Doing good work can work out for the best

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by Mike Bawden
President & CEO; Brand Central Station

There was a recent article that appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer about Procter & Gamble and the financial impact it appears their re-focused charitable efforts are having on the company.  (Read it here)

This story caught my eye for two reasons:  First, only P&G could pull off a global good-will effort like this.  And it’s interesting to read about the groundwork they are laying for a variety of their consumer brands in emerging and developing markets.  In addition to the awareness and market-building efforts, P&G’s philanthropic program also enhances the value of the company in the eyes of shareholders who are becoming focused on results beyond the bottom line when evaluating their equity holdings.

But the second reason this article was of interest is that it was sent to me by a client.

This is a company not of hundreds of thousands of employees and billions of dollars in sales but of just over one hundred employees and sales that are, shall we say, significantly less than anything in P&G’s portfolio.  Yet we’ve managed to work with this client and establish a national connection to a leading health association (The American Diabetes Association) and put together a corporate social responsibility program that will achieve the same kind of awareness and market-building objectives P&G is striving for on a global scale.

For many marketers, whether they’re inside an agency, working from home or cloistered away in a marketing department somewhere, the marketing strategies and actions of the mega-brands (P&G, Pepsi, AB/Interbev, etc.) can all seem out of reach.  The fact is, though, their not … and marketers who don’t seem to understand that are destined to live out their professional lives doing more of the same and wondering why they’re not getting better results than they did the year before.

I’ve written about corporate social responsibility programs before.  They’re interesting to put together and, done right, can not only have an impact on your company or brand’s growth; they can re-energize your employee base and help build long-term equity in your brand’s value.  That can mean better margins on the sale of products to retailers or consumers and, just as important, it can mean better multiples if you decide to sell your business to an investor group or acquiring company.

Doing the right thing, the right way can be a tremendous benefit to your company.

More on this at another time.

 

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Recent Blog Posts

Don’t miss any of these recent blog posts on the BCS Blog …

04/24/2009:

 
04/22/2009:

 

04/21/2009:

 

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Recent News Items

News bits from the marketing and consumer press that we thought were of particular interest over the past few days include the following …

04/24/2009:

  • All about creating a great online newsroom from Ragan.com: http://bit.ly/I2HAF
  • PC Magazine reports Yahoo! will shut down GeoCities by the end of 2009: http://bit.ly/lmNDs
  • As if Transformers and GI Joe weren’t enough, Hasbro is dev. movies for Stretch Armstrong, Battleship and Ouija Board.  AdAge report: http://bit.ly/qMTMC
  • The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that P&G is seeing a big bump from the good works they do. Corp. Social Resp. in action: http://bit.ly/11sHO3
  • How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog with StumbleUpon and Twitter http://bit.ly/hhYih
  • NPR cuts 13 positions and will furlough all employees for 5 days over the next 5 months, according to the WaPo: http://bit.ly/16q10d
  • eWeek reports that Apple has issued a formal apology for their “Baby Shaker” app. : http://bit.ly/I6LSX
  • Branding through Social Media http://is.gd/rrKK

04/23/2009:

  • From O’Dwyer PR – VOCUS’s rev’s for Q1 were up 14% over ‘08; but the company lost $478k: http://bit.ly/XfKZG
  • Puget Sound Biz Journal – Seattle PI disputes reports of a 23% traffic drop after stopping their print version.: http://bit.ly/10NqJs
  • AdSpy reports on the death spiral at Doner. Yikes. http://bit.ly/wKKjn
  • According to this article in eWeek by Darryl Taft, Twitter’s communication skills with developers could be improved: http://bit.ly/gHkHg
  • Are there recession-proof customers? Claritas writes about how to find them: http://bit.ly/Ut4cD
  • Crain’s Chicago Biz – Chi Trib cut 53 newsroom jobs and asked the court to OK $13M in bonuses to the remaining 703: http://bit.ly/189Etm
  • From B2B Magazine – Here’s a summary of the latest trends in email marketing: http://bit.ly/Wwj7X
  • From CNET - Microsoft jumps into the ad publishing business against Google and Yahoo! All hail PubCenter: http://bit.ly/fYztL
  • KTLA reports that Jay Leno is in the hospital … but still writing jokes from his sickbed: http://bit.ly/30qvt
  • TechMarcom’s Jon Boroshok on how the worst of times can be the best of times for PR firms in the Bulldog Reporter: http://bit.ly/aJAMP

 

04/22/2009:

  • From Slate – Does nano-blogging trump micro-blogging? Probably not: http://bit.ly/62T7u LOL!
  • From ZDNet here’s the SocialMedia411: 140-character assassination – Are disclaimers and disclosures even possible on Twitter? http://bit.ly/12nt2E
  • PRWeek reports VOCUS’s Q1 revenues were up 14%: http://bit.ly/LCgs3
  • Crain’s NY Biz asks if we’ve hit bottom yet claiming the local NYC economy is showing small signs of life: http://bit.ly/znunW
  • Best meta-analysis you’ll read about why newspapers are in trouble: http://tinyurl.com/bpxulr
  • As reported in PRWeek Journalists want social media links, finds 2009 TEKgroup survey: http://bit.ly/15piA6
  • Incentive reports Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Dakota is spinning rumors their CEO was fired for a sales incentive trip to the Cayman Islands: http://bit.ly/znunW
  • 20 Funniest Newspaper Headlines ever: http://ow.ly/3yFp
  • Target Marketing provides 6 web site ways to support direct mail campaigns: http://bit.ly/Ruoxp
  • B2B Magazines Expand Online: http://tinyurl.com/cav9y4
  • 88% of marketers say they use some form of social media to market their business … http://bit.ly/k9503 (from the Cntr for Media Research)
  • E&P reports now that the Seattle P-I has dropped its print edition, it’s seeing web traffic take a dive: http://bit.ly/3xZ1S
  • MediaPost’s Media Daily News reports that McDonald’s is testing in-store tv network (a la Walmart): http://bit.ly/3HsGr
  • From PROMO: Membership in loyalty programs have grown 24% in the last 2 years; but activity has stayed flat: http://bit.ly/1btZZg
  • CPA Network Hydra announces partnership with OnDialog. This could be big, folks: http://bit.ly/ulq78

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04/21/2009:

  • Naked Pole Vaulter lands sponsorship deal with French resort: http://tinyurl.com/d6jvl9
  • Chief Marketer’s Donald DePalma provides perspective for businesses contemplating an overseas expansion:http://bit.ly/19JZDN
  • From B2B Online – This is why online astroturfing and Pay2Play blogging is such a big deal:http://bit.ly/fCKBO
  • TVWeek reports that Blago has been bounced from his reality show gig. http://bit.ly/FKeBH
  • MediaPost is reporting that the FCC is considering a ratings system for ads similar to its system for television shows:http://bit.ly/BrhJO
  • From Iconoculture – New ways of engaging employees beyond the paycheck:http://bit.ly/OoJo6
  • From the LA Times – competitors work together to launch a new brand none of them could handle on their own:http://bit.ly/TY8lP
  • eWeek’s Larry Seltzer blasts social networks and their potential security issues and productivity costs:http://bit.ly/orq4Z
  • From PROMO Magazine – how to work Word-of-Mouth marketing into your mix:http://bit.ly/19HGux
  • From TVNewsday – the big insight at NAB for local broadcasters … you’ll have to start selling your product:http://bit.ly/Wk7h7
  • ExtremeTech’s Loyd Case wonders outloud if the PS3 is doomed:http://bit.ly/11jjkO

 

If you’re interested in seeing more news bits, check out our News Feed page where we post all of the articles we reference over the past month.