The Scottish government must work with the private sector to fund social marketing campaigns, according to Roger Williams, deputy director of marketing and digital for the Scottish government.

In an interview with The Drum, Williams said government could no longer be expected to fund these campaigns alone and would need to set up partnerships with companies that shared an interest in changing social behaviour.

The Central Office of Information has already announced plans to develop private sector partnerships to fund the Change4Life campaign.

Williams warned that Scotland is yet to feel the severity of the public sector cuts being made in England and revealed that talks are underway with potential partners.

“We are speaking to the partners who we do business with at the moment but the message is going to have to be increased that ministers are not going to continue to put their hands in their pockets to fund whatever it is," he said.

"Why should government be doing that when there are companies with vested commercial interests out there who will make a profit out of this? So what are they going to do to help?"

In a article published in The Scotsman, Scottish Chambers of Commerce chief executive Liz Cameron said there are already examples of successful partnerships between government and the private sector.

She added: “What the private sector will not do is to assume the financial responsibilities of funding government advertising campaigns for no return, but what we can do is to help it produce and deliver a better marketing product for the best possible value.”

Written by CSW