•  Plenty of data supports the growing humanization of our planet. Corporations that previously donated money and then considered their job done, now have a deeply and authentically ingrained giving-back ethic. They’re no longer posturing, or just being philanthropic, but working hard to solve society’s problems and genuinely make a difference.
•  According to the 2010 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey, more than eight in 10 companies (84 percent) believe volunteerism can help nonprofits accomplish long-term social goals. Corporate managers believe the top benefits of workplace volunteerism include alleviating a social issue (36 percent), helping nonprofits function more effectively (31 percent) and serving more clients (31 percent).
• On the individual level, 84% of Americans believe their ideas can help companies create products and services that are a win for consumers, business and society, according to the 2010 Cone Shared Responsibility Study.
• Bob Gilbreath, chief marketing strategist at Bridge Worldwide and author of “Marketing with Meaning,” reported that 71% of consumers are giving as much or more now as they were before the economic downturn. He reported 87% of consumers would switch brands based on association with a good cause and 50% of consumers would pay more for products from brands that support causes. The Cone Roper survey has validated this trend for years. 
• Chris MacDonald, who’s #61 on Ethisphere’s list of the 100 most influential people in business ethics, recently called this “the golden age of ethical business.”
• The 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report, a collaborative project of the Entrepreneurs Foundation and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, said, "Sustainability, the integration of people and planet into a company's purpose,” is on the radar for 73% of the respondents and becoming more important. “Environmental initiatives are saving money for companies and consumers, while environmentally conscientious companies are favorably perceived both in the marketplace and by prospective employees."
• Dave Stangis, Vice President of CSR and Sustainability at Campbell’s Soup said, “The emergence of the VP of CSR and VP of Sustainability titles seems proof of the growing strategic business position of CSR.” As validation, SustainableBusiness reported the posting of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) jobs increased 33% in 4Q09.

 

When I spent time with Rusty Robertson and Sue Schwartz of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) a few days ago, the expression “live the brand” came to life.

 

You’d be hard-pressed to find two people, anywhere on the planet, more energetic, committed and passionate. They’re inspiring, entertaining and driven - cyclonic forces of nature.

 

If you’re not familiar with SU2C, it’s the organization that launched itself publicly on September 5, 2008 in a one hour star-studded TV show simultaneously broadcast – commercial free - on CBS, ABC and NBC. The program aired in over 170 countries and featured lots of big-name celebrities, including Sidney Poitier, Meryl Streep, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Patrick Swayze, Jack Black, Sheryl Crow and Beyonce. Network news anchors Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams, reported on stage about cutting-edge cancer research.

 

Rusty is one of the top marketers in the U.S. She’s also an impassioned advocate, having founded the Margaret Thatcher Foundation and Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure®, the global leader of the breast cancer movement. Rusty lost her mother to lung cancer.

 

Sue has an innovative marketing background with leading companies like Revlon. Like Rusty, she’s worked hard to make the world a better place. She helped create the Noreen Fraser Foundation and experienced the pain of cancer having lost her mother to multiple myeloma.

 

Sue, Rusty and seven other women form the leadership team behind SU2C. The organization has raised more than $100 million to date for cancer research. And it’s just getting off the blocks; SU2C turns one year old in May.

 

“Nearly everyone’s been touched by cancer,” Rusty said. "One out of every two men and one out of every three women will face this disease in their lifetime. Cancer claims one person every minute of every day in the United States alone. Every year, it takes the lives of more than half a million Americans and seven million people worldwide. The moment is now.”

 

How has a 501(c)(3) been able to have so much positive impact in such a short period of time? Crisp differentiation.

 

While there are many phenomenal cancer-fighting organizations, SU2C isn’t competing with any of them. “We’ve all had enough with divisiveness – just give – no matter which cause. Just give,” Rusty said.

 

The purposeful efforts of Stand Up To Cancer can teach lessons to every organization attempting to build community, raise money, gain public support and differentiate itself:   

 

 

Public relations – properly practiced – takes into account every single stakeholder (or “public”) an organization deals with in its daily life. Employees. Consumers. Local communities. Local/state/federal governments. Bloggers. Partners. Policy makers. Channels. Reporters. Industry analysts. Buy- and sell-side financial analysts. Stockholders. Literally, everyone an organization touches. There may be different levels of priority, but they all have to be factored into the mix.
 
