Reverse Cause Marketing: When the consumer makes your marketing campaign...about a cause.

We are officially laying claim to a brand new term: "reverse cause marketing." This concept has just been demonstrated to us by three brothers who have turned a contest about fun and adventure into a contest about fun, adventure - and sustainability. 

Maybe consumers have been doing it for years, but today I was struck by the genius of reverse cause marketing like never before. Ever heard of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)? They are a very cool organization that teaches leadership skills through expedition courses. Recently, they partnered with Patagonia, an outdoor clothing and equipment store with a bent toward environmentalism, to offer a contest called “Your Dream Expedition.” Participants create a video answering the question, “What’s your dream expedition?” From climbing Mt. Everest to bicycling across the United States, anything goes.


In my opinion, the most interesting part of this contest is that there is no requirement to align your dream expedition with environmentalism or sustainability or any sort of cause whatsoever. Its just for fun - and that’s great. Even greater? How the Suhar brothers decided to make their expedition about a cause.


John, Blake and Zak Suhar are just like everyone else who entered the “Dream Expedition” contest: they love the outdoors and they crave adventure. They’re unique, however, in one significant area. The love these brothers have for the outdoors is inseparable from their concern for it. In the first 30 seconds of their video, they ask the question, “How sustainable is our country?” Their dream expedition involves research and reporting, as they seek to answer that question. 


While Patagonia and NOLS can both expect to gain positive marketing for their brands out of this contest, neither one included marketing for a cause in the plan. So what’s it called when an organization’s consumer brings a cause into the conversation? You got it! Its reverse cause marketing. 


The power of the consumer is stronger than ever - and thanks to social media, our voices grow louder by the minute. I’d like to join the Suhar brothers in spreading the word about what can be done. How about another 2,000 views of their video by tomorrow? Shouldn’t be a problem - just click this link: suhar brothers

Questions about Realized Worth and our work connecting companies to communities?
Contact us here: chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com or angela@realizedworth.com

Reverse Cause Marketing: When the consumer makes your marketing campaign...about a cause.

Employee Volunteers & Social Media: Best Practices in Storytelling for Your Company

Chances are, your company has a great story to tell about employee volunteering. The problem? How do you tell it - and where? Join me this Thursday for a free VolunteerMatch webinar and I'll give you a few great tips to get you on your way.  Register here.

Companies that are doing great things in their communities have great stories to tell – stories that can inspire customers, motivate employees and earn public respect.

Unfortunately, many of these stories are never told. Instead, they are filed away, lost in the chaos of everyday life and work. While policies that discourage employee-led communications about company programs are occasionally to blame, most companies either don’t know how to enable employees to share their engagement stories - or else, they believe they simply don’t have the time or resources to do it.

Truth is, the potential for companies to publicize the story of their community engagement has never been greater thanks to social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Companies, employees and even customers are able to share stories of meaningful community involvement through multiple, dynamic venues.

While it may not be as easy as starting a blog or sending a few tweets, this webinar, “Employee Volunteers & Social Media: Best Practices in Storytelling for Your Company,” will show you it isn’t as difficult as you may think. In fact, it’s probably exactly what your corporate volunteering program has needed all along.

Follow the webinar conversation on Twitter with #BPN_Jarvis and @VM_Solutions.

Date/Time:
Thursday, 10/28, 10AM-11AM PT (1PM-2PM ET)

Register:https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/723115889

Follow this event on Twitter:
#BPN_Jarvis or @VM_Solutions

Learn more about VolunteerMatch Solutions:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/corporations

See upcoming VolunteerMatch Webinars on volunteer engagement and corporate social responsibility: http://www.volunteermatch.org/corporations/resources/bpn.jsp

Contact Realized Worth's co-founders, Chris Jarvis or Angela Parker, with any questions.
Chris: chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com
Angela: angela@realizedworth.com

Employee Volunteers & Social Media: Best Practices in Storytelling for Your Company

Crowdsourcing to Achieve Innovative Results

What can your business, your non-profit, or your cause say to Canadian businesses about breaking boundaries to achieve innovative results? Here's your chance to tell them.

I’m looking to my online community of friends and colleagues for a some real, live collaboration.

The Situation: (My situation, not....that situation.)

On Thursday (as in...tomorrow, October 21) I will be on a panel at the CBSR (Canadian Business for Social Responsibility) 8th Annual Summit. The theme this year is "Collaborating for Sustainable Change: New Approaches to Accelerate Innovation." We’ve written more about it here.

The topic for the panel is “Sustainability Game Changers" which means we'll be exploring how social innovators are "breaking boundaries, shaking up traditional business models and achieving results." I’ve taken some time over the past months to gather ideas and examples to share, but honestly...the more I plan what I'm going to say, the more I realize what I don’t know.

