Robert Tercek kindly invited me on his new show ‘This Week in Social Media‘ last week. As one of the world’s most prolific creators of interactive content and former President of of Digital Media at OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, Robert is a world authority on the future of digital media and someone I highly recommend watching and following. The new show is designed to provide weekly insights and updates on the latest in emerging social technologies and that is critical to every business today. We discussed branding social change,social tactics/strategies, Facebook and privacy, and a bunch of other contentious issues. I hope you enjoy the interview and thanks to Robert for including me. You can follow Robert on twitter @superplex and the show here.

Al Gore, the former vice-president of the United States and a force behind the climate change debate and the film An Inconvenient Truth, has just announced a 24- hour worldwide presentation called “24-Hours of Reality” to combat the country’s growing disbelief that man’s actions are dramatically shaping the planet’s climate. Gore aims to enlist the power of social media to this end stating on the website:

“The climate deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality.”

In a dramatic demonstration of how social media can be used to engage a global community, the project is reaching out to volunteers asking them to donate their Facebook and Twitter accounts for a few days to enlist their community’s support for climate change awareness.

The architecture of the approach is very interesting. The project itself will move through every time zone, enlisting the support of social media users who volunteer their accounts to spread awareness of climate change amongst their friends and family. In the course of 24 hours, such an approach can effectively create an awareness wave that sweeps around the globe, enlisting unprecedented engagement and support around the debate. Over 800,000 people have already volunteered their social media accounts and Climate Reality on Facebook has over 120,000 likes.

The approach taken by the project is simple. They ask for three steps of engagement. Firstly, commit to watch the 24 hours of reality event for which you RSVP on Facebook. Secondly, you plan a viewing party with your friends, co-workers or neighbors (the project site provides a platform through which to easily invite and register guests).  Thirdly, you donate your social network, and specifically your tweets and Facebook status updates, to the Climate Reality Project. Donors will still be able to tweet and post as normal and permission can be revoked at any time.

The Climate Reality Project serves a powerful demonstration of how social media now allows individuals to not just volunteer their own interest, time or dollars towards a cause that’s meaningful to them, but also their entire community. It provides a powerful opportunity to be a part of something larger than yourself, and to play an active role in what could be a historic shift in perception. And, yet again, social media is poised to play a powerful contributory role in a shift in thinking and behavior that can help build a better world.

Do you believe social media is an effective way to educate people about climate change?  Would you be willing to volunteer your social networks for a cause you care about?

The outpouring of support and respect for Steve Jobs was not only a testament to the creativity, passion and brilliance of the man, but also what’s possible for the corporate leaders of America.

What if every corporate leader was as singularly associated with a positive impact on society as Steve Jobs was for humanizing design?

What if all companies offered unparalleled transparency and accountability for their impact on the environment as we see with Patagonia?

What if every social game makers tethered virtual goods to donations so that giving became scalable and fun as Zynga did?

What if all corporate leaders committed to executing purposeful strategies at the holding company level like Indra Nooyi has at PepsiCo?

What if every brand adopted a global leadership strategy as Nike has using its Environmental Apparel Design Tool, Nike Green XChange, and work with the Livestrong foundation to address issues larger than itself?

What if all competitors chose to work together as we see with Nike, Adidas and Puma, who have partnered with others in the Sustainable Apparel Coalition?

What if every heavyweight challenged itself and its supply chain to reduce their carbon footprints in a matter of months rather than decades as Wal-Mart has?

What if all Wall Street firms recognized that their greatest assets are not their buildings or bonuses but the customers protesting at their doors?

What if corporate America shifted from defending itself to attacking social problems?

What impact would that have on consumer respect for business leaders? What would it mean to your employees? What would it do for your bottom line? And, most importantly, what could it do for our country?

Which begs the question: What will it take for you to change?

Today I wanted to write about the relaunch of BrandKarma, which I have mentioned before as one of the examples of platforms that empower customers to be mindful consumers, and therefore help to create a private sector that also functions as a third pillar of social change in support of government and philanthropy. Its site gives a voice to the social community that cares about the world we live in, and the world we leave our kids. What’s more, it recognizes the right of every citizen or customer to have a say in which companies succeed and which are encouraged to change their behavior.

What BrandKarma did was to create a platform that made it easy for you to see the brands holistically, and to share your opinions about them wherever and whenever you want. In doing so, it redefines a customer’s relationship with brands. For too long, advertising has thrived on the basis of media monopolies that basically told us what to think, do and buy. Now, BrandKarma empowers consumers to judge brands on the basis of how good their products are, how they treat people and how they look after the planet. It does this with a view to a sustainable practice of capitalism, which ultimately is in the service of companies themselves because brands cannot survive in societies that fail.

To facilitate this new customer engagement, BrandKarma has done four things:

They give customers the power to rate companies so that brands start to value the social capital and influence that a brand has amongst its customer community.

By extension, it also gives customers a chance to make suggestions about how brands could make their products differently or provide an improved service.

In the third stage, it enables customers to amplify their opinions by leveraging social media to share the brands they support with others using channels like Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, BrandKarma allows you to make an informed purchasing decision by allowing you to compare brands by industry, and choose ethical, socially responsible products when you want to make a purchase.