2. PR isn’t self-serving, it’s serving others.

 

7. PR isn’t one-way, it’s two-way.
When you send out an e-mail blitz to a prospect, run an online banner ad or issue a news release, these are all examples of one-way communication. The message is crafted and pushed out. These are closed-loop systems.
 
By contrast, true public relations is an open system and a two-way process. The goal isn’t simply to communicate, but rather to be understood and believed. To affect this attitudinal change, continual conversations must take place between the communicator and message recipients (publics). If companies/organizations don’t listen well or engage in open, honest dialogue with the people they want to influence – and change behaviors when necessary –trust isn’t built.
 
8. PR isn’t fabricated.

• An ostrich chasing a mailman
• a wild boar sticking its head out a family car’s rear window to catch some air 
• a rhino rampaging through a living room as the owner called its name to go out for a walk
• a bull that wouldn’t catch a Frisbee.

Frosted Flakes raised the bar with its 30-second “Plant a seed” spot, urging people to visit FrostedFlakes.com to nominate youth playing fields to be rebuilt pro bono by Kellogg’s. Tony the Tiger even made his Super Bowl debut. After sorting through thousands of nominated playing fields, Kellogg’s will narrow the list to 100. Then it will select 30 which will all be brought back to life by Kellogg’s.

Denny’s literally stepped up to the plate with its Super Bowl ad. While advertising their Grand Slam breakfast, Denny’s announced an amazing act of kindness: giving away free Grand Slam breakfasts for everyone in America on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. at all 1,500 locations. While self-servingly winning new customers, Denny’s is also building tremendous ‘helping others’ goodwill at a time when people need it most.   

GE ran a clever spot - inspired by the Wizard of Oz’s Scarecrow character – plugging “smart grid technology.” Yes it was self-promotional, but it also conveyed a ‘larger than GE’ thought leadership message built around its successful “Ecomagination” campaign which urges a cleaner, greener world.

72% of Americans wish their employer would do more to support a cause and social issue. 87% are likely to switch from one brand to another brand if the other brand is associated with a good cause (Source: 2007 Cone Cause Evolution Study).

Last night’s advertising assault finally included companies with a conscience who understand that it’s good business when brands make-the-world-a-better-place. 

A god on the bike, a font of hope for cancer patients, Lance Armstrong is a force as a brand.

 

Yet as Michael Phelps towers over sport, as Brett Favre defies middle age, as the presidential campaign burns up any remaining celebrity oxygen, Lance has been in the shadows. Now he is coming out of retirement to pursue an improbable eighth Tour de France victory, and more importantly, “raise awareness of the global cancer burden.”

 

Lance is as astonishing as a brand as he is an athlete. Along with Ali, he’s one of the few world-class celebrity athletes to successfully reposition himself as a humanitarian, and no one’s done it more effectively. Nonetheless, he’s far from pristine. Rumors of performance-enhancing drugs have dogged him for years, and he’s a little rough around the edges – a bit of a cutthroat on the bike, a stereotypical ugly American in Europe, and what was up with Ashley Olsen?

 

Since complexity makes good characters and nobody messes with Texas I guess, he gets a pass on the personality stuff. The drug rumors, however, are an undeniable flaw on the otherwise golden brand. So, consistent with his perfectionism, he’s reportedly pledging to have himself drug-tested constantly in cycling career 2.0 and be transparent with the results. You can believe he’ll follow through: other cycling teams have started doing the same and are building brands as certifiably clean sportsmen. (How about NFL linemen next? Naw, that wouldn’t be any fun.)

 

Lance’s transcendent brand draws obvious power from the enormity of his cause and the sincerity of his pursuit. But the subtler lesson from Lance’s personal brand revival is the same one he demonstrates on the bike. Never rest on your laurels, don’t go quietly into obscurity, and as good as you are, believe you can always get better. 

The #7 idea in next week’s Time cover story – “10 ideas that are changing the world” – is Synthetic Authenticity. “Promoting products as ‘authentic’ is serious business these days,” says Time writer John Cloud.

 

It’s also apparently a hot (or ‘kool?’) concept in some ad campaigns. Stoli Vodka headlines trumpet “Choose Authenticity.” Kool cigarettes urge people to “Be Authentic.”  Even the state of Maryland jumped into the fray, Cloud says, with its “Even the fun is authentic” promotion.

 

One thing’s for sure: you can’t have a true marketing movement without a gospel, a guiding tome, a clever book.

