Citizen Brand

Children and Books go together

Imagine your childhood without books.  Too many children among us don't have to imagine.  And that is where First Book comes in.

I have had the opportunity to become more familiar with this great organization this week.  I had long heard about it and the work they do to make sure that children from low income families have the same access to new books that my kids had when they grew up.

First Book has had incredible results.  Consider this excerpt from their website:

Noted pollster Louis Harris has conducted an independent study to determine the effectiveness of the First Book model. This study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Education, surveyed 2,564 individuals over a 14-month period. The results of this study are compelling:

• First Book works for children. More than half of the children -- 55% -- reported having an increased interest in reading. Additionally, the number of young people demonstrating a "high interest in reading" nearly tripled (increasing from 23% to 61%) after receiving books from First Book.
  
  
• First Book works for local programs. 78% of the mentors, administrators and professionals running community-based tutoring and mentoring programs estimated that the "impact of First Book books on a child's desire to read" was "very important."
  
  
• First Book works for the community. The members of the First Book Local Advisory Boards surveyed were also overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts in their communities. 98% of them state that their community was "better off" because of First Book's work.

 There are so many ways to get involved with First Book.  If you know of companies that need a good cause, this is certainly one worth consideration.  Or if you just want to buy some new books yourself, the folks at First Book can help you find a good home for them.

Mowing the lawn

Today's New York Times points us to a company that has a great opportunity to become a true Citizen Brand.  Briggs & Stratton, one of America's oldest brands and the longtime leader in the manufacturing of small engines, is fighting attempts to reduce engine emissions.  And if you think a lawn mower engine is not a problem, consider this fact from the Times article:

Gallon for gallon — or, given the size of lawnmower tanks, quart for quart — the 2006 lawn mower engines contribute 93 times more smog-forming emissions than 2006 cars, according to the California Air Resources Board.

The issue started in California where you might have heard that smog can be a problem.  The EPA is now moving toward a national limit on small engine emissions.  So this train looks like it is on the track.

So how can Briggs & Stratton become a model Citizen Brand?  The company says if they have to conform to these new emission standards that they will have to move jobs overseas.  That has become a tired and worn out excuse in my opinion.  Briggs & Stratton could in one move, become the new model for American companies that want to do what is right on all fronts:  improve the environment and keep jobs in America.

So what do you say Briggs & Stratton?  Some of your smaller competitors are finding ways to produce fewer emissions.  You are the category leader.  Show us your stuff.

Or people might start buying this product.

A Walk in the Park

What does it say about your brand if you put the elements which make your brand unique and desirable in jeopardy?  Case in point:  the brand called the United States of America and what is being done by the "brand managers" in Washington to our National Parks.  Matt Stearns tell us in this Sunday piece from the Kansas City Star.

I visit Rocky Mountain National Park almost every summer and the people who staff our National Parks are not doing so because they want to retire fat and happy.  They run our parks because of their passion for nature and their desire to help preserve something that truly makes America special.  They are continually being asked to carry out their mission without any support from the politicians in Washington.  If you care about our National Parks, it is past time to begin to make some noise.

ReNu update

Bausch & Lomb is pulling their product.  It's a good move and I don't think it is too late.  Considering there is still no third party proof that their product is the cause of the 109 diagnosed cases of  Fusarium keratitis, a rare infection of the eye, it says they finally understand the hit to their reputation this week.

109

That is how many people have been diagnosed with Fusarium keratitis, a rare infection of the eye.  And the Center for Disease Control has only talked with 30 of those 109.  But that is all it has taken for Sears, Wal-Mart and Walgreens to pull Bausch & Lomb's ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens cleaner off all their shelves.

It is a most frustrating time for the company.  It is a classic case of how a crisis situation can be triggered by a small pebble that rolls down the mountain and turns into a landslide.  Retailers are running the other way as are shareholders and stock analysts.  While the stock ticked up today after losing 21 percent this week, several analysts are still making negative comments.  And now talk of a lawsuit has surfaced.