All this input is then factored into what is an aggregate score for a brand, or what they call a “Karma Score”, and BrandKarma lists the top 100 rankings on its site. It further breaks out a rating for the product, people and planet peculiar to that brand, and tracks the relative standing of each brand over time, incentivizing brands to upgrade their commitment to sustainability.

It’s no accident that a platform such as BrandKarma was developed by veteran brander himself, Craig Davis. The fact that the platform was started by someone who has worked for years in the service of brands is instructive as to the importance of social currency towards profitability and brand reputation in the future. Companies of all types would be well-advised to respond to the drivers that inform BrandKarma, and work with the platform itself to inspire customer loyalty, goodwill and profits. In doing so, they will not only insure their own well-being, they will improve society at large and the sustainability of the planet, not just for themselves, but for generations to come.

Do you think it’s important for consumers to tell brands what they think? What are the best ways you think BrandKarma can get others involved in its platform?

Making the business case for doing good is absolutely critical to meaningful shift in corporate behavior to address our current economic crises and build a better world. fortunately that is easier than ever thanks to great new research and resources being made available by like-minded institutions.

1. The first resource I want to share is the infographic above put together by the great folks at Made For Good, that describes itself as a catalyst for collaboration committed to paying it forward. made for Good partners with non-profit to enable substantive change and this infographic is a great snapshot of how brands must embrace social responsibility of they hope to be meaningful to their customers lives.

2. As the largest PR firm in the world, you won’t find greater research credibility than from Edelman PR. What’s more their GoodPurpose report is a treasure trove of insights into today’s consumer and his or here expectations from brands. You can download the report here and it is an invaluable annual global study exploring attitudes around social purpose. Plus here is an interview with Carol Cone and Mitch Markson discussing the conclusions of the report.

3. Thirdly, here is a new global report from Havas Media on Meaningful Brands across 14 markets that lists the Top 20 global brands according to their index. This includes fascinating statistics about consumer sentiment that bolster the case for the other two sources above. Plus it includes some really useful infographics like this one below.

4. Finally here is a fantastic new report from longtime leader in the Cause Marketing space, Cone Inc. Their 2011 Cause evolution study include fantastic insights such as 83% of Americans wish more products, services and retailers would support a cause. You can get a download of the full report here.

By leveraging the research and data in these reports it is far easier to make the business case for social change in a way that can engage the attention of leadership, employees and customers. By embracing the current economic challenges and assuming some part of our shared responsibility for providing a solution, we can definitely remake our world.

Are there any other reports you would want to share? What do you think is the greatest obstacle to business acting on such research?

Havas Media just came out with an insightful new report entitled, “Meaningful Brands For A Sustainable Future.” One of the most telling aspects of the report was how it revealed the often-overlooked punitive side of the social business marketplace.  Specifically, that means the growing awareness and capacity of consumers to punish brands for their duplicitous behavior or outright lack of social responsibility.

The report contains three key facts that contain profound warnings to marketers.

1. Only 28 percent of consumers worldwide think that companies today are working hard to solve the big social and environmental challenges people care about.

Two things stand out about this fact. Firstly, that less than 30% of consumers think that companies are either working hard or sincerely toward addressing social crises. But secondly, the final phrase “challenges people care about.” If there is one hallmark of the social business marketplace, it’s that there is now a real-time dialogue between brands and consumers, and if companies hope to inspire loyalty and goodwill from their customers, they have to act in a way that is meaningful to their customers’ lives. By ignoring the social and environmental challenges that their customers care about, brands are running the risk of a) being irrelevant and b) inviting consumer backlash (in the form of social media messaging or product purchases) in retribution for a lack of social responsibility.

2.  Sixty-four percent of consumers believe most companies are only being responsible to improve their image.

One of the most persistent demands of consumers from brands that now use social media channels to promote their products and services is authenticity in their communications.  If over half of consumers believe that brands are only being responsible to improve their image, rather than to genuinely address the issues that their customers care about, the majority of companies are setting themselves up for disaster.

Consumer demand for transparency and accountability follow quickly behind authenticity. We now live in a marketplace in which consumers not only have the information available to them through the internet, but the ability to share it in real-time thanks to social media. So as more companies seek to leverage their purpose in order to connect to their customers, we’re going to see the purpose-space become just as crowded as the green-space with many players feigning social responsibility as a cynical marketing tactic, rather than as an authentic commitment. Brands that do this may benefit over the short-term, but will suffer far more over the long term. These concurrent demands of authenticity, transparency, and accountability will be the traits that distinguish those brands that succeed moving forward based on their ability to inspire their customer community to amplify their messaging.

3. Most people would not care if 70% of brands disappeared in the future.

Deep consumer distrust is now translating to little regard or attachment for 70% of brands in the marketplace. So leadership cannot allow itself to be lulled into a false sense of security simply because they currently dominate the marketplace or their industry.  Technology is already radically transforming the way business is done across all industries, and now consumers are more predisposed than ever to embrace new brands that are not only tech-savvy, but socially-responsible as well.

These three facts are just some of the invaluable insights available within the Havas Media “Meaningful Brands for Sustainable Future” report.  This report concluded that the brands that systemically improve our personal and collective world being are rewarded with stronger brand equity and consumer attachment.

