Citizen Brand

Public Innovators Summit

I'm just outside Midway, Utah at the Zermatt Resort (feel sorry for me?) to attend the first annual Public Innovators Summit sponsored by The Harwood Institute and Fast Company.  The Summit is supported by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The list of attendees represents a cross section of leaders in business, government, education and non profit organizations.  The driving force behind the Summit is Richard Harwood, founder of The Harwood Institute.  You can easily understand the reason for this Summit when you understand the Institute's mission.  This is from their website.

Rich Harwood founded the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation to help people imagine and act for the public good. For almost 20 years, he and his colleagues have been evolving both the ideas and the practical approaches for changing the negative conditions in society that too often divide people and keep them from making progress in their neighborhoods, communities, and the nation as a whole.

At The Harwood Institute, we seek nothing less than to spark fundamental change in American public life - so that people can tap their own potential to make a difference and join together to build a common future. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works within a long tradition of small, catalytic, and public-spirited organizations in American history that have sought to improve public life and politics.

We believe there is enormous potential to unleash in America if we can pursue an alternate path for ourselves, our communities, and this nation.

What attracted me to this Summit and my desire to be selected as a participant is part personal and part professional.  One of the drivers of our company is to help our clients get on the path to becoming what we call Citizen Brands.  We believe it is now a must for corporations to be engaged in helping to improve society, not just sell their products and services.  That is my professional reason for being here.

On a personal note, I love the idea of spending a couple of days engaging with other people who share a common interest of figuring out how to make a difference in the world and to help convince others to do the same thing.  Not to mention, I'm back in the mountains for a couple of days.

I look forward to sharing some of the discussions that come out of the Summit.

To cause or not to cause

As people who know me will attest, I enjoy a good, honest debate.  And Inger Stole over at PRWatch.org has kicked off a discussion I will now join.  It should be no surprise that the subject is cause marketing and again, it will not be a surprise that I'm going to take the affirmative side.  Thanks to Nedra at Spare Change for the pointer.

I hope you will take time to read Inger's piece because as Nedra correctly points out, it is thought provoking.  And I don't disagree with some of the points Inger makes.  For example, I endorse her belief that there are times when some cause related programs deal only at a very surface level and do not begin to try to address the root problems.  She suggests that some of those companies involved in specific health related causes should take on the more fundamental cause of advocating for a better overall healthcare system.  I think that is a great idea.

What I disagree with is the implication that corporations conduct cause programs only as a means to push their brand or specific products or services.  It is my opinion, based on my own involvement and observations, that position is a generalization on Inger's part.  I can attest personally that is not the case with our client, Lee Jeans, and its signature cause program Lee National Denim Day.  Lee has never focused on whether or not they sell more jeans because of Denim Day.  And in conversations I have with other companies we either work with now or are attempting to work with, they are focused on what cause can mean to their brand image, not whether they can make more money through cause programs. 

I believe it is perfectly fine for companies involved in cause to get credit for the good they are doing whether it be awareness building or fund raising or both.  And I assure you that the non-profits are happy to receive help with both.  It is a win-win and while I respect those that are concerned about the potential for abuses to take place, it is up to us involved in developing cause programs to make sure they do not occur.

Breaking thru the clutter

Thanks to Andrea for pointing us to a site that rounds up some of the most hard hitting cause ad campaigns going today.

Take a look at Houtlist and see the real power of great issue advertising.

Some of these make the old "your brain on drugs" campaign look very tame by comparison. 

A better role than 007

I reported to you a few weeks ago that our client, Lee Jeans, has named a new beneficiary to begin its second decade of fighting breast cancer.  And today, one of the first benefits of that new partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation was announced.

Pierce Brosnan, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, will be the lead ambassador for Lee National Denim Day in 2006.  One of the things that is great about this is that Brosnan is currently the Honorary Chair of EIF, so his willingness to be spokesperson this year is a great way to kick off the new partnership between Lee Jeans and EIF.

If you or your organization have participated in Lee National Denim Day over the past ten years, we offer our thanks.  If you have never participated before, we invite you to check it out and consider coming on board in 2006.

For more details, go to DenimDay.com.

The Cause Generation

If you are between the ages of 18 and 30, then it is likely you are part of the generation that will tip the balance in moving cause and corporate social responsibility from a nice to have in business to business as usual.

Proof of this comes from the 5th Annual College Explorer Study sponsored by Alloy Media + Marketing and conducted by Harris Interactive.

