Perry Goldschein - Sustainability Strategy, Communications & Marketing

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CONSCIOUS CLICKS - The Blog

News and analysis on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder engagement, and Internet and other digital marketing and communications. You'll even get some very practical tips on these topics that you can put to immediate use!

January 25th, 2010

Haiti Disaster Reveals Social Media as Double-edged Sword

Thanks to the influence of social media, marketers rapidly raised millions of dollars of relief aid – cash and in-kind donations — to earthquake-torn Haiti, which is still reeling from a second quake that hit last week.
As celebrity-packed telethons were launched and Ad Council spots ran 24/7 in support of relief efforts, big brands such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, Wal-Mart and McDonald’s, among many others launched fundraising campaigns via traditional marketing as well as with microsites, Twitter and Facebook. But for some brands, using social media as part of a quick-response CSR tactic was a double-edged sword as this Advertising Age articles notes [http://adage.com/article?article_id=141553]. As companies worked to do good a fog of misinformation arose as quickly as one could tweet.
The story also explains how timing of an initiative worked against AT&T, for example. The telecom giant was first to allow users to text in donations. But because the response by AT&T was so swift, many people missed it. As competitors joined in with similar campaigns, AT&T appeared to be behind the curve. Stepped-up messaging helped fix the problem in the end, and AT&T raised millions in relief aid. All in all, it was revealed that social media tools such as Twitter can be a powerful part of a CSR strategy. In the Advertising Age article, a UPS spokesperson notes that the company was glad to have a social media strategy in place where they were able to effectively communicate with its consumers.
From a sustainability communications perspective, the lessons here reveal the need to have ongoing stakeholder engagement. A steady stream of dialogue with clients, customers, partners and other stakeholders would likely keep clear any misinformation surrounding a company’s good deeds.
For example, stakeholders who are gently reminded of a company’s ongoing CSR and sustainability work through a communications effort that is imbedded in a company’s DNA would likely know that when disaster strikes, the socially responsible company would do the right thing. In fact, stakeholders might even anticipate a company’s good deed as soon as the news hits. So when an initiative is launched, expectations and clarity of intent are already set, allowing for a successful campaign.
For social media specifically, there’s already a desire by stakeholders to be a part of the dialogue. According to a survey of new media users in a 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study (conducted by Opinion Research Corp.), 44 percent of those polled are searching, sharing or discussing the CSR efforts of companies. For companies who don’t use social media and other communication tools as part of an overall CSR strategy it’s not too late to get started.

By SDialogue Staff

Thanks to the influence of social media, marketers rapidly raised millions of dollars of relief aid – cash and in-kind donations — to earthquake-torn Haiti, which is still reeling from a second quake that hit last week. Read the rest of this entry »

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October 30th, 2009

MoveOn blasts US Chamber Facebook page

Just before noon EST, today, I received a remarkable email from MoveOn.org as one of its millions of email subscribers.

The email revealed an existing story about the  US Chamber of Commerce’s (USCC) either very misleading, or completely false, membership and representation numbers.  The USCC has apparently, for a long while, mislead the public into thinking it had 3 million members, when its actual paid membership is something in the order of 10% or less of that number.

The MoveOne email then asked recipients to post a comment on the USCC’s Facebook page, calling it out on its lies. I reviewed the post, then went to the USCC’s Facebook page to participate. It was already inundated with a phenomenal volume of negative feedback.

The Chamber became flustered as evidenced by its responses to the comments and remained defensive, rather than owning up to its deception or apologizing for any confusion. It had its page settings initially set so that visitors would see its fan’s comments; but anyone can become a fan to comment and that’s what the MoveOn crowd did — the Chamber subsequently set its page to automatically show only its own comments within two hours after the onslaught started.

This was something to watch in action and shows the power of combing email and social media to vastly increase the audience from a traditional media story. There is simply nowhere for opaque organizations to hide; those that try, and then especially those that get defensive about it, will loose oodles of brand value, not to mention stakeholders leaving for the exits.  Anyone know exactly how many of the Chamber’s actual members are still left?

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February 13th, 2009

Teas & Trees: Great Case of Cause Marketing & Social Media

I came across an excellent example of a socially-responsible brand using a combination of leading-edge marketing practices, including cause marketing and social media, that helps it to perform better, even in a recession. Celestial Seasonings isn’t a client, but we’ve done a number of these types of campaigns for other clients with similar success (example case here), so I wanted to share this.

According to a MediaPost article, a currently-running campaign tying tree planting to Celestial Seasonings tea is generating strong sales plus customer data. In a classic example of cause marketing, Celestial partnered with Trees for the Future, a charity that has planted more than 70 million trees in Central America, Africa and Asia since 1988.

During the campaign, which started January 1 and runs through March 31, Celestial has committed to one tree planted in a developing country for every box of Celestial tea purchased, up to 1 million trees.

This campaign includes a microsite, where visitors can register, plant a virtual tree, and forward information to a friend. It’s also supported by special displays at retailers throughout the country; two FSIs in newspapers reaching approximately 35 million people; and a Facebook page.

The campaign has secured over 482,000 tree plantings as of today, February 13, only six weeks into the campaign, according to the tree “ticker” on the main site.

While Celestial Seasonings has a long history of sustainability and social responsibility as a brand, it’s still obvious that partnering with a cause can prove beneficial. By using an integrated strategy of best practices, including the cause partnership, a microsite, social media and offline support, Celestial is well on its way to reaching its impressive 1 million sales goal while having a positive impact — all during tough times.

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