The Role of Social Responsibility in Branding

These days I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about consumers and the brands they love. I’m taking a Branding class this semester, and each week we do a case study of a different company and the branding challenges it faces.

Perhaps the biggest insight I’ve gleaned from the first couple of months is this:

Consumers own brands, not marketers.

That’s right – as much as companies may want to believe they have control over their brand and its meanings, in the end consumers are the ones who instill a brand with its true essence.

That’s because, at its core, the value of a brand comes from fulfilling some inherent consumer need, want or desire. While companies can (and obviously should) manage their brand, in the end consumers are the meaning makers of what the brand stands for.

As part of this course, I’m working on a consulting project for a regional consumer goods company that wants to go national. For confidentiality’s sake, let’s pretend this company makes cleaning products (it doesn’t).

Over the last few weeks my team and I have spent a lot of time doing a deep dive into the company and what its brand means for consumers. How do consumers use these cleaning products? What do the products allow consumers to accomplish? What emotional or social benefits come from using them?

What we’ve found so far is that the people who love this brand really love this brand.

In fact, they’re pretty fanatical. The products they use, and more importantly the brand overall, serves to truly define part of their identity.

In essence, it’s not just a product they use. It’s a lifestyle.

For the most part it’s been fascinating and even fun to see how these loyal consumers use, evangelize, and embody this brand.

Yet, during my research I stumbled upon some concerning evidence to suggest that some consumers had taken this fanaticism too far – namely, multiple YouTube videos of consumers using the product inappropriately. To follow the example of our phony product, let’s say consumers were uploading videos of themselves sniffing the fumes from the cleaning products and getting violently ill.

Of course, with my interest in corporate social responsibility, warning bells immediately went off in my head:

• Assuming the company knows about these videos, how should it respond?
• What is the company doing to prevent this dangerous activity?
• What legal implications exist if someone is seriously hurt engaging in this behavior?

And the list goes on.

But beyond the obvious CSR questions, I also thought of my key branding takeaway thus far:

If consumers make the meaning for a brand, what happens if they turn the meaning into something the company doesn’t want (in this case, a vehicle for irresponsible and unhealthy behavior)?

What is a company’s obligation, if any, for social responsibility in branding?

Some brands – alcohol-producers, cigarette companies, gun manufacturers – know that responsibility comes with the territory (although it’s certainly debatable whether they themselves always promote responsibility among consumers).

But what about brands that take on meanings that companies didn’t intend? If consumers own the brand, what opportunities do brand managers have to reclaim negative meanings and even to combat abuse of the product?

People often talk about corporate social responsibility as a brand builder – do it right and your brand will be strengthened and given more value.

But in this case, can CSR actually be a brand definer? Can social responsibility help brand managers looking to refine the (presumably unwanted) meanings that consumers have instilled in their brand?

This is the question I’ll be trying to answer over the next few months, and I’ll be sure to let you know what I find out. Since I’m still a student of branding, though, and certainly no expert, I’d love to hear your thoughts:

What role do you think CSR can play in helping to manage brands? What companies or case studies do you know of that exemplify this issue of unintended, negative and/or dangerous brand meanings?

One example we’ve looked at in class is Harley Davidson and the Hell’s Angels – talk about a brand meaning (aka: organized crime) that a company might want to refine!

Thanks for weighing in…

Finding the Point of Balance

I’m pleased to share that my birthday was this week (for those who know me well, you know this is a big deal).

I love birthdays in general, and I especially love mine. Why?

Well, my birthday is an important time for me for a couple of reasons. Yes, I love cake and presents and having an excuse to go out to dinner or celebrate.

But more than anything, I love my birthday because it’s the one time during the year that I stop and take stock of where I’m heading.

Every February I usually take some time to sit quietly and think – to reflect on what happened over the last year as well as to visualize where I want to go in the coming year.

This is what I call making my Birthday Resolution.

Over the years my Birthday Resolutions have helped me chart my course and provided some much-needed clarity.

This year my birthday (and thus my Resolution) comes at a particularly interesting and unique time in my life. In three months I will graduate from business school and head out into the big wide world again.

But where will I head to?

