Citizen Brand

Does your cause program have a "tree seedling?"

I had the honor of being asked to do a column for PRWeek's edition this week. I thought I would share it here for people who aren't subscribers to the magazine. I would love to hear your thoughts on what I discuss.

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Will the economic downturn stem the rising tide of cause branding? We hear that question a lot these days. The answer is no. Cause branding, in fact, is growing as more and more companies realize the benefits that doing good can bring to their business. However, the downturn has caused more consumer skepticism about business in general. Although cause continues to grow, this skepticism could slow it down if cause programs are not authentic and transparent.

Every community in America has a critical universe of philanthropic families that provide financial support for the unique causes that form the social and cultural foundation of that community. In Kansas City for example, we have the Kaufmanns, the Helzbergs and the Halls among others. Each of these families is frequently called upon to provide their financial support and personal endorsement for our city’s most important causes. They do not make their decisions hastily. They give their support only after fully understanding what the specific impact of their donation will be.

While cause branding programs do not replace the work of the great philanthropists among us, there are important lessons to be learned from the careful approach they take before making decisions. Corporations involved in cause branding today and those contemplating it in the future should consider the same approach in developing and executing their programs. In particular, companies need to make sure their cause branding programs clearly and specifically communicate what the money being raised is going to accomplish.

It is critical today that each time a company asks a consumer to either purchase a product with proceeds going to a cause or make a straight donation to the cause, the consumer knows what their money will do. The more specific, the better it is for the company, the consumer and the success of the program. Now we know there is a slight difference in the amount of donation being made by our civic philanthropist and our consumer engaged by a cause branding program. But why should there be any difference in making the consumer feel as good about their donation as the philanthropist? That’s a trick question of course. There should be no difference.

Consider this partnership announced recently between Coca-Cola and Stater Bros. Supermarkets in southern California. The two companies, neither of which are a Barkley client, are combining efforts to plant up to 1 million tree seedlings in two California state parks. It is part of an overall effort by the California State Parks department called “Reforest California” to replant thousands of acres burned by wildfires in recent years.

The campaign runs through May at all 166 Stater Bros. stores. Money will flow from two sources. Customers will be asked at the checkout counter if they want to contribute and Coca-Cola will donate $1 for every $10 of purchases of its products sold at Stater Bros. stores. This is a simple and direct approach. Every customer knows their checkout donation or their purchase of Coke products will plant a tree in one of two state parks in their area.

Companies and nonprofits need to use this program as a guidepost. When you ask your customers to get engaged in your cause program, can you tell them exactly what their donation will do? If not, you need to stop and ask a simple question. What is our “tree seedling?”

 

Peanut shells

This didn't take long. From the AP and MSNBC.com. And thanks to Average Jane for the heads up.

Peanut Corp. of America files for bankruptcy

Company at source of national salmonella outbreak succumbs

ATLANTA - The peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak has filed for bankruptcy.

The Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America filed Friday for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in bankruptcy court in Lynchburg, Va. The company said in the filing that its debt and assets both ranged between $1 million and $10 million.

The salmonella outbreak was traced to one of the company's plants in Blakely, Ga., where inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaking roof. A second plant in Texas was shuttered this week. The outbreak has resulted in more than 500 illnesses, led to one of the nation's biggest recalls and caused as many as nine deaths.

I love Legos

I still remember my first set of Legos. I had always loved all the toys that allowed me to build things. Of course, it started with the usual simple set of building blocks. Then I graduated to Lincoln Logs and then on to Tinker Toys. But when you get your first set of Legos, it's like the graduate school of all the building toys. Legos required you to make a little plan before you began construction. Of course, being a kid, a plan only lasts so long.

From my marketing perch, it's fun to look at a brand like Legos that has successfully evolved over generations and remains wildly popular today. They understand that they have a concept that is timeless and yet they have made sure to keep up with the times through pop culture connections and understanding how to engage with today's computer savvy kids.

So it should be no surprise that Legos has found a way to connect its timeless product with today's technology. brand curve tells us about Legos' latest new twist that likely will impact retail displays going forward.

The display will allow customers to hold a boxed set of Legos up to it and see in 3-D what the contents will look like when assembled.  Amazing.  And if that isn't enough to convince us that Legos is truly one of the most enduring brands of all time then check out this digital camera!

I may have to go buy a set of Legos this weekend. Of course it will be for the grandkids.

