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KFC’s shameful attempt at Responsible Marketing

By on June 22, 2011 in cause marketing, hall of shame, promotion, socially responsible

A Utah KFC’s recent attempt at Responsible Marketing via this hair-brained cause marketing campaign has left us speechless: That’s right, buy a jug of high fructose corn syrup-powered soda pop—one of the primary causes of diabetes and childhood obesity—and we’ll donate a dollar to juvenile diabetes research. Our take: absolutely shameful and completely irresponsible. What’s [...]

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The Pepsi vs. Coke social good smackdown

By on March 4, 2010 in branding, cause marketing, socially responsible

When Coke and Pepsi start being judged by their social responsibility as much as their taste (and their ads), you’ll know Responsible Marketing has arrived, right? Well, that time has come. The Huffington Post recently ran an online poll pitting Pepsi’s Refresh Project Vs. Coke’s Live Positively campaigns. The associated article does a great job [...]

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Outsource Marketing 2.0 coming soon

By on August 19, 2009 in announcement, cause marketing, charitable giving, corporate responsibility, videos

Join us as we unveil our new look and see what it means for us, our clients and ultimately, our world. Pam Mauk, Executive Director of Family Resource Center will share some of the important work they’re doing to support 18 charities that provide essential human services on the Eastside. Wednesday, September 9, 2009 Doors [...]

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Is responsibility the Holy Grail of marketing?

By on April 3, 2009 in cause marketing, interview, socially responsible

Gennefer Snowfield at the Triple Pundit interviewed me earlier this week and asked me a host of questions regarding Responsible Marketing, including— Where the Responsible Marketing concept came from; The impetus for this blog; How I define Responsible Marketing; Where Responsible Marketing fits with cause marketing; Which brands are leading in Responsible Marketing; My predictions [...]

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Serve your community, get free Starbucks coffee

By on January 21, 2009 in cause marketing, socially responsible, videos

Starbucks has launched a new campaign to make it easier to participate in President Obama’s call for national service. With a goal of helping raise over one million hours of community service, the Starbucks Pledge5 campaign is in full-swing running in-stores and online. With the leading question “Are you in?” the ask is for a [...]

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Responsible or not? Using the dead to sell

By on December 30, 2008 in advertising, casting responsible, cause marketing, creativity, execution responsible, message responsible, morality, responsible or not?, socially responsible, videos

On Christmas Day, John Lennon returned from the dead. Well, his image and voice were resurrected to help the One Laptop Per Child Foundation “OLPCF” and it’s raised a few eyebrows (and hackles). If you haven’t heard about the OLPCF, here’s a summary: It’s an education project, not a laptop project. Inexpensive, durable, networked laptops [...]

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Share the love when you buy a new Subaru

By on December 9, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, socially responsible, videos

We all know what to expect when it comes to automobile pitches, don’t we? Year-end closeouts! Employee pricing! No reasonable offer refused! Support a cause?! Subaru has thrown a curve ball into the mix with it’s Share the Love promotion. Watch Share the Love on YouTube When you buy or lease any new Subaru now [...]

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Help provide shoes to 30,000 children in Ethiopia

By on December 5, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, socially responsible, videos

I’ve mentioned TOMS Shoes before. They’re the company that donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair they sell. I love their model, and for the holidays, they are campaigning to give away 30,000 pairs of shoes to children in Ethiopia. Here’s a little more info: View TOMS Project Holiday [...]

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Can you market as well as a state agency?

By on November 12, 2008 in cause marketing, execution responsible, PSA, social media, socially responsible, strategically responsible, videos, word of mouth

Some of the best marketing today is being done by groups typically considered boring and safe. You know—state agencies. Battling preconceptions to market employment office services to employers A few years back, Outsource Marketing helped a consortium of seven U.S. states whose charter was to find effective new ways to market state one-stop services to [...]

