FIFA World Cup Cause Buzz Falls Flat
Sports have an uncanny ability to unite communities, capture attention and inspire goodwill, so major sporting events are a natural fit for cause-related messages. Which is why we are disappointed that so far during the FIFA World Cup – the sporting event boasting the world’s largest audience – the only buzz we’re hearing is coming from vuvuzelas.
Image: BanTheVuvuzela.blogspot.com
With some digging, we found Coca-Cola’s “Youth Talent Development Initiative” in South Africa and FIFA’s “20 Centres for 2010” – an effort launched in 2007 which aims to promote public health, education and football in disadvantaged communities across Africa. But we were hard-pressed to find word of these efforts in major U.S. media. And what about on-the-ground or online cause messages? Those were few and far between as well – most created by NGOs.
No one has followed the topic closer than blogger John Kim on his site, World Cup CSR. For over a year he’s been tracking any and all corporate commitments to the greater good affiliated with the event. His conclusion? Nil. Kim tweets, “Fifa's Centre's 4 Hope R the closest things 2 sponsor related CSR initiatives I've seen while here: disappointed.”
Is this a sign of a trend? The global meeting in South Africa is not the first major sporting event with lackluster cause tie-ins. The 2010 Super Bowl, which despite the hoopla over Pepsi’s departure, lacked social messaging almost entirely during the actual game. This was a decline from the array of cause campaigns we observed in 2009. Prior to that, the 2008 Summer Olympics seemed to lack cause messages aimed at American viewers, as well.
Despite the immense resources put into these events, brands with an established cause or CR presence have not been using the world stage to communicate their commitments and to activate consumers. The World Cup will stand as yet another missed opportunity and overall a disappointment for cause marketers.
What do you think? Did you see something we didn’t? Post the World Cup cause messages you’ve seen by commenting below.
Tags: events trends sports global superbowl causemarketing causebranding
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Forgetting Your Shoes for a Good Cause
Going barefoot in the office is usually a faux paux – unless you’re an avid supporter of TOMS Shoes.
Yesterday marked the annual One Day Without Shoes event, which challenged people across the country to spend the entire day (or even a few hours) sans shoes. TOMS rose to fame in the cause world through its simple, but powerful, buy one, give one model. For every pair of TOMS Shoes someone buys, a pair is given to a child in need. Yesterday’s effort drew support from 250,000 people through more than 1,600 events around the world. How did they achieve such success? Here are a few thoughts:
Low Barrier to Entry – Consumers didn’t have to contribute financially to take part in the effort, they simply needed to kick off their shoes for the day. This easy call-to-action allows both TOMS Shoes loyalists and non-customers to take part.
Wow Factor – Sometimes the best way to garner awareness is by causing a scene. A shoe-free day is less extreme than wearing nothing but an apron to work – which LUSH Cosmetics employees do once a year to make a statement about over-packaging – but is nonetheless an eye-catching spectacle for a good cause. And getting some celebrities, including Kristen Bell, Matisyahu, Morgan Spurlock and Heather Graham, to kick off their shoes for a day doesn’t hurt either.
Teaching Moment – TOMS was able to supplement its existing sales-based cause efforts with an educational, worldwide event to help inform the public about the risks millions face by living without shoes. The threats range from cuts and scrapes that can lead to infection to Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil. Suddenly, shoes are about more than just comfort and style.
Personal Connection – The event helps bring participants closer to the issue through first-hand experience. Instead of discussing TOMS’ mission in the abstract, the organization gave consumers a way to experience the cause for themselves and gain appreciation for what life is like for the children the company serves.
Widespread and Grassroots – The success of the campaign is largely due to the hundreds of regional events across the globe within cities, college campuses and even elementary schools. The One Day Without Shoes Web site offered toolkits to help participants organize, promote and execute the local efforts.
TOMS Shoes has already established a cult following among socially conscious fashionistas and is slowly creating a movement with its simple rallying cry for the cause. By executing an engaging and powerful event, TOMS was able to reach a wider audience with the message and hopefully increase its band of loyal followers who will provide shoes to the world’s children, one by one.
Did you participate? Tell us what you thought of the experience.
Tags: global campaigns engagement celebrityengagement advocacy causebranding
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Women and Science Absent in Mainstream Media
Nearly 25 years ago the National Women’s History Project, a grassroots organization, lobbied Congress to turn National Women’s History Week into a month-long celebration, designating March as International Women’s History Month. The project aims to recognize the achievements of women in many careers – science, community, sports, government, literature, art – and to help pave the way for new opportunities for girls and young women. Each year, Americans and people around the globe are encouraged to honor women’s rightful place in history.
It’s easy to recognize women’s place in sports, thanks in part to the media and nationally televised events such as tennis’ U.S. Open or the recent Olympic Winter Games. Unfortunately, not all categories are receiving the U.S. media spotlight they deserve.
For example, did you know about two-thirds of Americans can’t name one famous female scientist? Of those who can name one, Marie Curie is about the only name they recall. The survey, Women, Science and Success: The New Face of Innovation, was sponsored by Cone client, L’Oréal USA. The global beauty company embraces the issues of women in science as its strategic corporate philanthropic initiative. Through its For Women in Science program, L’Oréal makes a significant investment in supporting female scientists, offering professional development and generating awareness of its notable work and future ambitions.