The company has maintained there is no direct link between their product and the infection, but the situation began because the 109 all had one thing in common:  they all apparently used the ReNu product.  Bausch & Lomb is working hard to communicate with their customers.  The problem right now is they have to wait on a third party to ultimately determine their fate.  In the meantime, it is a bit like twisting in the wind.

Is your company ready for its crisis?

Reputations under fire

I have crisis on the brain tonight.  I spoke to classes at Central Missouri State University on the topic Monday and we are preparing to conduct one of our crisis management workshops for a client this week.  In perusing the news tonight, it's obvious there are plenty of reputations under fire out there.  In just a few minutes I found these stories:

College testing is under fire as students received wrong test scores and two organizations that conduct the tests are now being sued.

Bausch & Lomb is halting shipment of a contact lens solution in Asia that may be linked to a rare fungus that can cause blindness.

And Tom Peters tells us tonight he is giving up.  The reason: yet another CEO of a company is getting highly compensated even though the stock is heading the wrong way fast.

I found those in five minutes.  Meanwhile Major League Baseball continues to flounder around on the steroid issue and Dan Gillmor reminds us the entire country is suffering from bad infrastructure.

Plenty of crisis management work to go around it would seem.  But of course nothing bad will ever happen to "us."

How good are you?

Nick Aster over at Triple Pundit points us all to a great, strategic tool that will help measure a company's "social footprint."  In other words, just how much impact is an organization having on helping society solve its problems.  As Nick points out, this builds on the work being done by the Center for Sustainable Innovation.

This is another great step on the path toward helping all of us involved in CSR and cause branding answer the inevitable question:  "How are we going to know if what we are doing is working?"  Now we can begin to show the value to society and then couple that with the positive impact doing good has on a company's overall reputation.  That one-two punch will go a long way toward helping a company to see that doing good is not just the right thing to do but it is the smart business decision as well.

Pick Strategy or Style?

The problem with business trends is that when one gets hot, everyone moves toward it like moths to a light.  How long does it take us to learn that a good recipe for success requires lots of ingredients.  If you put too much of one item in, the short term might look fantastic but over time, the imbalance will cause failure.

Fast Company has a great piece about CEO's and the importance of being able to offer both strategy and a good management style to lead their companies to success.  Consider this excerpt:

"Boards are increasingly looking for CEOs who can demonstrate superb people skills in dealing with employees or other stakeholders while delivering consistent results. "I think leadership is more important than strategy, and I say that as a former McKinsey guy," says James Citrin, senior director at executive search firm Spencer Stuart, who has placed such high-profile CEOs as Terry Semel at Yahoo and Ed Zander at Motorola. "Strategy is important, but the same strategy executed by two different leaders will have dramatically different results."

I couldn't agree more.  Folks at our company hear me say it all the time.  Success in our business has two key ingredients:  ideas and relationships.  A great idea poorly communicated and executed is no longer a great idea.  Likewise, a mediocre idea communicated and executed perfectly can only yield mediocre results.

What do you think? 

Better late than never

Wal-Mart says they are ready to step up and help fight hunger through a partnership with America's Second Harvest.  The big retailer is certainly working hard to try to help their reputation.  They know they are far behind some of their competitors when it comes to the cause arena.  It will be interesting to see if this is the precursor to Wal-Mart giving back to its communities at a rate equal to what they have received in business from those same communities.

Take the Pledge

Thanks to Jack Yan for telling us about the pledge.  I read it, signed it and plan to talk about it here from time to time.  In a way, it's unfortunate that this effort even has to be undertaken.  Acting in an ethical and socially responsible way is what companies should be doing.  We know that's not the case with some however.

Regardless, I support this because it will allow thousands of us in business to be on record as to how we want to act and how we want those companies we do business with to act.  So a tip of the hat to Shel Horowitz for kicking it off even if, as Jack pointed out that once you have signed the pledge, it does lead you to a page to buy a book.  Isn't free enterprise great?