 

Enter Authenticity by James Gilmore and Joseph Pine. It inspired most of Time’s # 7 world changing notion. Ever read The Experience Economy during the Internet bubble? Gilmore and Pine wrote it. It introduced the notion of consumers being willing to pay a premium for “staged experiences” perceived as having inherent personal value. Think Starbucks.

 

In Authenticity, the authors believe the current “aura of inauthenticity around some brands is killing them.” The crucial factor dividing success from failure, Time interprets, “will be whether a business is perceived as real or fake, authentic or inauthentic.”

 

How should a company convey authenticity? Three ways, say the authors.

 

Approach # 1 involves companies being totally transparent and true to themselves and their claims. Think Chipotle Mexican Grill which only serves non-antibiotic meat. The challenge with Approach # 1, however, is that when you screw up (think Jet Blue stranding passengers for hours) your authentic company’s reputation gets nailed.

 

Approach # 2 involves openly faking it. Case in point: Verizon paying for product placement on the TV show “30 Rock” and Tina Fey eyeballing the camera when she says, “Can we have our money now?” This strategy is total tongue-in-cheek transparency. It says ‘I’m authentic because I’m openly fake.’     

 

Approach # 3 is to be “fake-real.” In this scenario, the company doesn’t have to be exactly what it says it is. The Canyon Ranch, a famous spa, isn’t really a ranch. The Daily Show isn’t a news show. Uh, okay.

 

Is this all a pile of crap or is there some nugget of validity?

 

Tom Asacker, author of A Clear eye for Branding, thinks authenticity is a “hollow cry.” He says “authenticity schmauthenticity!” To Asacker, it “smells of the marketing puffery we chide.” He continues, “What consumers really want is a good act. Like theatre goers, they want to suspend disbelief and ‘get lost’ in a well-crafted and well-executed brand experience – consistency, sincerity, and a perfectly attuned expression of their desires, sensibilities and identities.”    

 

Maybe it’s me, but isn’t Asacker saying the same thing as Gilmore and Pine?

 

Then again, doesn’t Gilmore and Pine’s new marketing doctrine remind you of their 1999 Experience Economy? Check this out: “Stop saying what your offerings are through advertising and start creating places – permanent or temporary, physical or virtual – where people can experience what those offerings, as well as your enterprise, actually are.” It wouldn’t be the first time a marketing guru re-spins one brilliant idea.

 

So, here’s the question for you? Does any of this authenticity stuff have validity for B2B technology companies?

 

If you’re a B2B technology company selling signaling hardware or voice response systems or high performance computers or enterprise software or virtualization solutions, is it important for “users” to feel authenticity from their vendor? Or do they just need a product that works and keeps rolling along, seamlessly delivering value? Should B2B companies create feeling experiences for their customers?   

 

You know what I think (or if you don’t, go here or here or here).

If a B2B company is in a commodity, price-driven market with lots of competitors sounding alike, one way it can differentiate is to invest some time and money making it a socially aligned business. This effort doesn't have to be the sole purpose of the company, but rather one genuine initiative among many.

Time’s John Cloud says, “People want their purchases to elevate them, to transform them. They want products to connect them to history or to a cause.”

Ditto for high level B2B decision makers who are increasingly saying, “Why not spend money with a company that has a great product and also cares about the world in which it competes?"

 

So allow me to introduce Authenticity Approach # 4: build great products, create trusted, high value partnerships with your customers and spend a little time and money helping others.

 

Let’s call it “Self-serving, genuine caring, B2B authenticity.”

Bad news: our deepening intimacy with electronic devices is apparently to blame for our growing apathy toward communing with nature.

 

“As a scientist and a conservationist, I find these results almost terrifying,” said Oliver Pergams, lead author of a new Nature Conservancy international recreation study published online by National Academy of Sciences. “We are seeing a fundamental shift away from people’s interest in nature, not just in the US but in other countries, too. The consequences of this could be deep and far-ranging for health, for human well-being, and for the future of the planet.”

 

Camping, hunting, fishing and national park visits have declined sharply for two decades, the researchers found. TV, video games and Internet use – videophilia is the term – are way up.

 

What’s a planet to do?

 

Almost as scary as the research is the fact it will take a new strategy to, yes, market nature: Said the authors, “Less exposure to nature seems to mean less environmental awareness and appreciation of nature for its own sake. Instead, people may come to value nature more for the goods and services nature provides, like photosynthesis and pollinators. Making people aware of the incredible value of such ecosystem services would become the more pragmatic approach.”

 

Ecosystem services? I think I need to take a walk.