BrandDigital | BrandSimple: The Blog

(photo courtesy of justHugo via Flickr)

How well are companies doing at doing the right thing these days? Actually, they’re doing great things in the areas of green behavior, human rights, education, philanthropy, and the like. What they’re not doing so well is getting recognized by consumers for their good deeds. And the fact is, consumers will more likely take out their wallets for those brands they feel are helping make the world a better place. Those brands doing the best job at getting the credit they deserve are those that link their social behavior with their brand’s promise. Take a read of my latest column in Forbes Online and you’ll learn about companies who are succeeding at this effort and how they — and the world — are reaping the benefits.

Among the many questions being asked of brand professionals during this crisis of confidence and commerce is whether companies can afford to be good. That is, with all the cost-cutting and down-sizing, should companies shelve initiatives relating to social responsibility until better times return? My short answer is, no. In fact, at this time of distrust and missteps, consumers will look even harder at the totality of the brand promise as they ponder the value of potential purchases. What they’ll consider as things continue to get tougher is that value cannot just be measured in price-value, but in corporate values, ethics-wise, humanity-wise, or green-wise. While some may think that getting through this economic tsunami alive requires belt-tightening and belt-tightening only, I believe just the opposite. It’s precisely during times of scandal, bogus bonuses and breaches of trust that organizations must demonstrate that offering a good product is only half the reason for consumers to buy in; the other is the character of the brand doing the offering. This is not the time to break down the wall between the business side and the brand side of the equation, but the time to shore it up. Pushing aside all endeavors that don’t directly keep the lights on will, in my opinion, simply turn consumers off.

While in the past it was okay if do-good activities were merely a reflection of the CEO’s favorite philanthropic cause, this is no longer the case. In today’s transparent world, with money squeezed so tight and consumer confidence so low, it’s critical that companies do everything possible to draw attention to what makes their brand’s promise meaningfully different from the competition’s. Aligning social initiatives with the brand promise is not just the responsible thing to do; it makes good business sense for bad times.

“A paradox, a paradox, how quaint the ways of paradox,” to paraphrase a Gilbert and Sullivan tune. Well, not quaint the ways of this paradox: Bottled water, that is. This booming business, this signal of healthy living is not healthy for the environment. Recent news reports tell us that all those plastic bottles are rapidly adding to the industrial emissions heating up our planet. Bottled water brands can stick their heads in the blazing sand and hope this green issue will go away, but it won’t. According to the recent Landor ImagePower® survey it’s picking up steam which could affect the bottled water business in a booming negative way. That’s why it’s not too hard to imagine that the first of these brands to develop a functional and stylish bottle that can be refilled or, at the very least, is manufactured to be environmentally harmless could be in a very advantageous category position. This proactive brand will endear itself to the growing number of consumers who carry their plastic bottles as a symbol of healthy living and even allow them to signal that their health-conscious attitude applies to the world, at large. As I think about it even more, it shouldn’t take too long for major cities to capitalize on this effort. The first city to officially brand its refreshing tap water and figure out an innovative way for its citizens to tote it around would find itself in a very advantageous position, as well. From a branding perspective, it’s no paradox that sometimes the best answers are right under your nose. Mayor Bloomberg, make some stylish NYC reusable water bottles, brand them “Bloomberg’s Best” and watch them help you turn NYC into the Greenest city in America!!

A couple of months ago I wrote about Ford’s new Bold Moves branding campaign. I lauded the company for taking the initial steps required to revive its brand after years of tepid performance. Among the initiatives I cited was the introduction of the hybrid Ford Escape, a vehicle both fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly. I suggested that a really bold move for Ford would be an offer to replace New York City’s entire gas-guzzling, emission-spewing taxi fleet with these green vehicles – a public relations branding signal that would be good for Ford’s brand and great for the planet. While Ford was in no position to do so at the time, it seems that my suggestion was not all that preposterous. It appears New York City’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, has a similar idea. In fact, he’d like to see all New York City cabs replaced with hybrid vehicles within the next five years as part of his PlaNYC which calls for reducing greenhouse emissions in the Big Apple 30 percent by the year 2030. In response to the challenge, Yahoo! immediately donated 10 Ford Escapes to get things rolling. While Ford may not have been in a position to do so a few months ago, I’d say there’s never been a better time than now for them to take the position of change agent in the quest to slow global warming. New York City’s environmental plan is far more extensive than that of any other major city. Converting its fleet of 13,000 yellow cabs to green would send a very strong signal to the world. Ford, by playing a significant role in this effort, would send, in turn, a very strong branding signal. A signal that would be an extremely hard one to equal in its category.