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Marketers get attention with Election Day freebies

By on November 3, 2008 in cause marketing, corporate responsibility, socially responsible, viral marketing, word of mouth

Regardless of how you plan to vote, chances are you are talking about the election. With estimates of turnout exceeding 130 million people, Election Day promotions make sense. Starbucks is giving away free coffee: View this video on YouTube Krispy Kreme is giving away free donuts: And Ben and Jerry’s is giving away free ice [...]

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25 ways your business can help fight poverty

By on October 15, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, corporate responsibility, environmentally responsible, socially responsible

It’s Blog Action Day! The purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a worldwide discussion regarding an important issue. This year, it’s poverty. For this post, I wanted my post to meet three criteria: To bring value to readers, it must result in a list of creative ways business can help fight poverty To [...]

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A day made better for teachers by OfficeMax

By on October 13, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, corporate responsibility, socially responsible, videos

Did you know that, on average, teachers spend about $1,200 of their own money to cover the cost of classroom supplies? The “teacher-funded” classroom is an outrage when you consider teacher compensation, and OfficeMax has partnered with Adopt-A-Classroom “to recognize extraordinary teachers for their dedication and innovative approach to education.” During their A Day Made [...]

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TOMS Shoes: More than different

By on October 9, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, corporate responsibility, socially responsible, videos

TOMS Shoes was founded by Blake Mycoskie after a life-changing trip to Argentina. While there, he learned about the Alpargata soft shoe, but ironically, also met children in villages that had no shoes. So he created a shoe company whose goals aren’t based on shoes sold, but on shoes given away. For every pair of [...]

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How can business help the poor?

By on September 25, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, corporate responsibility, socially responsible, videos

The Responsible Marketing Blog will be participating in Blog Action Day on Wednesday, October 15th. Here’s what it’s about: First and last, the purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. We ask bloggers to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue. By doing so [...]

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Kissing a frog to help the environment

By on August 15, 2008 in cause marketing, corporate responsibility, environmentally responsible, fun

Earlier this summer, Outsource Marketing participated in The Olympus Press Print Green Summit, an annual event attended by over 250 people from 150 companies to focus on ways to, well, print greener. Olympus sponsored an interesting origami-making contest. To enter, contestants created an origami character with special FSC certified paper, took a picture of it [...]

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AMEX does good with the ’08 Members Project

By on August 14, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, social media, social networking, socially responsible, videos

Have you heard about the Members Project from American Express? It’s a social good promotion built to encourage people to “come together to achieve something amazing.” Card members are invited to submit ideas for projects in the areas of arts and culture, community development, education, environment and wildlife, and health. Anyone, including non-cardmembers, can discuss, [...]

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Big ideas, tiny budgets

By on July 10, 2008 in cause marketing, creativity, execution responsible, strategically responsible, videos

Breakthrough creative agitates. It makes people uneasy, or angry. It might make you laugh or cry. And it always makes people feel—or think. Or both. But breakthrough creative doesn’t happen often enough. The excuse I’ve heard most often is “We don’t have the budget.” Well, some of the best marketing you’ll find doesn’t necessarily come [...]

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Using social media to create social good

By on June 23, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, corporate responsibility, digital marketing, social networking, socially responsible

By popular demand, here’s my deck from PodCamp Seattle: As you probably noticed, I’m not a big fan of slides full of bullets—it’s mostly images. View all the websites mentioned in the deck, as well as all the sites recommended by Twitter friends here: http://del.icio.us/patrickbyers/socialgood I’ve also bookmarked all of the Twitter contributors in case [...]

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(RED) under fire: Group says buy less; show us the books

By on May 23, 2008 in cause marketing, consumerism, corporate responsibility, socially responsible, videos

By now, you may have seen or possibly even purchased a (RED) product. If you haven’t, here’s a little background from the Product (RED) website: (RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to [...]

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A long walk for a short, dirty drink

By on April 23, 2008 in cause marketing, charitable giving, creativity, environmentally responsible, message responsible, socially responsible, videos, word of mouth

If your tap went dry at home, what would you do? If you were forced to walk to the nearest source of water—a river, a stream, a pond—on foot, how far would you have to travel? And how would it make you feel—deep down—if you had to give your children dirty water to drink after [...]

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