I recently flew to Paris to attend L’Oréal’s For Women in Science awards. The company rolled out the red carpet to honor numerous female science heroines. That’s right, heroines. These women have dedicated their lives to unlocking the scientific mysteries that will improve the quality of life for all, such as finding cures to debilitating diseases. Global media swarmed the event, clamoring for seats at the Global Laureates’ workshops and roundtable presentations as they discussed their passions and ambitious research projects. As a result, European media outlets, such as ELLE-Germany, are writing feature stories about the Laureates.
U.S. media do not always react this way. We see plenty of coverage on the latest tech toys that can improve our lives, but we could use more stories about inventive scientific minds behind the race to solve blistering skin diseases. In fact, media are a powerful force in generating greater awareness of issues, including smashing the stereotype that scientists are geeks. Scientists are tasked with solving global problems in an increasingly complex world, and in France they are celebrated by media. It wouldn’t hurt for U.S. media to increase this kind of reporting.
Hopefully, media will be on board as we celebrate the inaugural National Robotics Week, April 10-18, 2010 (Cone client FIRST is an advisory council member). Created by a private-public partnership, National Robotics Week aims to educate people about the “social and cultural impact of robotics technology.” Young people will be encouraged to exercise their greatest muscle – their minds – and could be inspired to, at the least, foster a greater appreciation of science. At best, they could become the next Marie Curie.
R&D are critical for stimulating economic growth and improving our quality of life. There’s no question this is news alongside the scientists who are making this happen. The question is: Will media get excited enough to increase coverage of this type of news?
- Maureen O'Connell, Senior Account Supervisor
Tags: currentevents brandmarketing global causebranding
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World Water Day Goes Social
If you haven’t heard, today is World Water Day, an international day of awareness and action in support of our planet’s growing water needs.
For months, Facebook and Twitter have been abuzz about this momentous occasion, which should not come as a surprise given the water sector has been at the forefront of social media fundraising (think water Tweestival). From activating followers to participate in stunt events (longest toilet queue), to taking over users’ statuses for a week, water leaders are leveraging the power of social networks to support their cause.
ITT (Cone client) is no different. The company, a global leader in the transport, treatment and control of water, is conducting a social media campaign of its own in support of World Water Day and its corporate citizenship program, ITT Watermark. ITT will donate $1 to safe water solutions for every new fan of ITT Watermark’s Facebook page between March 22 and March 26. Money raised will be evenly distributed between ITT Watermark’s nonprofit partners: Water For People, Mercy Corps and China Women’s Development Foundation. Given that experts estimate the global cost of providing water to someone for a lifetime is just $25 – or 25 fans in this instance - the campaign provides an opportunity for ITT to rally its stakeholders to make a real difference.
So why would a B2B company invest resources in a social media fundraiser? The biggest reason is the company’s employees. According to the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, 79% of Americans who are active on new media believe companies and nonprofits should use these channels to raise money and awareness for causes, and employees are no different. By engaging employees via social media, ITT is connecting with key stakeholders where they are.
ITT epitomizes a Cone best practice: offering a range of ways to support the cause. By providing a spectrum of engagement opportunities – from the easy, click-to-give campaigns – to the more time-intensive global volunteer trip, ITT is giving everyone a chance to get involved. On World Water Day, this is especially true. In addition to the Facebook campaign, ITT is activating its 40,000 employees through local awareness, fundraising and volunteer activities at its sites around the world, while hosting 11 employees on a volunteer trip to India.
To learn more, or to join the cause, visit www.ittwatermark.com/facebook.
- Jillian Wilson-Martin, Account Supervisor
Tags: employees campaigns global Volunteer newmedia Twitter causebranding
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Disaster Donations: Haiti vs. Chile
Donations for relief efforts in Chile pale in comparison to those for Haiti. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports in an interview that a mere $250,000 raised by Americans three days following the Chile disaster, which starkly contrasts the nearly $97 million raised three days following the Haiti earthquake. Despite experiencing a stronger earthquake, Chile’s existing building codes and infrastructure better prepared it to cope with damages. However, several other factors may have influenced the difference in donations:
Consumers Are Tapped Out – Many Americans responded to the Haiti crisis by taking part in the widespread text-to-give campaigns promoted by major relief organizations, through which the American Red Cross alone raised $32 million. Mobile giving was a fast and easy way to respond to the crisis, but some may simply be overwhelmed by donating to the second major disaster in a two-month period. In addition, there has seemingly been more media attention for the Haiti disaster, which continues to capture headlines amidst the Chile crisis.
Call To Action Was Less Urgent – The Chile government’s call for aid didn’t take place for several days after the disaster which influences donor urgency. According to The 2010 Cone Text-to-Give Trend Tracker, more than one fifth (22%) of respondents indicated they would donate to causes via text message only when the need was urgent.