So mindful that this survey was based on research that included 50,000 people in 14 countries and 300 brands across 12 sectors, here is a list of the top 20 meaningful global brands.

1. IKEA

2. Google

3. Nestlé

4. Danone

5. Leroy Merlin

6. Samsung

7. Microsoft

8. Sony

9. Unilever

10. Bimbo

11. LG

12. Philips

13. Apple

14. P&G

15. Mars

16. Volkswagen

17. L’Oréal

18. Walmart

19. Carrefour

20. Coca-Cola

For more on the report, click here. For the Meaningful Brands infographic, click here. For the Meaningful Brands Global Quickfact Sheet, click here.

What do you think it will take for the majority of brands to embrace the fact that they must be meaningful to their customers’ lives? What do you think is the greatest obstacle in their way?

Over the last several months we have witnessed the rise of the #OccupyWallStreet movement, both across America and around the world, and witnessed its tour of a familiar news cycle. At first, it was dismissed out of hand as a collection of rabble-rousers with no clear or unified intent. It was then re-characterized as a fringe movement with radical demands. It soon became a popular movement, spreading to what is now over a thousand cities in eighty-seven countries around the world. As a consequence, the movement developed sufficient social resonance, on the web and across social media channels, to warrant the attention of traditional news outlets. What is still lacking from this coverage, however, is an accurate articulation of the line in the sand that the #OccupyWallStreet movement represents.

Customer and citizen activism, epitomized in the #OccupyWallStreet movement, is tangible evidence of several transformative forces gaining momentum at home and abroad. They all turn on the ability of social media to give regular people a voice, and to scale their message through what is now a wide selection of channels, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and beyond.

On the political side, this newfound capacity to drive historic change is clearly evident in the Arab Spring Revolutions which have swept through Tunisia,Egypt, Libya, and continue to threaten the traditional power structure inSyria. On the commercial front, we have seen an increasing level of comfort and sophistication in the use of social media by consumers. Whether its the harvesting of palm oil by Nestle,  the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, thecancellation of debit card fees by Bank of America, the nationwide Bank Transfer Movement (in which 700,000 customers transferred their savings to Credit Unions to the tune of $4.6 billion), or the customer push-back against Netfix regarding Quikster which resulted in a 30% drop in their stock price, customers are increasingly demanding greater social responsibility from brands. On the positive side, smart marketers have embraced the opportunity to collaborate with their customers, as evidenced by the Pepsi Refresh Project, P&G’s Pamper’s/UNICEF collaboration, and the recent strategicpartnership between Pizza Hut and Zynga to support the World Food Program. What each of these examples demonstrates is the rising impact of social media and citizen activism within the private sector. And this is only the beginning.

Wall Street and brands of all sizes will soon be forced to reconcile themselves to an obvious but consequential fact– their greatest assets are not their tall office buildings, their long-standing reputations, or their most recent quarterly profits, but rather their customers. And those customers have changed. Armed with tools that allow them to connect and amplify their message, tomorrow’s customers will celebrate and admonish brands through their purchasing power. If a company is acting in a transparent and socially responsible manner, consumers will actively celebrate its products and services using the multiple tools and channels now available to them. In the same way, those brands that act purely out of self-interest, or disingenuously, or choose to dismiss outright the concerns of their customer community, will invite the ire of millions of connected and media-savvy customers.

It is no accident that we are now seeing the smartest brands market themselves on the basis of the values they share with their customer communities. This is why we see the Pepsi Refresh Project, Starbucks Shared Planet, Wal Mart Sustainability Index, Patagonia Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Procter and Gamble’s Click For Water blogovation campaign, and so on. These multinational companies are still beholden to their shareholders and rightly focused on the bottom lines, but they are working towards social change not just because it’s well intended but because it’s well received, allowing them to be effective architects of community.

At the same time, consumers are being armed with tools that better equip them to expose brands not acting in accordance with their stated values. For example, mobile applications such as GoodGuide allow shoppers to get a social benefit rating of a given product using a barcode scanner in their smartphone. Online platforms like Brand Karma combine consumer feedback and research to create a new index of the most socially responsible brands, so that customers can make an informed decision as to which brands they want to support through what they buy. So at the same time we see mainstream adoption of social media, and at the same time we see an increasing assumption of responsibility by customers for the change they want to see in the world, consumers are being handed easy-to-use and sophisticated tools that hold brands accountable for their corporate behavior.

This rise of social technology, and the demand it drives for more human interaction between brands and their customers, can no more be turned back than we can turn back social media, the digital revolution, or the internet itself. What’s more, the desire for such engagement is being driven by the peristant economic downturn that is forcing citizens to demand greater social responsibility from brands. It is being driven by real unemployment of 16%, by1 in 7 Americans relying of Food Stamps, and by 1 in 6 U.S. citizens now living below the government set poverty line. So while the Occupy Wall Street movement boasts a dizzying array of grievances, it is united by a singular cry for a more sustainable practice of capitalism and more equal distribution of wealth.

It is no accident that leading brands are already getting out in front of these changes. They include Coca Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, General Motors, Proctor and Gamble, Starbucks, Patagonia and Nike. These companies have already re-framed their thinking from being the celebrity of their customer communities to being the chief celebrant of their customers. They are already re-framing leadership, employee engagement and organizational structures around their new role as community architects. They are already putting their shoulders behind the core values that their brands stand for so that their services and products can be meaningful to the lives of their online communities.

