Corporate Citizenship In a Time of Occupy Wall Street

Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship released its annual CSR Index the other day even as Occupy Wall Street and its satellite efforts continue their protests that are, in part, anti-corporate.

The top 10 were:

Publix Super Markets
Google
UPS
Kellogg’s
Amazon.com
Berkshire Hathaway
FedEx
Campbell Soup
Baxter International
3M

By my count I’ve seen cause marketing from six of the top 10 and 33 of the full list of 50 companies.

According to the BCCCC the index is based on a survey of “how the public perceives a company in three dimensions:”

"Citizenship: Does the company contribute positively to its surrounding community in a socially and environmentally responsible fashion?

"Governance: Is the company business run in a fair and transparent fashion? Do stakeholders associate the company with high ethical business standards?

"Workplace: Are employees treated fairly and paid a decent wage? Does the company invest in developing employee skill sets and career opportunities?"

Notably, in the wake of Occupy All Street, there’s only two banks on the list, neither of which are Wall Street heavyweights.

In this list, it’s good to face the consumer to some degree. I count only seven that don’t sell directly to consumers. Oracle, for instance, and Caterpillar.

Conspicuous by their absence are brands like Ben & Jerry’s… itself active in Occupy Wall Street… and progressive companies like Stonyfield Farms and Tom’s of Maine.

Given the context, what lessons can you take from the BCCCC list?

I think there's one lesson for sure. Americans want corporations who are better actors. Good cause marketing can be a signal that companies are good corporate citizens.

Comments

Jessica Marlo said…

By my count I’ve seen cause marketing from six of the top 10 and 33 of the full list of 50 companies.

It really bothers me that you can't share this information with the rest of us! What companies make up the the "six" of the top ten and "33" of the 50? Sheesh!

10/22/2011 6:04 AM

Paul Jones said…

Hi Jessica:

I omitted mainly for the sake of brevity. I generally avoid publishing lists on the blog.

But because you requested it I'll include it in a future post.

Thanks for your comments/feedback!

Warm regards,
Paul

10/23/2011 9:31 PM

Cause Marketing: The All Packaging Edition

One way to activate a cause marketing campaign when the sponsor sells a physical product is on the packaging. I started my career in cause marketing on the charity side and I can tell you that back in the day we were thrilled to get a logo on pack of a consumer packaged good (CPG) or even just a mention. Since then, there’s been a welcome evolution of what sponsors are willing and able to do with their packaging in order to activate their cause sponsorships. That said, even today some sponsors don’t seem to have gotten the memo that when it comes to explaining your cause campaign, more really is more, even on something as small as a can or bottle. The savviest sponsors realize that their only guaranteed means of reaching actual customers with a cause marketing message is by putting it on packaging. And the reach and frequency of the media on packaging for certain high-volume CPG items is almost certainly greater than radio, print or outdoor advertising, and, in many cases, TV. More to

Why Even Absurd Cause-Related Marketing Has its Place

Buy a Bikini, Help Cure Cancer New York City (small-d) fashion designer Shoshonna Lonstein Gruss may have one of the more absurd cause-related marketing campaigns I’ve come across lately. When you buy the bikini or girls one-piece swimsuit at Bergdorf-Goodman in New York shown at the left all sales “proceeds” benefit Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center . Look past the weak ‘ proceeds ’ language, which I always decry, and think for a moment about the incongruities of the sales of swimsuits benefiting the legendary Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Cancer has nothing to do swimming or swimsuits or summering in The Hamptons for that matter. And it’s not clear from her website why Shoshanna, the comely lass who once adorned the arm of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has chosen the esteemed cancer center to bestow her gifts, although a web search shows that she’s supported its events for years. Lesser critics would say that the ridiculousness of it all is a sign that cause-related marketing is

A Clever Cause Marketing Campaign from Snickers and Feeding America

Back in August I bought this cause-marketed Snickers bar during my fourth trip of the day to Home Depot. (Is it even possible to do home repairs and take care of all your needs with just one trip to Home Depot / Lowes ?) Here’s how it works: Snickers is donating the cost of 2.5 million meals to Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief charity. On the inside of the wrapper is a code. Text that code to 45495… or enter it at snickers.com… and Snickers will donate the cost of one meal to Feeding America, up to one million additional meals. The Feeding America website says that each dollar you donate provides seven meals. So Snickers donation might be something like $500,000. But I like that Snickers quantified its donations in terms of meals made available, rather than dollars. That’s much more concrete. It doesn’t hurt that 3.5 million is a much bigger number than $500,000. I also like the way they structured the donation. By guaranteeing 2.5 million meals, the risk of a poor

Cause Marketing

Search This Blog