Calling all brands.  Are you paying attention?

Lunch

As we head into a long holiday weekend in the States, check out this new magazine called Lunch.  Just when you thought maybe there were no new, refreshing magazine concepts left to launch, here comes Lunch.  What is it?

"LUNCH is a magazine for the smart, savvy (post)consumer aged anything between 16-60 years old; LUNCH is more an attitude than an age. Value-conscious but increasingly aware of living a lifestyle paradox: responsible, trendsetting but also trend-driven. Wears Blackspot as well as Converse. Loves shopping, buys organic food and drinks Diet Coke, wears People Tree as well as H&M, weekends in the country, frets about global warming but flies EasyJet, wore a MakePovertyHistory band, loves festivals, breaks into a trot when approaching Selfridges. Has probably boycotted Nike, Nestlé et al, albeit temporarily. Loved No Logo and Supersize Me, reads Vogue and Closer.
Recognise anyone?"

Thanks to Audeamus for pointing this out to us.

Cause is Growing

Investment in cause programs will increase more than 20 percent this year breaking the $1.3 billion mark.  That according to IEG, Inc.  Cause branding is now the fastest growing segment in the entire sponsorship arena.  Sponsorship on the whole will grow a little more than 10 percent this year.

What does this mean?  It's real simple.  More and more companies are realizing they can make better and more real connections with their customers if they are doing something to help society.  As sports sponsorships see another year of decline, it is cause branding that is picking up the slack.

As my fellow cause colleague at Selfish Giving  says: 

"If you're a retailer and don't believe me, test it out for yourself.  At one register, ask your shoppers if they can donate a dollar to help a poor, sick child.  At a second, ask them if they could spare a dollar so you can flash your company name on the jumbotron at Fenway.  Believe me, just because New Englanders love the Red Sox doesn't mean they don't think like Yankees."

Want to learn more about cause branding?  Download our white paper on the topic at www.beappr.com.

Have a great Fourth of July.  I'm heading to San Diego for a few days of R & R but will try to stay in touch.

Goldman Sachs Goes Green

Fast Company tells us that Goldman Sachs is taking a strong stand for the environment.

Arguably the world's most prestigious investment banking firm, Goldman recently adopted an environmental policy that calls for "world governments to tighten restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions, commits to investing $1 billion in renewable energy, and proposes a Center for Environmental Markets, a research partnership that will explore how the free-market system can solve environmental problems."

This is the kind of leadership that companies need to emulate quickly.  Green issues are only going to grow and the employees of the future want to work for companies that are truly trying to make a difference. 

This move will only solidify Goldman's position as a global leader and puts them well on the road to becoming a real Citizen Brand.

Urban Sprouts

Urban Sprouts is a great program in San Francisco that should be emulated everywhere.  This is from their website:

"Urban Sprouts is a school garden program that serves low-income youth from San Francisco’s under-served neighborhoods. We teach youth to grow, harvest, prepare and eat vegetables from the school garden, in order to help youth become more engaged in school, eat better and exercise more, and connect with the environment and each other."

This is a great opportunity for any company involved in the food industry.  What could be better than children learning to appreciate and understand where our food comes from and learning to prepare food in a healthy and nutritious manner.

There is more information available on the Urban Sprouts blog.  Big thanks to Britt for bringing this to our attention.

Social Marketing

If you want to learn more about social marketing and how it fits into the world today, a place to be in September is the campus of UCLA and the Social Marketing University.  Thanks to Nedra for spearheading this event.

Social Marketing University

September 18 - 19, 2006
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
UCLA Conference Center
University of California, Los Angeles
Westwood, California

Presented by Weinreich Communications
<http://www.social-marketing.com/blog/>

How do you help people adopt behaviors that will make them healthier and better off? How can you create positive social change?

At Social Marketing University, you will move beyond the usual educational approach to changing health and social behaviors. Using social marketing, you will learn how to persuade individuals to take action for change by addressing the values, needs and desires that motivate them. It's about understanding and connecting with your audience by applying the same effective marketing tools that companies like Nike and Apple use.

Join social marketing expert Nedra Kline Weinreich for this two-day training on the beautiful UCLA campus in Los Angeles. By the time you leave, you will have an effective social marketing strategy for your own program and the skills to implement it immediately.

Early registration by July 31 includes a $100 discount, and each additional person from the same organization will receive another $50 off of the registration fee.  Students also get a huge discount.