The creative destruction that social media is currently unleashing will change more than technology or the leader board of the Fortune 100. It is driving a qualitative shift in the nature of relationships between brands and their customers. It is demanding greater transparency, authenticity, and accountability from brands which has enormous and difficult implications at every level of business practices. But it also represents an unprecedented opportunity for those brands that rise to the challenge of being responsible corporate citizens within a mutually-dependant global community. The question remains: which brands will commit to creating a private sector pillar of social change, and which will become casualties of their own outdated thinking?

This post originally appeared in Forbes.com. If you’re interested in building your brand and business using social media in 2012, join us at We First Social Branding seminar, where world class experts will you through the stages required to create an actionable Social Branding Blueprint, specific to your business, based on the best practices, case studies and bottom lines benefits of the world’s smartest marketers. What’s more you’ll get an extra ticket to invite your favorite non-profit so you’ll be making a contribution just by attending. Places are very limited so register now.

No topic strikes at the heart of so many problems challenging our country, the private sector, and business success than the issue of trust.

Today’s marketplace is almost defined by a lack, or loss, of trust. This is borne out by research by the world’s largest PR firm, Edelman, whose 2011 Trust Barometer found that trust in US business to do the right thing had fallen eight points in the last year to be only five points above Russia. So nothing could be more important right now than a book that speaks to the architecture of trust with a view to core business benefits that include teamwork, culture change and leadership, all of which drive profits.

Smart Trust, by renowned bestselling New York Times bestselling author, Stephen Covey and Greg Link, is a book that all business leaders need to read. This is apparent from the outset, where the foreword by Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo (Fortune’s most influential female business leader for the last five years running), characterizes this book as a renaissance of trust.

Like all hard-won victories, trust needs to be earned, built, and maintained. Steven and Greg to a masterful job of telling us exactly how to do that step-by-step so that we can integrate it within our organizations and take it to market. Not surprisingly, rather than looking at the issue of trust from the outside in, they challenge each of us to build trust within an organization from the inside out. Specifically, it starts by requiring that each of us choose to believe in trust again and builds through 5 key steps:

1. Choosing to believe in trust
2. Starting with yourself
3. Declaring your intent and assuming the same positive intent in others
4. Doing what you say you’re going to do
5. Leading by extending trust to others

As self-evident as these may sound, anyone who’s worked in a large organization knows that the integration of such human qualities throughout a company’s culture requires a delicate and specific set of skills. Using insights from their work with thousands of employees in companies like AT&T, Frito Lay, La Nova, Zappos and Whole Foods, Steven and Greg walk us through the insights learned from hands-on experience in transforming large scale corporate cultures into bastions of trust.

Ironically, it’s these very human qualities that define the interactions between employees, between employees and leadership, and ultimately the profits of a company. Smart Trust is an indispensable guidebook in how you not only create, disseminate, and inspire trust within an organization, but in so doing, unlock all the brand reputation, customer service, and bottom-line benefits for a company that only trust can create. It’s a must read so order your copy now by clicking here, or visit SmartTrustBook.com.

Image: Absolut/Fader

I had the pleasure of speaking at the San Diego Ad Club last week after Dan Burrier, the Chief Innovation Officer at Ogilvy and my former boss on the Motorola account. Not only is Dan a friend and someone I greatly admire, but he said something that evening that struck me very deeply. He said that branding is now more about the “doing” than the “telling.”

I think Dan is absolutely right. For too long, branding as practiced by advertising agencies has been focused on the Big Idea that, well told, will connect emotionally with a customer and motivate them to buy a product or service. But in this new era of transparency, characterized by Wiki Leaks, the activities of Anonymous, and the revelations about corporate practices that have filled the newspapers over recent months, a brand can no longer afford to simply trade on an idea of what it stands for. Instead, in this era of radical transparency, a brand must be willing to tell the story of what it’s actually doing.

That’s why the purpose of a brand is so critical to its bottom line success in the social business marketplace. That purpose not only informs how leadership steers the company and the satisfaction of its employees, but it also defines what actions the brand takes to improve the lives of its customers. For if a company wants their customers to grow their business by buying its products and services, that company must be meaningful to its customers lives. Such meaningfulness is found in the concrete actions a brand is taking to better the lives of its customers and the world at large in alignment with its core values.

On the one hand this is a burden on companies, in that brands must work out what they stand for, communicating it with employees, and bring it to life through their actions. This is not a simple or quick process. Yet at the same time, once you’ve done it, storytelling becomes much easier. A brand simply needs to share the story of what it’s doing with its employees, products, services, and cause work to improve the well being of others. It will enable the brand to build a community of customers aligned around shared values and connected by social media that will be happy to amplify the brand’s message using their own social media channels.

So instead of fabricating the Big Idea, and living in fear of the rise of transparency, a brand can put its shoulder behind its purpose and simply tell the story of what it’s doing in the marketplace. It’s this connection between the “doing” and “telling” of a brand’s story that defines success in the new social media marketplace. So if brands want to capitalize on social media to build their bottom line, take Dan’s advice by focusing on what your brand is doing in alignment with its purpose and values and simply tell that story.