I am a strong believer in the wisdom of the crowd. And given the topic, I thought, why not actually bring my "crowd," my community, onto the panel with me? I mean, why not actually do what I'm going to be talking about and use social media to collaborate, thus generating better information and ultimately, more innovative thinking?

Your Role

So here’s your role: Skim through the categories listed below. When you realize that the work you're doing, the cause you're into, or a story you've heard applies to one of the categories, send me a tweet. Or write a comment, or shoot me an email, or post a video, or....whatever! I’ll collect and share what you give me prior to the session and then I'll post all of the good stuff in a blog. I'll make sure to give clear credit to contributors - Then, when a bunch of influential people from the conference read it, they'll know who to contact for help with making better, more innovative decisions! (It's a great idea, right??)

The Categories:

Definition: Ok, really, what is social media? There will be some people in the room who use social media like crazy (and are probably reading this blog) and others who will ask where to find "a twitter." (No joke, I get that question a lot.)

Collaboration: Does social media enable effective collaboration on sustainability issues (CSR, community investment, corporate citizenship)? I’d love to share examples with real outcomes/results/impacts because too many examples are just about activities and outputs. (I don't care how many people packed how many lunches, etc. I want to know how many kids stayed in school because we packed those lunches. You see?)

Innovation: Which companies are using social media to innovate and create new ways of doing business in a sustainable manner?

Catastrophes: I’d love to hear some recent or relatively unknown ‘zingers’ of when the whole social media thing went off the rails. We all know about Nestle, Chase, and KFC. Does anyone have some good examples that offer key insights into how to use social media?

Alright, those are the categories! Now, your role begins. Can't wait to hear from you! (And please, use this opportunity to shamelessly self-promote.)

Thanks crowd, you're a genius!

Email me here: chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com
or leave a comment below

Crowdsourcing to Achieve Innovative Results

Making a Delicious Difference? Not so different after all.

Employee volunteering programs hold great potential for companies, communities, and employees; they represent a vast resource of knowledge, networks and skills. So why do most employee volunteering events seem...well, a little silly?

What constitutes an effective corporate volunteering program? 

One way to recognize a successful employee volunteering program is by looking into whom the program benefits. At Realized Worth, we believe the program should clearly benefit three groups: a) the business; b) the employee; and c) the community/non-profit. Now, let me note here that "benefit" is not synonymous with "fun" or "nice." The social issues facing many communities today are serious and long-term. Therefore, the solutions implemented to address these issues must be equally serious and long-term. That’s not to say they can't be fun, but let's be clear: an annual employee field trip is not an effective method for addressing systemic social problems.

Kraft dinner: Making a Delicious Difference

As much as my kids love Kraft dinner, I'm afraid this blog is about to spotlight them (Kraft, not my kids) as a bad example. It's programs like their Making a Delicious Difference Week campaign that contribute to the confusion around employee volunteering. The campaign ran this year from October 4 - 9 - and it was nice. And it helped create awareness. And I imagine it was probably a lot of fun. It was not, however, a good example of employee volunteering.

"In more than 40 countries around the world this week, Kraft Foods' employees are giving back to their communities in conjunction with the company's annual global week of service called Delicious Difference Week. Taking place around the world from October 4 to 9, some 20,000 employees will be volunteering in the name of charity to make a delicious difference in their respective communities. It is the largest employee volunteer event in Kraft Foods history."

Sounds great, until you begin to read about some of the actual activities...

"In Dubai, more than 100 employees of Kraft Foods GCC and New Markets, Middle East (Kraft Foods GCC & NM, Middle East) set a new Guinness World Record (GWR) at the Dubai Outlet Mall when they created the world's longest line of sandwiches spanning 2,667 meters and comprising of 10,000 individual sandwiches. Once the record had been announced by GWR officials, these sandwiches were packed by employees into 5,000 food packages containing other Kraft Foods products and distributed amongst the less fortunate members of society."

Okay, I hate to point out the obvious, but this isn’t CSR. This isn’t a good example of employee volunteering. This is just a fun day out of the office. Giving a sandwich to the "less fortunate members of society" in Dubai is a mockery of the incredible human rights issues facing huge populations of Pakistani and Indian workers.

Of course, there were many other expressions of Kraft’s Delicious Difference Week that  are better examples of employee volunteering. In India, for example, employees provided meals to 10,000 children in 15 locations. Most importantly, they did so in partnership with an established nonprofit, the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides meals on an ongoing basis to school children who are in need of food.