Over the last year and a half my education has opened my eyes to possibilities that I didn’t even know existed. I’ve developed a true passion for using business to effect change, and most days I wake up eager and excited to find a job that allows me the chance to “do good and do well”.

Yet some days I wake up feeling weighted down by the burden of responsibility. Whether it’s dealing with the inevitable dread of school debt, or feeling overwhelmed by the expectations of others, sometimes I just can’t see the forest through the trees.

So how does this relate to my Birthday Resolution?

In some ways, you could say my life these days is a bit of a see-saw, with my job search right smack in the middle of things.

On one hand, I want my new job to be motivated by mission and purpose.

I want to find an opportunity that offers personal fulfillment and the chance to do good for other people. I also want to land in an organization and in a role that allows me to act as a good global citizen.

Yet as graduation nears, I’ll be honest: I have a lot of debt to deal with.

And sometimes that translates into feeling like I just need a job – any job – so I can start paying that off.

Not to mention the fact that it's easy feel pressured to take “the right” job after school – that is, the kind of job that most MBAs go for (consulting, finance, strategy etc). That may not be what I want, but when everyone else is doing it, it's hard to resist the urge to cave.

Given all of this, my Birthday Resolution is all about balance.

My goal for the year ahead is to find that point of balance on the see-saw - which means looking for opportunities that both quench my thirst for social purpose while also helping to turn down the volume on some of my anxieties.

Is this asking too much? Maybe. But I never said my Resolution had to be practical!

Sure, I know I’ll have to make trade-offs. This is not a scenario in which I can be guaranteed the best of both worlds. But perhaps I can strive for a job after school that is a happy medium between the two extremes.

What does this look like? To be honest I have no clue. But I’m working on it.

And I'm convinced that there are opportunities out there that will allow me to balance out my see-saw. I just have to find them!

As I kick my job search up a notch, I'll be sure to report on my progress here at The Changebase. In the meantime, have you ever made birthday resolutions? Even if it's not your birthday, I encourage you to think about stopping for a moment and taking stock of the direction in which you're heading. How can you reposition yourself to find your point of balance on the see-saw?

Eating Seasonal (and Sustainable)

I've written before on The Changebase about my own journey to find sustainable, local food - including this post on defining what local food really is. The big conclusion I reached after trying to define "local" was that what I really meant was eating seasonal.

By eating seasonally, we get a couple of benefits:

1. Food tastes better: Anyone living in a New England winter who's bought a package of raspberries shipped from California (or farther away!) knows what I'm talking about. There's a reason why raspberries, and many other fruits and veggies, don't grow naturally in the winter. Wait until prime growing season and your tastebuds will be rewarded.
2. It doesn't cost as much: Buying produce in season means you're getting it when it's most abundant - which means it's less expensive. Trust me, your wallet will thank you.
3. The planet is happier (and so are you): Ok, maybe "happy" isn't the right word, but there's plenty of evidence that eating in season places less stress on the environmental systems needed to grow your food. It means avoiding much of the artificial "stuff" that gets used to grow your watermelons in December, which by extension means ingesting less artificial stuff when you eat. 

So what's the catch? Well, I've found that it's actually kind of difficult to find out what's seasonal - given that each region of the world has different growing seasons (as well as natural resources that make growing certain foods easier or more difficult).

That said, I did find one resource recently that I thought was worth sharing.

Eat Seasonably is a UK-based campaign to get people thinking about what they eat and when. I first heard about this group via Twitter, and when I saw the incredibly helpful seasonal calendar they created, I was hooked.

Granted, I'm contradicting myself because this is an initiative that's focused on the United Kingdom, so the information in this calendar isn't completely applicable to where I (or maybe you) live. Still, the interactive map and downloadable pdf they put together is such a great tool that I still think it's worth sharing.

Check out the website and play with the interactive calendar - it's an easy, seamless, and visually interesting way of understanding what's best, what's available, and what should be avoided when.

According to the calendar, February's best includes leeks and cabbage...

Happy eating (seasonally)!

Micro-Actions for Change

When it comes to the crisis of Global Warming (what author and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman says should actually be called "Global Weirding"), things can get pretty overwhelming fast.

Animal extinction, water scarcity, rainforest destruction – these are all pretty heavy topics requiring big picture thinking and action.