If you’re interested in your brand storytelling, I invite you to join us at the We First Social Branding Seminar on the 1st and 2nd of February in Los Angeles at the Marina Del Rey Marriott hotel. Every attendee will be walking through a Social Branding Blueprint that takes them from the definition of their brand purpose through to its social media expression, so you walk out with a Blueprint that offers real value to your business that you can act on. Plus, every attendee gets an extra ticket free to invite their favorite non-profit. This is the last week to register, so visit www.WeFirstSeminar.com now.

On Wednesday, the first We First Social Branding Seminar begins. Our team has prepared an event that we believe will be truly unique and valuable to the success of the brands that are coming. But that would not have been possible without your help in spreading the message.

There are so many people I want to thank for their continued support. From insightful thought leaders like Brian Solis, Beth Kanter, Mari Smith, Valeria Maltoni, and so many friends on twitter that kindly shared the information.

I want to to thank the sponsors whose contributions have ensured that this will be a very special event. They include the UN Foundation, CauseCast, Hewlett Packard, SocialVibe Radian6, CSR Wire, and PR Newswire. We’d also like to thank  Success Magazine, GOOD Magazine, Project 7 and Chico Bags who are giving every attendee valuable and meaningful gifts.

I want to thank my We First  team, led by Morgan, that has worked tirelessly for the last four months. Natalie, Devin, Bill, Jason, Catherine, Bryan, Cameron, David and Cole. This would not have been possible without you.

And thanks to everyone in the We First community who has tweeted or retweeted the information, posted it on their Facebook profile, shared it on Google+, or passed it on to colleagues on LinkedIn.

Perhaps the most meaningful way of saying thank you is to let you know that the event is supporting over 40 non-profits that were either brought by other guests for free, or received a very special non-profit rate. This includes meaningful causes as far-ranging as pregnancy clinics, environmental groups, children’s education, and cancer research.

We are so excited about Wednesday and having a great two days at the wonderful Marina Del Rey Marriott hotel in Marina Del Rey that has been a wonderful host throughout the event.

To those of joining us on Wednesday, we’re so excited to spend these two days together building your brands, businesses, and positive social impact. If you couldn’t make it this but but are interested in the next We First Seminar, just visit www.WeFirstSeminar now, enter you name and email, and we’ll make sure you get the information about the next one first.

This week I came across a great new app that elegantly combines the seemingly competing drives of self-interest and social good. In essence Oreoco allows individuals to align their lives with their personal values, and then track them to compete with peers to earn rewards.

Oreoco is focused on sustainability. It lets you make a profile and automatically connect through Mint.com to all your financial transactions, set goals for personal climate impacts that link to various aspects of your life, and evaluate your consumer decisions with regard to societal and health indicators. Users can also compare their decisions and footprint with other people in the real world or on social networks and on the way earn rewards and perks in a social game

The site also provide useful tips that incentivize participation including the following (see below) as well as an insightful blog that provides a deeper dive into the data behind different sustainability efforts.  Here are some that jumped out to me:

- Becoming a vegan will reduce climate change emissions by ~3 tons and save you over $600 per year.

- Replacing standard light bulbs with CFLs and LEDs can save you 1 ton of CO2 and over $100 per year.

- Turning down your winter thermostat 5° can save ⅓ of a ton of CO2 and over $75 per year.

- Keeping your tires properly inflated and changing air filters can save ~1 ton CO2 and $200 per year.

- Turning up your summer thermostat 5° can save ⅓ of a ton of CO2 and over $50 per year.

- Switching off the lights when you leave the room can save 1 ton of CO2 and over $100 per year.

- Eating meat just one less day per week saves ~¼ ton of CO2 and ~$100 per year.

The convenience of an app married with the fulfillment that comes from making a contribution while earning personal rewards is an elegant and instructive example of how to rally consumers to play their part is large scale social change. As Ian Monroe, Oroeco’s CEO and cofounder explains:

“There’s a tremendous amount of data out there about which choices are more sustainable; the problem is this knowledge is mostly sitting in databases controlled by high-priced consultants, academic researchers, and industry…This impact information hasn’t been getting out to the rest of us. At the same time, advancements with mobile technology, social gaming, and online banking mean that we can now combine impact and financial data into a real-time sustainability tracking tool that’s social and fun.”

It’s this combination of the mobility of an app, the insights of Big Data and gamication between peers that makes this app so exciting and a powerful example of what’s possible when technology is enlisted in the service of positive change.

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In 2008 Bill Gates told the World Economic Forum that governments and philanthropies could no longer meet the needs of the world’s problems. He called on companies to accept greater responsibility to develop solutions to the massive problems that endlessly plague our planet, and to take on projects of “creative capitalism.”

Many people didn’t know what to make of it, or found it a little ironic coming from the world’s richest man. The issue was hotly debated but by 2013, this vision can no longer be called idealistic, unrealistic, or naïve. It’s fast becoming a reality and momentum is building every day. So what changed?