Interwoven Threads

A Barkley alum has made good on his dream of starting his own company.  It's called Interwoven Threads and here is a very nice article about this unique t-shirt company in Present magazine.  Congrats to Andy Woolard for a job well done.

Another holiday gift idea from your personal shopper here at Citizen Brand.

Green potato chips

One of my Barkley colleagues, Susan Shank, pointed me to a great story today about another brand figuring out that going green is not just the right thing to do, but is good for business.  In a New York Times story, we learn how Frito-Lay is going to totally convert one of its plants to become energy neutral.  Here is an excerpt from the Times.

"At Frito-Lay’s factory here, more than 500,000 pounds of potatoes arrive every day from New Mexico to be washed, sliced, fried, seasoned and portioned into bags of Lay’s and Ruffles chips. The process devours enormous amounts of energy, and creates vast amounts of wastewater, starch and potato peelings.

Now, Frito-Lay is embarking on an ambitious plan to change the way this factory operates, and in the process, create a new type of snack: the environmentally benign chip.

Its goal is to take the Casa Grande plant off the power grid, or nearly so, and run it almost entirely on renewable fuels and recycled water. Net zero, as the concept is called, has the backing of the highest levels of corporate executives at PepsiCo, the parent company of Frito-Lay.

There are benefits besides the potential energy savings. Like many other large corporations, PepsiCo is striving to establish its green credentials as consumers become more focused on climate change. There are marketing opportunities, too. The company, for example, intends to advertise that its popular SunChips snacks are made using solar energy.

“We don’t know what the complete payoff for net zero is going to be,” said Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo’s chairman and chief executive. “If this works even to 50 or 60 percent of its potential, that is fantastic, and it’s so much better than what we already have.”

Stop the presses!  A Chairman/CEO that has authorized a major change in business operations without knowing exactly what the payoff will be.  Pass the chips please!

One news cycle

Back to the keyboard after a summer hiatus and it took just 45 minutes with Tuesday's New York Times  to make it happen.  Whatever page I turned to there was example after example of questionable, even unethical decisions by people and organizations.  One news cycle produced some of the worst examples of bad citizen brands I've ever seen.  Consider just a few of them:

In 2005, corporate America received huge tax breaks to bring home their offshore profits and create jobs in America.  Drug makers were the biggest winners bringing home $100 billion while paying only six percent taxes instead of the 35 percent they would have paid prior to the '05 legislation.  Any new jobs created?  Hardly.  Instead tens of thousands of people have been laid off by drug companies in the past two years.

Without even leaving the front page, we see that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has himself in a bit of a sticky wicket.  The man who used to make Wall Street titans tremble finds himself on the defense after a couple of long time aides decided to use the New York State Police for a little political tomfoolery.  Seems the Governor's nemesis - State Senator Joe Bruno used some police helicopters for trips from Albany to New York City.  Turned out not to be a problem, but the Governor's helpers saw an opportunity and solicited the acting Superintendent of the State Police to help them make a case against Bruno.  By the way, the acting Superintendent is vying for a permanent appointment so he did what any good public servant should do - he helped try to make the case.  Anyway, given Spitzer came into office seven months ago pledging to clean up New York state government, it seems apparent he will need to start with his own staff.

Of course the sports pages these days read more like bad reality television shows.  From Michael Vick and fighting dogs to the critical question of whether or not baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will be in the stands for Barry Bonds' record home run it's amazing that sports writers still find time to report scores of games.

The perfect sports commissioner, David Stern of the National Basketball Association , has a small gambling problem.  He doesn't wager himself, but seems he has a referee who got in over his head with some betting debts and began to make some interesting calls that turned a game or two or ten.  A good betting scandal is needed every ten years or so just to purge the rookie gamblers out of the system.

And then there is poor Sergio Garcia .  I love golf and I truly love the Open Championship.  It looked like Sergio was finally going to win his first major.  He was 0 for 35 coming into the British Open.  He is now 0 for 36.  Unfortunately his major drought is apparently starting to eat away at him.  He was not the shining example of a gracious loser in the press room at Carnoustie on Sunday.  He blamed bad breaks and other golfers in front of him for losing a four stroke lead in the last 14 holes in the final round.  Golf is one sport where no one else has anything to do with the way you play the game.

A handful of news stories in one newspaper in one news cycle.  All examples of either a lack of common sense, common decency or ethical behavior.  And proof that it's time to crank up Citizen Brand again and look for some good examples.  I know they are out there.