Haiti Activated Grassroots – In Haiti, the need for donations was immediate and urgent. Individuals were activated to help not only through popular donation campaigns by organizations such as the American Red Cross and Yele Haiti, but also through their own grassroots efforts that utilized events and social media. The Wall Street Journal this week highlighted some of the more extraordinary methods for individual fundraising, such as a skydiving nun and pajama-clad office workers.
Celebrity Involvement – The star power that surrounded Haiti undoubtedly drew additional attention to relief efforts. Whether sports stars making a statement on the courts or a star-studded telethon, celebrities came together for the cause and inspired other Americans to do the same.
None of these factors are the responsibility of any one stakeholder. Governments, relief organizations, businesses, influencers and consumers need to work collaboratively toward a common solution for maximum impact, and we saw this collaboration in top form following the earthquake in Haiti. The sobering reality of the back-to-back earthquakes of 2010, however, made it clear that no two disasters, or their resulting relief efforts, are the same. What will you and your organization proactively prepare to do when another disaster strikes?
Tags: cause fundraising global newmedia crisis donation currentevents
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Rising to the Transparency Challenge
Transparency is a critical issue for corporate leaders, one that separates the compliers from the leaders in corporate responsibility reporting. It is a difficult aspect to measure, but Corporate Knights has tried to do just that with a new and improved release of its annual study, The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.
The Corporate Knights added a unique measure this year, called a Transparency Indicator. The number quantifies how easy it was to find information for the 10 other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), therefore indicating the level of disclosure companies are practicing. As Corporate Knights' editor-in-chief Toby Heaps notes, "You need to have transparency if you want people to take you seriously. Then you can get beyond platitudes and discuss issues that people really care about."
But Corporate Knights is not the first to incorporate transparency. In 2009, CRO based its analysis of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens on data that was publicly disclosed, but Corporate Knights took it to the next level by creating a transparency metric that factored into the overall scoring.
What effect does transparency have on the final rankings? At #1, GE had a 73 percent transparency rank and at #2, PG&E had a 25 percent transparency rank. It's difficult to say without further analysis, but could decreasing the transparency gap have helped PG&E rise to the top? Fortunately, Corporate Knights walked its own talk by publishing complete data tables on its Web site for you to review.
Tags: global research transparency corporateresponsibility
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Shared Responsibility: Solving Malaria Together
Malaria has long been a global epidemic, with sub-Saharan Africans under the age of 5 bearing the brunt of almost all the estimated 3 million fatalities occurring every year. Nothing But Nets and similar programs have made great strides toward preventing the spread of this disease in African nations, but a cure has not yet been found.
Image: http://www.gsk.com/community/malaria/factsheets/amp_english.pdf
Some may say it’s a problem too big to solve – but GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) thinks otherwise. This week, the global pharmaceutical giant announced it will freely distribute its malaria research to any scientist interested in joining the challenge – marking the first time that a pharmaceutical company has made so much of its data public. What’s more, GSK will provide “open lab” placements for 60 scientists at one of its research labs and is collaborating with Medicines for Malaria Venture, a foundation focused on anti-malarial drug development. In an industry that is often highly confidential and competitive, GSK intends to use open-source collaboration to solve this epidemic.
This collaborative approach to the research process could speed solutions. As Dr. Timothy Wells of the Medicines for Malaria Venture notes, “By sharing the data, the research community…could set a new trend to revolutionize the urgent search for new medicines to tackle malaria.”
GSK is making a huge statement for the pharmaceutical industry, and for all of the corporate world, by recognizing some problems are too big and too important to solve alone. By engaging the right stakeholders, sharing knowledge and taking a collaborative approach to critical social issues, GSK could be changing the way solutions are found for both business and society.
Tags: engagement global research sharedresponsibility disease
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The Power of Positivity
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is taking a results-driven approach to promoting American investments in global health efforts by releasing an advertisement centered on impact. The video, part of the Living Proof Project, will strike a chord with policy-makers, philanthropists and citizens alike not by centering on unmet need, but by highlighting true and measureable change: “Polio cases reduced by 99%;” “Mother-to-child HIV prevention in 16 million pregnancies;” “Malaria cases down 50% in 29 countries.” This approach instills confidence that funding saves lives.
Aimed at policymakers to sway additional funding, the positive message will reach stakeholders beyond those already engaged with the project. The Gates Foundation hopes the commercial, and specifically the measured results, will encourage grant makers and individual philanthropists to give where it counts. As Bill Gates points out, “We see that these things are working, and we’re willing to continue to make investments. I think then other people say, Okay, it must be working or people wouldn’t put their own money into it.”
Additional messages on the project’s Web site encourage advocates to pass along the positive thinking and to “Dispel the myths. When you hear someone say ‘It’s just money down a hole,’ or ‘Saving lives just leads to overpopulation,’ tell them why they’re wrong. These investments work. They empower people, and they’re appreciated."
In the bevy of important social and environmental issues that ask stakeholders for financial support every day, programs that show impact are in high demand. The pressure is now on nonprofits to show the ROI.
Tags: roi nonprofitcausebranding global nonprofit advocacy corporategiving philanthropy
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