At the heart of the issue is social technology, including social media and smart phones. Both have given citizens and consumers an unprecedented power, voice, and ability to organize themselves around shared values. Armed with up to the minute information through posts or tweets, consumers now use their broadcasting power to spread the word about not only those companies that produced bad products, but also those guilty of inauthentic messaging, false promises, and unsustainable and irresponsible social behaviors. According to Edelman, 86% of consumers think businesses should place equal weight on society’s interests as on their own business interests, so in today’s world, impact royally trumps image.

We are witnessing a historical transformation in which the private sector is slowly emerging as a 3rd pillar of social change. So what can we learn from those companies leading the charge and how they scale their business success and impact? Here are three key elements that businesses must embrace to become purpose-driven brands that build their bottom line and a better world:

Read more >>

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Last month, the United Nations marked 1000 days until the 2015 deadline of the “Millennium Development Goals,” a program started in 2000 with the goal of eliminating the worst impacts of human poverty within 15 years. This countdown was, in part, a response to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that countries are giving less and less to international development. In the steepest reduction in 15 years, aid was down 4% last year and 2% percent in 2011. Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to help developing nations reach the Millennium goals are not backed by NGOs, but by shrinking government aid budgets.

With a persistent European economic crisis and philanthropies facing continued funding challenges since 2008, it’s time for the private sector to step up and become a third pillar of social change. Business is slowly emerging as such an entity, and those leading the charge are driving successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and embracing models of “contributory consumption” (putting a small portion of the proceeds of every sale towards a cause) and the “one-for-one model” pioneered by TOMS. But really impacting the world’s most serious humanitarian problems requires scale and speed that only a collaborative Global Brand Initiative (GBI) can deliver.

Utilizing its vast resources, expertise, management, and distribution networks, a unified and well-organized Global Brand Initiative has the power to tackle the world’s most serious humanitarian crises: poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality, ignorance and illiteracy, and joblessness. In order into move the needle, there are two elements that business must embrace to become a coalition of purpose-driven brands that build their bottom line and a better world:

Read more >>

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It’s heartening to see so many large corporations, both B2B and B2C, intensifying sustainability efforts across how they source and manufacture their products, manage their business and employees, and market their brands’ success. Yet as long as marketing and sustainability efforts remain siloed on the basis of outdated organizational, budget, and marketing practices, these brands continue to run the risk of failing to meet marketplace, business, and customer demands that are the key to their survival. Here’s why and what to do about it.

1. Reality Check: Leadership in most major corporations are proving too slow to recognize and respond to the reality of today’s marketplace because their business is too invested in business models, media plans, and profit centers of the past. Meanwhile, 87% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests as on business’ interests, and only 20% of brands worldwide are seen to meaningfully positively impact people’s lives. These consumer expectations are driven by a heightened consumer awareness of the multiple social challenges we face and a growing activism among customers to punish irresponsible brand behavior. In fact, only 6% believe the singular purpose of business is to make money for shareholders.

Taking Action: Breathe new life into the mission of your brand by aligning its business around core values shared with your customer base so that your brand becomes relevant and meaningful to their lives.

2. Price of Entry: While there is heightened awareness of the need for sustainable practices among executives, employees and customers, many brands fall way short of what is needed for their business and society’s well-being. With so many large corporations making significant commitments, it is simply not enough to be sustainable. Sustainability is rapidly becoming the price of entry for doing business and must inform all aspects of your company, rather than be separated out in a separate division of the innovation or marketing departments.

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Join us Sept 24-25 at the 2013 We First Social Branding Seminar and learn how to rapidly scale your business, brand, and customers with the world’s top marketers.

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Social media offers businesses and non-profit organizations an unprecedented opportunity to build customer communities that can have enormous value in building reputation, loyalty, trust and bottom line profits. However, building and engaging such communities is not always so simple.

It’s not simply a matter of setting up a Twitter account and running wild with promotions and special offers. In fact, blasting out messages on social media platforms without a defined purpose, compelling brand story and clearly articulated vision can be the quickest way to a social business blunder. Your company or organization must provide real value to its community, and this value comes from a genuine commitment to a purpose that is meaningful to their lives.

Building community without an understanding of shared vision is like building a house with no foundation. A thriving, engaged online community only emerges through its connection to an understanding of the world, a specific mission, or shared goals that provide a basis from which the connective fibers of social relationships can grow. A connection to a shared vision binds members of your community to each other and to your business and its products and services.

Here are five great examples of businesses who engaged their communities around a shared purpose and succeeded with authenticity, transparency, accountability.

Pampers: Through its “1 Pack = 1 Vaccine” campaign, Pampers supports UNICEF’s Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination Program, a global campaign to protect the lives of mothers and babies in less industrialised countries.

United by Blue Apparel: For every product sold, UBB removes 1 pound of trash from oceans and waterways by hosting cleanups with other partners and retailers across the country.

Teatulia Tea: Teatulia has established revolutionary education, health, and cattle-lending programs for the Bangladeshi people working in their organic tea garden and surrounding areas.

Campbell: From it’s Stamp Out Hunger program, to its own food donations (Campbell donated more than $32 million worth of product in 2012 alone), Campbell knows how to rally customer communities to fight hunger.

Patagonia: The Common Threads Project actually encourages customers to buy only what they really need, and in return, Patagonia will help repair what breaks and take back worn out products to recycle or give to those in need.