Good to be back.

Being unreasonable

Seth Godin has a new book out called "The Dip.".  I love this post he just put up on his new site to promote the book:

"We did everything within reason and we still lost."

Your competition beats you when they do things that are unreasonable. In large markets, the unreasonable competitor always establishes the new benchmark, always ends up as best in the world, always redefines what 'within reason' means.

I guess the only choice is to be unreasonable."

It's hard to fathom sometimes just how hard you have to push yourself to get beyond what everyone else is doing.  Even when you do, there is always someone else right behind you waiting for you to take a break.  When you pause, they slide on by to the new ground you had in your sights.

Seth is right.  You have to be unreasonable.  You have to break the rules.  I don't mean things that are illegal or unethical.  But I do mean doing things that might get you out of your comfort zone.  Innovations and new benchmarks don't happen inside our comfort zones.

What rules are you ready to break tomorrow?

Extra! Extra!

It's official.  Cause branding is good for business.  It is so because Brandweek has a story saying it is so.  And I was starting to get worried that maybe cause wasn't a good strategy.

Thanks to Joe Waters for pointing that story out as well as pointing us to a cool new idea involving ATM's over at Lucy's blog.

Seeing RED

My email rang yesterday with a request from my former colleague Andy and I am going to do my best to answer.  The subject is Product Red and my opinion about it.  I have been observing and thinking about this campaign as it has unfolded and here is what I think.

I'm disappointed.  I'm a little mad.  But I think cause branding as a strategy will survive the excesses of Product Red.  I believe that because if you step back from the edge of the cliff and view the campaign, Product Red is not cause branding.  It is a product promotion campaign.  Granted, it is a big product promotion campaign executed on a global scale.  But cause branding it is not.

When the news broke this week that Product Red had spent $100 million on marketing and returned $18 million to the cause of fighting AIDS in Africa, it was like a slap in the face to all of us who believe in cause branding not just as a marketing tool, but as a real way to make change in the world.  The Better Business Bureau says charitable efforts must return a minimum of 65 percent of all proceeds to the cause to be considered successful.  Product Red has a ways to go to meet the BBB minimum.

Product Red is all the rage right now.  We know because clients we are working with are constantly referencing it with envy and admiration.  It's big and bold and it has certainly captured the attention of the world.  But thus far too much money has been spent for too little return and the celebrities involved have outshone the cause itself.  That is why I don't want this program confused with true cause branding efforts.

Perhaps Product Red is creating a new category for which we will need to come up with a new moniker.  Maybe we call it marketing cause instead of cause marketing.  That may seem like semantics, but the simple juxtaposition of the two words illustrates that there is a difference between selling products to benefit a cause and creating a program that educates, enlightens and raises money for solutions to a societal problem.

I'm sure there are people who will disagree with my opinion.  I may have even offended a potential client out there somewhere.  I'm comfortable with that.  I know from the great organizations that we are now working with that there is a great understanding of the power of true cause branding. 

What do all of you think of Product Red?  Let's keep this conversation going.  I have my opinion, but I believe this is an important discussion for us to have if we care about cause, public relations and branding.

So now Andy, all we have to do is figure out how you can possibly dislike the Beatles. 

As P&G goes.......

When the CMO of Procter & Gamble speaks, we should take note.  Especially now.  You can link to the entire story below and read it for yourself, but let me pull out an operative quote of interest from it:

"Mr. Stengel....used his platform to describe a different set of imperatives: the need for brands to be authentic, trustworthy and generous."

Stengel says the days of “telling and selling” are over and he began his presentation to AAAA this week showing his Second Life avatar visiting the Second Life office of P&G’s agency Leo Burnett.

If P&G is sounding and acting like this, we can assume there has been a seismic shift in the marketing world.  Creating authentic brands that care about the world, not just making an extra buck, is the world we live in today.

The full AdAge article is here.

Along those lines, what is to be made of the Product Red cause initiative.  Is it selling products successfully?  Is it raising money and awareness for an important cause?  I think the jury is still out on both of those questions.  Others think so too.  Witness this recent website called buylesscrap which suggests that people not buy the Red products and instead donate more money to the cause.

Authenticity and transparency are critical in branding today.  Same goes for cause programs.  Jim Stengel at P&G has it right - authentic; trustworthy and generous are what people want today.  How is your company doing?