3 Steps toward an effective volunteer program

So, what should Kraft do to ensure next year’s Making a Delicious Difference Week is an effective employee volunteering event? How can they put their resources behind something that is genuine CSR? Let me suggest three basic actions to start with:

1. Plan events with long-term programs - and ultimately long-term solutions - in mind. Then, take the time to explain to us, your consumer, why you did it that way. You can create awareness with balloons and big sandwhiches - or you can motivate change by showing us how to do things differently. Awareness is good; action is better.

2. Plan CSR campaigns in conjunction with non-profits. Partnerships are a perfect way for companies to involve themselves in real solutions while enabling non-profits to do their good work. Once you've established these partnerships, highlight the non-profit organizations in the media. During Making a Delicious Difference Week, there were many cases where Kraft did in fact, do just that. In those cases, the week's events were meaningful.

3. Tell us about more than just the activities and outputs (i.e. a big sandwich). We want to hear about outcomes and, again, long-term impacts. How is the world different because a huge company like Kraft rolled up it’s sleeves and got into the fight against hunger and poverty? Providing a free lunch for a few thousand people isn’t enough.

Start with these three steps and immediately, you'll begin to see clear benefit for the company, the employee, and the community. Keep all three in mind throughout the program development and you'll find yourself with one of the few truly effective employee volunteer programs out there. (And when you get there, I'd love to hear about it.)

Chris Jarvis & Angela Parker

c: 317-371-4435 | chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Learn more about Realized Worth

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Video | Interviews | Inc Magazine article |  Boston College Blog | 3BLMedia TV | theCSRminute | WorldNews CSR Channel

Connecting companies with communities through employee volunteering & social media.

Making a Delicious Difference? Not so different after all.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the USA: History, Current Status & Future Trends

A dramatic shift in the nation’s attitudes and opinions towards a corporation’s role in society has meant that companies in the US have had to take much greater notice in the corporate responsibility agenda, finds a new briefing by Ethical Corporation


GUEST BLOG POST: Alyson Genovese is a freelance consultant on issues related to sustainability, corporate social responsibility, public affairs, and employee engagement. She has over 15 years of experience in the private, nonprofit and academic sectors. Alyson may be reached at alyson.genovese@gmail.com.


What I thought I knew

Recently I had the honor of being tasked by Ethical Corporation to create a document that outlines the history, current status and future trends of corporate responsibility within the United States. 

Yes!

4500 words, including case studies and headlines? 

No!

Luckily, due to a phenomenal set of interviewees and an extraordinary editor, I think we came up with a document that touches the key highlights without delving too deeply into the minutiae.

The process of writing the article enabled me to realize this: for all my years in advocating, counseling and practicing the tenets of CSR, I’d barely stepped into the vast sea of what corporate responsibility covers. There’s always more to learn. Corporate responsibility is dynamic and we are just at the cusp of a new era of companies defining (and re-defining) the true meaning of success.


History & Trends

I also realized that CSR is all too often referred to as “new.” My college history professors will be ashamed to learn that I had never given the historical and geo-political context of CSR much thought until this article. While those of us in the field often think that the case for CSR is being built in real-time examples, we can draw back in U.S. history to the formation of our government and business industries to help us understand the complex relationship between business success and a civil society. By appreciating that CSR is implemented in ways that are “uniquely American,” we can better understand and respect that corporate responsibility is interpreted, practiced and articulated differently around the globe.

This article speaks to CSR practitioners, who are constantly challenged to do more, reach more and be more. Examined trends include:

• stakeholder engagement
• increasing transparency
• implementation of CSR throughout the company (even back to the R&D phase)

Implications and case-studies abound

For years, Ethical Corporation has done an excellent job of telling the corporate responsibility story from a global perspective while understanding the nuances and cultural differences of how CSR is practiced at the country-level. While this one is about the United States, other country-specific case studies include Canada, India, South Africa and others.  Let us know what you think.


We've set up a special discount code for everyone who reads our blog. Just click on this link for the 10 page briefing: Sustainability high on US corporate agenda and be sure to enter USA99 as the discount code.

Corporate Social Responsibility in the USA: History, Current Status & Future Trends

IBM's Service Jam - You Should Probably Be A Part Of This!

 
Join thousands of people from around the world who believe service and social innovation can create meaningful change. Eight forums over 72 hours with recognized leaders addressing key issues facing societies and organizations. Welcome to the 2010 IBM Service Jam.

What's in if for me (or you)?

We are often invited to events (both virtual and in-person) on the topic of volunteering. Every once in awhile, it's a "must attend" event. The Service Jam by IBM this October 10-12 is just such an event.

I encourage you to take some time to participate in this global event. The line-up of speakers is amazing, but the global scope is what makes the IBM Service Jam truly unique.