The future of profit is purpose, and the most iconic brands of the future will be those that drive the most meaningful social change. If you’d like hands-on training from some of the best marketers in the world on how to become a purpose-driven, social brand and create passionate customer communities, we hope to see you at our 2013 We First Social Branding Seminar, Sept 24-25 in Los Angeles.

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There’s s a very special partnership underway this August that shows you just how powerful civil society and business collaborations can be. It’s a combined effort by Walgreens, the United Nations Foundation, and Shot@Life to give the children in the developing world the vaccinations that they need to prevent life-threatening diseases. At its heart, it’s the alignment between the core values of Walgreens whose tagline is, “At the Corner of Happy and Healthy”, Shot@Life, and The United Nations Foundation that is so compelling because the campaign reveals how social technologies can be so easily used to build brand value and literally save the lives of children.

What makes the partnership so interesting is they have launched it through a campaign called Blogust 13 that is a collection of 31 blog posts throughout the month of August. All you have to do is make a comment on one of the 31 blog posts written by guest writers to unlock a donation that will purchase a life-saving vaccine for children around the world who need it most.

As the month draws to a close, it’s a very simple way for all of us to do something incredibly special for a child in need. Nothing could be simpler than taking a few moments to read a post and then to simply write a few lines of comment of about what you enjoyed or what you learned.

So I invite the We First community to take the time and click here and comment on one of the blog posts. And as you do, consider the following:

- A child dies every 20 seconds from a disease that can be prevented from a vaccine.

- 1.5 million children are disabled or killed every year by a vaccine-preventable disease like pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, and polio.

- Pneumonia and diarrhea are the two biggest killers of children under five and account for more than one-third of childhood deaths worldwide.

- Every child wherever they live in the world deserves a healthy shot at life, and tragically 75 percent of unvaccinated children live in just 10 countries.

- While immunization is one of the world’s biggest public health success stories in recent years, one in five children still lack access to live saving immunizations that keep so many of our own children healthy and happy.

Make sure you end August by taking just a few minutes to read any one of these 31 articles and to leave a comment. Walgreens will then make a donation for every single comment that is made and so far over 31,000 vaccines have been donated. That’s 31,000 children’s’ lives that have been changed forever.

Let’s see if we can all work together to reach 50 thousand before August is done. Please share this information with as many people as you can. It’s probably one of the few times in our lives where simply leaving a comment on a post can literally save a child’s life.

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With companies of all types facing a perfect storm of social tech, social crises, and customer activism, there’s no question that how quickly your company responds to these challenges will determine whether you survive or lead the future.

But how can your message stand out in this crowded, digital world? And how do you convince the naysayers who think that CSR, sustainability, and social impact initiatives are just fluff? (Though the data clearly shows otherwise!)

Join us live, Sept 10th, with leaders from CSRwire and Profits4Purpose for a free G+ Hangout about Mastering the Methods, Metrics, and Madness of CSR. We’ll discuss the best ways to engage and activate both your internal and external stakeholders around your CSR initiatives, so please submit your questions below or by tagging them with #CSRMadness.

You’ll hear from:

-Simon Mainwaring, CEO of We First who will lay out why a new breed of purpose-driven social brands will lead the future.

-Joe Sibilia, CEO of CSRwire, will share the latest strategies the most successful companies are using to drive engagement and amplify their mission with both consumers and their internal stakeholders. CSRwire is a digital media platform and the leading global source of CSR & sustainability news that has paved the way for new standards of corporate citizenship, earning the international respect of thought leaders, business leaders, academics, philanthropists, activists and the media community.

-Jason Burns, CEO of Profits4Purpose, will share how top companies now use tech to not only connect their employees with social impact opportunities, but also track and measure all their initiatives to create a solid business case for their CSR programs. Profits4Purpose provides web-based tools that streamline the administrative and reporting aspects of CSR programs to empower companies to effectively engage their employees in achieving a positive impact in the community like never before.

As always, this will be a fun online event and a great way to connect with other change agents from all over the globe, so make sure you RSVP here. Next, please share this with your team and others who are passionate about building business while make a difference in the world.

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It’s official: Pre-registration is now open for the 2014 We First Brand Leadership Summit which will be held Oct 7-8 in Beverly Hills at the beautiful SLS Hotel.

And to celebrate the end of a fantastic 2013, we have a very special gift for you: Buy your ticket for We First ’14 before Jan 1^st and you’ll not only save 50%, but you’ll also receive our 8-Step Social Branding Blueprint training program (a $700 value) for free! (View more about our video-based training at www.WeFirstLearning.com)

Click here to pre-register for We First ’14 and get your free training kit >>

This incredible offer gives you everything you need to succeed in 2014:

- On-demand video-based training (DVDs & online portal), an 80-page workbook, and downloadable slides that reveal the best practices of top social brands, and

- A ticket to our 3^rd annual Brand Leadership Summit, the premiere 2-day training intensive for brand leadership and purpose-driven marketing.

Here’s why the We First Brand Leadership Summit always sells out:

- The future of profit is purpose: Compounding global crises, fast-changing social technologies and rising consumer activism threaten even the most iconic brands. How you define, frame and share your brand story is your most important strategic business decision today.

- 2 days of hands-on training: You’ll develop an actionable Social Branding Blueprint and lay out a scalable brand storytelling strategy that leverages the latest social technologies in unique ways for your brand.