And if world governments can't even build consensus to take action, how can we as individuals ever expect to make a difference?

Well, I'm here to say: Don't Get Discouraged.

Sure, many of these issues can only be solved through global coalitions that unite for a common purpose (and boy, does that sound like hard work!).

Nonetheless, it's important to remember that even big problems can be helped through small “micro-actions".

Take, for example, what happened just a few weeks ago at my own business school. The Boston University chapter of Net Impact organized something called “D.U.M.P. Week” (aka: Don’t Use More Plastic).

In essence, D.U.M.P. Week was about rallying the internal community to consider how their everyday choices – in this case, using plastic bottles – impact the world around them.

During each day of the promotion, members of the Net Impact board set up shop in the graduate student lounge to educate and connect with students around the topic of sustainability. Through tidbits and facts written on poster board, an informational video showing the impact that plastic has on the Earth, and fun contests and games, the chapter leaders were able to successfully and effectively get the student body engaged in sustainability in a very personal and on-the-ground way.

In addition to education, the organizers of D.U.M.P. Week asked students to consider signing a sustainability pledge that outlined a set of behaviors each student would agree to uphold. These included:

1. Power Down Computers
2. Bring Your Own Mug and Water Bottle
3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
4. Think Before Your Print
5. Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
6. Turn Off the Lights
7. Take Shorter Showers
8. Carry a Reusable Shopping Bag
9. Walk More, Drive Less
10. Wash Laundry in Cold Water

In exchange for signing the pledge, each student received his or her very own reusable water bottle (not plastic!) to kick-start these new behaviors.

So why was D.U.M.P. Week so successful? In many ways, it serves as a real-life example of everything I'm learning in my marketing classes:

You can always grab people's attention with big ideas, questions, even images. But until you tell consumers why it matters to them, you're missing your opportunity to connect, engage and inspire action.

D.U.M.P. Week wasn't just about scary doomsday scenarios or cold environmental terminology; it was about inspiring our community to connect, learn, and take action in easy and understandable ways.

As I waited in line to sign the pledge myself, I couldn’t help but feel excited by this small yet motivated demonstration of commitment by my fellow students (who, by the way, are still using their water bottles weeks later).

On their own, these behavior changes may seem like a drop in the bucket – but taken together they represent a collective, united plan of action that can and will have meaningful impact.

When it comes to sustainability, every bit (or micro-action) counts.

I encourage you to think about what micro-actions you could take to help move us toward a more sustainable planet.

And, if you’re looking for other examples of micro-change, check out Cindy Gallop and IfWeRanTheWorld.com. Cindy and her team (who I first learned about at The Feast) have created a crowd-sourcing platform for people to declare the actions (big and small) that they would take if they ran the world. Even better, the platform lets you share your idea with others and activate your network to get involved. Definitely worth checking out.

A TED Wish: Teach Every Child About Food

Anyone who knows me knows that food is a big part of my life - learning about it, talking about it, and especially eating it! I've written about my interest in food in past posts, and today I came across a recent TED talk about food that I thought was worth sharing.

First, for those of you who don't know, TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a non-profit "devoted to ideas worth sharing".

Every year TED organizes a conference that showcases truly outstanding collections of today's greatest thinkers, scientists, artists, activists and changemakers doing great things in the world. And the best part is that after each conference, TED posts these talks on its website so that everyone can learn and participate in the idea-sharing.

In addition to showcasing these incredibly diverse, passionate and articulate speakers - and this year's list is no exception - TED hands out an annual TED Prize. The goal of this Prize is to grant someone's "One Wish to Change the World". In addition to $100,000 in seed money, the TED Prize winner gets the chance to pitch his or her wish in front of the conference's incredible collection of attendees - with the purpose of inspiring the audience to act.

TED's goal, then, is to harness the power of its network to inspire collaboration on some of the world's most important and pressing problems.

The 2010 TED Prize winner is Jamie Oliver, a well-known British chef who's launched a campaign called Jamie's Food Revolution. Jamie's wish is this:

I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

To learn more about the problem that Jamie sees, and the solution he proposes, check out this video.

Congratulations Jamie, and good luck!