Citizen Brand

Heads in the sand

 

 

I'm sick and tired of politics dictating the future health of our planet. Are you?

The cold, hard facts exist. Here is an excerpt from a recent article in Newsweek:

The burning of fossil fuels has raised atmospheric levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by 40 percent above what they were before the Industrial Revolution. The added heat in the atmosphere retains more moisture, ratchets up the energy in the system, and incites more violent and extreme weather. Scientists disagree about whether climate change will bring more intense or frequent tornadoes, but there is wide consensus that the 2 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming of the last century is behind the rise in sea levels, more intense hurricanes, more heat waves, and more droughts and deluges. Even if the world went carbon-neutral tomorrow, we’d be in for more: because of the CO2 that has already been emitted, we’re on track for another 5 degrees of warming. Batten down the hatches. “You can no longer say that the climate of the future is going to be like the climate of today, let alone yesterday,” says Judi Greenwald, vice president of innovative solutions at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. “In all of the plausible climate scenarios, we are going to have to change the way we do things in ways we can’t even predict.”

As is usually the case, there are people at a grassroots level that are beginning to make small changes. the city of Chicago has several initiatives underway. One example, they have started planting trees in public areas that will survive warmer climates. They are trading out white oaks for swamp oaks which will survive in warmer climates. There are plans by the city of New York to paint all rooftops white to help reflect the sun in an attempt to keep Manhattan from becoming a heat island.

As the saying goes, all politics is local and it is clear political leaders at the local level have grown tired of waiting on national and global leaders to quit talking and start doing something. And here is where those of us engaged in supporting causes can try to help.

There is no more important cause than the environmental health of our planet. What I want to try to do and encourage others in cause to do as well is to find companies that are ready to step up and help. This could be companies of all sizes. Work with the cities at the local level to support through awareness, dollars and time the efforts they are undertaking to prepare for what a large majority of scientists say is going to happen.

It is these types of public-private partnerships working at the grassroots level that can make a difference. We can no longer wait on the national or global governments to take action.

Cause marketing for Venus & Mars

Late last year, the annual Barkley cause survey made a big discovery - men do have a heart. We talked to male consumers all over the USA and found out that men are impacted by cause marketing in nearly the same numbers as women. We also found out that only 3 out of 10 chief marketing officers were contemplating targeting men with a cause program. Sounds like some fertile ground for the right brand and nonprofit doesn't it?

At the Cause Marketing Forum in Chicago last week, I had the opportunity to meet with two small groups of fellow cause marketers to discuss cause and men. We had a great mix of people from agencies, companies and nonprofits. The discussion was spirited and we arrived at some interesting insights. The most significant one came when we talked about what motivates men in general and then discussed what that means when developing cause programs.

We all can agree that emotion plays a huge role in cause marketing. But while that is a primary motivator for women, is it the same for men? Our group in Chicago decided that it probably is not the primary motivator for men. Emotion will always be a factor in cause programs, but for men we decided that other dynamics may matter more - competition and accomplishment.

Men like to compete and men like to be able to see the results of the work they do. If you agree these are two big motivators for men, then the cause programs we develop to target men may look different than most cause programs today.

A cause program for men might have a component where the consumer is asked to take specific action or do some work as opposed to just writing a check or swiping a credit card to make a donation. A cause program for men might involve a competitive component where consumers who raise the most money for the cause or solicit the most participants for a cause are rewarded. The reward doesn't have to be a personal reward for the consumer. Instead it could be a brand increasing the amount it donates to its cause recognizing the milestones achieved by the male consumers it is targeting. Thus, the consumer can point with pride to what he has "accomplished." Starts to makes sense doesn't it.

We only had a couple of hours in Chicago but we all believe we identified some insights into how brands and nonprofits should look at programs that would get men involved. I look forward to hearing what others in the cause community think. Let the collaboration begin!

Lessons from a tornado

The devastation we have seen from nature in the past few years is mind numbing when you think about it all at once. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Hurricanes. Floods. And this spring in the USA, we have seen historic destruction and loss of life from tornadoes.

Being a fourth generation Kansan, tornadoes are part of the landscape. The Wizard of Oz jokes get old from my coastal friends, but let’s face it, we live in a place dubbed Tornado Alley so what do you expect?