- Learn from the best: Our speakers are master marketers and community architects from the most innovative brands like Starbucks, charity:water, Coca-Cola and the UN Foundation. Stay tuned for 2014 speaker announcements!

- An incredible group of peers: We First brings together 200 senior marketing, communications, CSR, and Foundation executives from top brands like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Starbucks, Nestle Purina, Chanel, Walgreens, ConAgra, Mattel, and more.

- Social impact: Each registration comes with a free ticket for your favorite non-profit or company Foundation!  We’re proud to report that in 2013, 43 non-profits were able to attend the Summit for free to super-charge their impact.

So save 50% on We First ‘14, invite your favorite non-profit, dive into your free branding training kit, and get ready to be immersed in the case studies, tools, and fresh ideas you need to lead today’s social marketplace.

Hurry, this special ticket + training kit offer expires December 31^st! Visit www.WeFirst14.com to save 50% and get free your free branding kit now.

In today’s climate of intense customer activism powered by nimble mobile and social technologies, brands must now define and lead with their social purpose in ways that build customer trust, loyalty, and sales.

Yet many organizations miss an element that’s critical to building an authentic community of brand ambassadors: their employees. In fact, 54% say their company’s purpose is not clearly conveyed to all employees.

The most innovative brands have already figured out that internal storytelling and employee activation is just as important as traditional external consumer-focused efforts. More than a paycheck, employees want a sense of purpose, pride, and impact, so it’s key that a company’s mission statement be brought to life and not left to die in the employee handbook.

Here are 5 benefits a company can enjoy by clearly defining and articulating its social purpose both internally and externally:

1. Increased brand advocacy from employees with corresponding reputational benefits. According to the Society for Human Resources Management, in companies with strong sustainability programs, morale was 55% better, business processes were 43% more efficient, public image was 43% stronger, and employee loyalty was 38% better. Tweet this

 2. An increased ability to attract top candidates. For example, Net Impact found 80% of 13-25 year olds want to work for a company that cares about its impact, and more than half said they would refuse to work for an irresponsible corporation. Tweet this

3. Better content and quality of engagement. Here’s what Neil Gunn, Digital Strategy Advisor at World Wildlife Fund UK says about inviting employees to share their voice: “The theory is that people who have the stories to tell are on the ground. If you really are going to do social well, you need to make the connection with those who have the story to tell.” Tweet this

4. Increased productivity, satisfaction, and retention of current employees. PwC’s ‘Managing Tomorrow’s People’ Report found 86% of Millennials would consider leaving an employer if its social responsibility values no longer matched their expectations. Tweet this

5. Tangible ROI. Companies with highly engaged employees have 3x the operating margin and the Meaningful Brands Index outperforms the stock market by 120%. Tweet this

The imperative to seamlessly share your brand’s purpose is clear, and doing so requires thoughtful work to integrate your company’s corporate, CSR, sustainability, and Foundation work into a story that’s easy to understand, join, and share.

Learn how to define and share your social purpose in ways that mobilize employees and customer communities to build your reputation and social impact with you. Join us at the 2014 We First Brand Leadership Summit, Oct 7-8, in Los Angeles. 

Each year, the Conscious Capitalism Movement holds an event that provides marketing leaders with insights on how to marry purpose and profit in ways that build their business and a better world. I’m thrilled to participate in one of these practicums this year, sharing best practices and case studies around the art and architecture of customer community building.

The fundamental premise behind the Conscious Capitalism movement and the training event, is that the private sector is facing an increasingly urgent responsibility to play a positive role in society. Raj Sisodia, who earlier authored a book called Firms of Endearment, and John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, have lead this movement, bringing its core principles to life in actionable ways through their own book, Conscious Capitalism.

The rewards of embracing conscious capitalism are many and include the following:

Risk Mitigation: By defining, framing, and sharing the story of the social purpose of the brand, a company protects its social license to operate in the face of rising consumer activism. This will become increasingly important given compounding social crises that include obesity, chronic disease, healthcare, access to education, and clean water, among others. One notable example is CVS, which recently banned the sale of tobacco products across its national chains because it felt inconsistent with the future of the brand and its desire to lead the healthcare debate.

Reputation Enhancement: As a function of the web, smartphones, and social media, today’s consumers are aware of the social crises that threaten their well being, and as a result, are demanding greater social responsibility from brands. This is especially true of Millennials and Gen-Z, who go so far as to say they would not buy a product, recommend a product, or even work for a company that does not reflect their core values. Such marketing trends are detailed in depth by the 2013 Cone/Echo CR Report.

Word of Mouth Advertising: While many mistake social media and mobile phones as ends in themselves, they are merely new channels and tools through which to generate the most valuable marketing of all, word of mouth advertising. This extends to motivating employees to become advocates for their company, and to customers that can become powerful brand ambassadors using their own social media channels to promote or recommend a brand. The most effective way a company can generate this is by aligning its storytelling around shared values and inspiring all stakeholders to work towards a common purpose.

If you’re interested in how you can bring conscious capitalism to life in your business, large or small, I invite you to visit their website and hear from other business leaders that are going through the difficult, but necessary, transition to becoming brands that don’t just build their bottom line, but also create a better world.