute Presentation |
| Mapping Behaviour Change Strategies in Canadian Campus Food Environments: A Preliminary Environmental Scan | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Midlife Matters: Understanding Life Satisfaction Among Men and Women in Midlife | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Minecrafting Electrification: A Social Marketing Framework for Equitable Program Design | ENVIRONMENT | 30 minute Presentation |
| Poppy the Puffin: A Case Study Guide to Single-Use Plastic Education and Graphic Novel | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Preventing Commercial Tobacco Use and Supporting Mental Health in Washington State | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Putting theory into action: A COM-B Guided Study on Enhancing Community Responses to Invasive Species | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Reducing Homelessness: A Social Marketing Approach | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Resetting the Breaking Point: How California’s Evidence-Based Campaign Put Teens in Control of Their Own Mental Health | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Responsible Service Automation in Restaurants: Demographic Differences in Perceived Staff Replacement Likelihood in Self-Ordering Kiosk Use | SAFETY | Poster |
| Reusable Cups, Containers — and Creative: Strategies for a Flexible, Long-Term Campaign to Reduce Single-Use Items | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Rolesville Moves: Using Social Marketing to Design a Community-Based Midlife Health Campaign Before Launch | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Salmon Friendly Lakes: An adapted approach to engaging private landowners in shoreline conservation | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation |
| Saveful: From Food Waste to Household Value | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Scaling Responsible Beverage Service: Using Digital Tools and Community Engagement to Reduce Underage Alcohol Sales | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation |
| Social Marketing can Contribute to Sustainable Consumption. Case: Natural products among Mexican consumers. | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation |
| StreamWise Program Development | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation |
| Tackling behaviour change in recreational fisheries: Getting mobile app users hooked on reporting | ENVIRONMENT | 30 minute Presentation |
| Testing Student Perceptions of Tobacco-Free Campus Signage Using Neuromarketing | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| The Evolution of SMC as a Sustainable and Replicable Social Marketing Model | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation |
| The Global Smart Drinking Goals: AB InBev’s Ten-Year Commitment to Reducing Harmful Use of Alcohol and the Future of Moderation | SAFETY | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| The power of partnership in a long-standing campaign to change attitudes and beliefs towards workplace-related injuries | SAFETY | 20 minute Presentation |
| The Sound of Connection: Using Podcasts to Inspire Environmental Action | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Tobacco-Free Rajasthan: India’s Pioneering Social Marketing Journey and the Multi-Phase 100-Day Youth Campaigns | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Understanding Before Persuasion: Lessons from Mental Health and Addiction Communications | HEALTH | 20 minute Presentation |
| Using Behavioral Determinants to Tackle Mental Health Stigma | HEALTH | 45 minute Presentation |
| Using Social Marketing to Increase Awareness of Behavioral Health Resources: A Statewide Case Study | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| Walking in Their Shoes: Prototyping a Youth Homelessness Experience | HEALTH | 45 minute Presentation |
| What works in remote communities? Developing community-centered strategies for single-use plastic reduction | ENVIRONMENT | 10 minute Presentation & Poster |
| What’s a Locking Bag? Reflecting on 10 years of social marketing to prevent opioid misuse | HEALTH | 45 minute Presentation |
| When Access Looks Like Misconduct: AI Detection, Multilingual Writing, and Neurodivergent Student Belonging | SAFETY | 10 minute Presentation |
| When Awareness Isn't Enough: Closing the Gap Between Attitude Change and Screening Behavior in a Statewide Brain Health Campaign | HEALTH | 10 minute Presentation |
| When People Stay Invisible: The Confidence Gap in Behaviour Change | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| When Safety Carries a Social Cost: Lessons from Motorcycle Riders on Identity and Behavior Change | SAFETY | 30 minute Presentation |
| When the Campaign Works but the Behavior Doesn't Last: What Feedback-Based Analysis Reveals About E-Waste Disposal Programs | ENVIRONMENT | 20 minute Presentation |
| Who Designs and When? Examining Authenticity in Co-Design | HEALTH | 30 minute Presentation |
| Why Do Smokers Litter in Some Places but Not Others? Spatial Inconsistency of Cigarette Butt Disposal in Public Spaces | ENVIRONMENT | Poster |
IN-PERSON EVENT PROGRAMME
OCTOBER 1
> 9 AM - 5.00 PM
TRAINING WORKSHOPS
Two exclusive full-day training workshops are being hosted ahead of the main conference (Oct 2 -3). Join our leading trainers to get a comprehensive introduction to community-based social marketing and how it is being applied throughout the world to foster behaviors that protect the environment, or enhance your startegic social marketing skills with the team at C+C.