Here's what IBM has to say to encourage you to attend:

If you are passionate about generating social good through multiple means and have witnessed the impact that innovations in service have brought about, then this Jam is the right place for you. It is an excellent opportunity to voice your thoughts about this subject, offer your observations and ideas on how we can solve some of the most challenging problems that surround service. The fluency of ideas that can come out of this jam is based on individuals like you who take initiative to listen, contribute and lend a hand in shaping the future of Service as a Solution. 

The Service Jam will engage leaders, subject matter experts, organizations and individuals in this field to generate breakthrough ideas that will redefine service and social innovation. Following the Jam, IBM in collaboration with key partners, will produce a white paper summarizing key findings, and highlighting creative ideas and social solutions.  

Ok, here's the more info from IBM (I've just copied it here for your convenience, but be sure to check out the IBM site as well)

The Service Jam will be an online event from October 10-12, 2010 that will bring together non-profit organizations, corporations, academic institutions, government agencies and individuals from over 85 countries to engage in an important dialogue around "Service as a Solution."

Through IBM's Jam technology, participants will collaborate virtually to generate breakthrough ideas that will help make the world a better place through service.

If you haven't registered yet for this exciting global conversation about social innovation, register today.

Have more questions? Here's the Q & A page.


Check out the all-star line up of experts and special guests confirmed to Jam with us.

Special Guests

George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the U.S.

Falcao e Cunha, University of Porto, Portugal

Harris Wofford, U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation

Justin Davis-Smith, CEO, Volunteer England, UK

Luminita Oprea, Founder, Saga Business, Society Romania

Marc-Philippe Daubresse, Minister for Youth and Solidarities, France

Michael Bursch, Former Member of the Bundestag, Founder Centre for Corporate Citizenship, Germany

Michael Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia

Momo Mahadav, President, Maala Business for Social Responsibility, Israel

Oistein Mjaerum, Head of Industry Relations, Red Cross Norway

Ray Chambers, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria

Sam Palmisano, President and CEO, IBM


During the Jam, invited Hosts—distinguished leaders in the social sector—will be leading specific discussion forums, as well as conversing live with participants.There will be 8 discussion forums occurring at the same time. Participants are encouraged to join any forum of their choice at any time during the event. 


Discussion Forum & Hosts

• Quantum Leaps in Service
  Groundbreaking innovations fueling the service movement
  
  
  
  
  John Bridgeland, President & CEO
  Civic Enterprises
  Stan Litow, Vice President
  Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, IBM
  Steve Gunderson, President & CEO
  Council on Foundations
  
  
• The Digital Revolution in Service
  Transforming the service sector through technology
  
  
  
  
  Bruno Di Leo, General Manager
  IBM Growth Markets
  Matthew Salier, National Engagement Manager
  The Smith Family
  Michael Brown, CEO & Co-Founder
  City Year
   
• Empowering the Individual
  Personalizing civic engagement for the individual
  
  
  
  
  Alvaro Henzler, Executive President
  Enseña Perú
  Gloria Rubio-Cortes, President
  National Civic League
  Michelle Nunn, CEO
  Points of Light (POL) & Co-Founder, Hands On Network
• Increasing Value & Impact of Service
  Maximizing resources within an organization
  
  
  
  
  Deirdre White, President & CEO
  CDC Development Solutions
  Diana Aviv, President & CEO
  Independent Sector
  Jonathan Reckford, CEO
  Habitat for Humanity International

• Scaling Impact
  Replicating effective solutions to broaden social impact
  
  
  
  
  Alan Khazei, CEO & Founder
  Be The Change
  Marcia Ito, M.D., PhD ,
  State Technology Education Center Paula Souza, Brazil
   
• Measuring Social Impact
  Maximizing and sustaining change through metrics
  
  
  
  
  Patrick Corvington, CEO
  Corporation for National & Community Service
  Rosabeth M. Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration
  Harvard Business School
• Progress through Collaboration
  Building cross-sector partnerships critical to success
  
  
  
  
  Jane Jamieson, Vice President
  Digital Opportunity Trust, Turkey
  Sidney E. Goodfriend, Chairman & Founder
  American Corporate Partners
• Global Challenges, Local Action
  Customizing solutions to solve world issues
  
  
  
  
  Ariel Kestens, Head of Support Services
  International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Chile
  Brian A. Gallagher, President & CEO
  United Way Worldwide
  James Anderson,
  Cities of Service

Got Questions? Visit www.ibm.com/servicejam for updates, answers to frequently asked questions, a tutorial on how to jam and more!

IBM's Service Jam - You Should Probably Be A Part Of This!