When I was ten years old, I lived in Topeka, Kansas and my family had just moved to the southwest edge of town near a big hill named Burnett’s Mound. Native American legend had it that as long as there was nothing constructed on Burnett’s Mound, the big hill would protect Topeka from tornadoes. I guess since I was living in a house built on the lower slope of the hill the protection clause was null and void.

 

And sure enough, on June 8, 1966 a killer tornado formed outside of town and powered its way over Burnett’s Mound and cut a 20-mile diagonal swath from southwest Topeka to the city limits on the northeast side. Our new house suffered some damage but we were far enough outside the core that we avoided the complete destruction that occurred just a quarter mile from our house.

 The images from Tuscaloosa and Joplin are vivid reminders of that day nearly 45 years ago. But what I also remember vividly is the way the city of Topeka came together and didn’t let nature’s dark side cut a permanent swath through the real heart of the city.

 

The people of Tuscaloosa and Joplin and smaller communities like Reading, Kansas that was virtually destroyed the day before the Joplin tornado will show the same spirit as we did in Topeka in the 1960’s and the city of Greensburg, Kansas has demonstrated in the last four years.
 

May 4, 2007, the city of Greensburg was completely destroyed by a tornado. I think what that city has accomplished is one of the greatest examples of a community coming together in history. They not only are rebuilding their town on the plains of Kansas, they built a true community of the future making their name of Greensburg more than just a name. As they put it – “Rebuilding Greensburg: Stronger, Better, Greener.”

While this is an almost unbearably tough time for the citizens of Joplin, Tuscaloosa and Reading as well as so many other places across the globe, let’s shine a little light on everyone with the example of Greensburg, Kansas.

As I think about the work we do in cause marketing, I want to use Greensburg as a shining example of what great cause programs should be all about. At the end of the day, it isn’t about a halo for the corporate brand and it isn’t just about raising more money for a cause. The only result that matters is that the world becomes a better place because people got together and worked to make it better. That’s a cause we can all rally around.

 

 

Like Topeka, Greensburg, New Orleans and Japan - Joplin, Tuscaloosa and the citizens of other locations hit by nature's wrath will show us how to do it now.

 

 

 

 

 

Marching Babies

Here is the new PSA promoting the March for Babies - March of Dimes' primary fundraiser to support their mission of stronger, healthier babies! Work produced by Barkley in our continued partnership with the March of Dimes.

 

 

 

2011 March For Babies

It's time to start thinking about March for Babies. Lots of bad weather right now, but it won't be long before we can look forward to taking our steps to help more babies be able to take their first steps. Check out the new PSA produced by the March of Dimes and Barkley.

 

 

Don't end the cause party before it begins

It is encouraging to me how much more conversation there is about cause these days. For so many years, those of us engaged in the practice almost needed to bribe people just to get them to listen to us wax poetic about the wonders of cause marketing/branding. Today, the conversation has entered into the mainstream. And whenever that happens to a topic, it means the critics and skeptics increase in number.

The good thing about critics and skeptics is it makes those of us who believe in the core values of cause marketing check the mirror. That's a good thing. No idea lasts forever. No program can last forever without a constant commitment to keep it fresh. And with today's consumer dictating to those of us in marketing communications what content they want to hear and where they want to find it, our cause programs must be 100 % transparent.

Timothy Ogden wrote a piece for Forbes.com this week titled "How Cause Marketing Can Actually Backfire." In it Timothy underscores the importance of transparency and takes it a step further by imploring companies involved in cause to take transparency to a new level. His suggestions make sense. Ogden says companies must select charities based on their effectiveness.

Once they choose their nonprofit partners, he says companies should explain why they chose them and be specific about how much money is being raised. Most important, Ogden says companies must be exact about where the money is going and what it will do. Finally, companies should communicate after the program is complete to demonstrate to consumers that their commitment is ongoing.

I think Ogden is voicing the opinions of so many of us that work in the cause space day in and day out. I do have one caution for all of us. Since cause has just entered the mainstream of acceptability among a growing majority of companies, let's make sure we don't scare off those who have just entered the arena by making the cost of entry too high. We need to keep encouraging every company, large and small, to view cause as the win/win we all know it is. And we need to be willing to accept the fact all companies will not be ready to do it exactly how we would like them to do it from the start.

I just want to be sure that in the reality of the day to day battle that goes on in the marketplace, we don't discourage companies from employing cause marketing. Once we have them involved, we can make sure we show them the right way to do it. And what Ogden has spelled out is the right way.