(Seperate tickets must be purchased / attendance to the training workshops are not included in your main conference registration fee)
WORKSHOP 1: Fostering Sustainable Behavior
with Doug McKenzie-Mohr, Ph.D
In this workshop, which is delivered by the founder of CBSM, Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr, you will learn how to:
- Select the most important environmental behaviors to foster,
- Uncover what precludes people from engaging in these behaviors and what would motivate them to change their behavior,
- Develop behavior change strategies that utilize knowledge from the behavioral sciences, and
- Pilot test strategies to determine which most cost-effectively change behavior
WORKSHOP 2: Avoiding the Traps: Practical Solutions to Common Social Marketing Pitfalls in Public Health
with Julie Colehour, Partner and Andres Rodriquez, VP of Strategy at C+C
This interactive workshop is designed to help practitioners recognize and overcome the most frequent missteps in social marketing programs, with a focus on real-world public health applications. Drawing from hands-on examples such as vaccination uptake, opioid overdose prevention and mental health, participants will diagnose where planning and implementation can go wrong and learn how to avoid pitfalls and course-correct if needed.
OCTOBER 2 > 8.30 AM
MAIN CONFERENCE BEGINS
8.00 - 8.30 > REGISTRATION
Registration for the conference will offically open at 8.00 AM on Friday October 1 for main conference delegates to collect your delegate badge, bag and programme.
For all poster authors we advise you arrive by 7.45 AM to have time to set-up your work before the main sessions begin.
8.30 - 10.00 > OPENING PLENARY
OFFICIAL WELCOME
NASMC 2026 will open with welcomes from Karyn Dudley, President of the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA), Lynda Bardfield Vice-President of SMANA, Kristen Haley, President of the Northwest Social Marketing Association (NWSMA) and Alicson Schatz (NWSMA Board Member).
OPENING KEYNOTES
Dr Christine Kormos, Lead, Behavioural and Data Science at Impact Canada, will deliver the conference’s opening keynote presentation.
Kirstin Appelt, UBC Sauder School of Business
Chaired by Alison Schatz, Senior Communications Specialist at Metro Vancouver and NWSMA Board Member.
10.00 - 10.30 > BREAK
10.30 - 12.00 > MID-MORNING PLENARY
ARTS, HEALTH AND CHANGE
Chaired by LyndaBardfield, this plenary will explore the role of arts and culture in improving health, wellbeing and social outcomes.
Dr Jill Sonke will join virtually, followed by a presentation from JamesMiles, Chief Growth Officer at Path With Art. The session will conclude with a response panel considering a challenge posed by the speakers and exploring its implications for social marketing practice. Our panel will include;
- Patrick Cook, Cook & Sow
- Dr Adam Hoverman, Wellington Medical Clinic, Nanaimo, BC
- Paula Toledo, Ode to Wonder
12.00 - 1.00 > LUNCH & NETWORKING
1.00 - 2.30 > SPARKS TALKS: PARALLEL SESSIONS
A fast-moving programme of TED-style, bite-sized talks inspired by the SPARKS conference team. These quick-fire sessions will bring together fresh thinking and BIG IDEAS to get the afternoon programme moving at pace.
2.30 - 3.00 > BREAK
3.00 - 5.20 > PARALLEL SESSIONS
A varied programme of 20 and 30-minute presentations sharing research, practical case studies, new approaches and lessons from social marketing and behaviour change projects across North America and beyond.
5.45 - 7.30 > NORTH AMERICAN SOCIAL MARKETING AWARDS AND DRINKS RECEPTION
Join us as we celebrate the winners of the 2026 North American Social Marketing Awards, recognising outstanding and creative work in social marketing and behaviour change.
The presentation ceremony will be followed by drinks and light bites. All conference delegates are warmly encouraged to attend and help us celebrate this year’s winners. Find out more about the Awards.
9.00–10.40 > PARALLEL SESSIONS
The final day begins with a varied programme of extended presentations and interactive sessions exploring research, practice and innovation across social marketing and behaviour change.
10.40–11.00 > BREAK
11.00–1.00 > PARALLEL SESSIONS
The morning continues with quick-moving parallel sessions featuring 20-minute presentations. Speakers will share practical case studies, research findings, emerging approaches and lessons for social marketing practice.
1.00–2.00 > LUNCH & NETWORKING
2.00–3.00 > INDUSTRY INSIGHTS PANEL
A panel bringing together experienced leaders from across the field to share insights, perspectives and practical lessons for advancing social marketing.
Chaired by Marilu Fernandez-Haddad, with panellists Tracey Haldeman, Julie Colehour and Paj Nandi.
3.00–3.15 > SHORT BREAK
3.15–4.00 > CLOSING PLENARY DISCUSSION
NASMC 2026 will conclude with an interactive plenary reflecting on the ideas, challenges and opportunities that have emerged across the conference.
Members of the planning committee will share their key takeaways, with Rob Sadowski joining online to bring in perspectives from the virtual programme. The session will close with final remarks and a look ahead to what comes next.
OCTOBER 3 > 9.00 AM
DAY 2 BEGINS
ONLINE EVENT PROGRAMME
The online programme will follow the same core timings as the in-person event. Virtual delegates will join the live plenary sessions alongside the audience in Victoria, with online SPARKS Talks, parallel sessions and breaks scheduled at corresponding times throughout the day.
Full details of the dedicated online sessions and speakers will be published as the program develops and abstract authors confirm their status.
PARTNERS
PLATINUM SPONSORS
GOLD & FOSTERING EQUITY SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS
EXHIBITORS
BADGE SPONSOR
SUPPORTERS
