You are here: Home > socially responsible

Archive | socially responsible

RSS feed for this section

Should I drink a Guinness today?

By on March 17, 2008 in branding, corporate responsibility, polls, socially responsible, videos

St. Patrick’s Day on a Monday? Blasphemy! When in Dublin a few years ago, I visited the Guinness Storehouse and was most impressed by the section dedicated to their advertising archive, most of the second floor. “Guinness is good for you” was a claim made in the company’s adverts after market research revealed people felt [...]

Read full story • Comments { 5 }

Personalization v. privacy: Online marketers get too close for comfort

By on March 10, 2008 in privacy, roi responsible, socially responsible

It’s a sticky subject and it’s not going away anytime soon. Some have called personalization the Holy Grail of marketing. If you can connect with people in a highly relevant and personalized way, you’ll dramatically improve your response rates and marketing ROI. What’s more, most people prefer personalized ads–ads delivered to their name, at the [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Not interested in Blow? Try Meth instead.

By on February 28, 2008 in corporate responsibility, responsible or not?, socially responsible, videos, word of mouth

The response to my post regarding Blow Energy Drink yesterday was a hearty two thumbs down. So, I can only imagine what you might think of Meth Coffee. From their homepage: Dear Agent, I am dispatching to you a sample of smooth and highly seismological coffee bean substance. Try this new flammable specimen, but distribute [...]

Read full story • Comments { 4 }

Responsible or not? Blow Energy Drink Mix

By on February 27, 2008 in corporate responsibility, responsible or not?, socially responsible, videos, word of mouth

Energy drink marketing is kinda like soda pop marketing — on steroids. And taurine. And caffeine. All at once. Energy drinks are mostly geared toward thrill-seeking youth looking for a coffee alternative…a legal high. The packaging is aggressive–even dangerous–with monsters, aliens, skateboards, crocodiles, rattlesnakes and other creatures meant to make the customer feel just a [...]

Read full story • Comments { 11 }

Green & authenticity make a good marriage

By on February 25, 2008 in environmentally responsible, socially responsible

Lewis Green and I had a great talk last week. Lewis is the Chief Communications Officer & Founder of L&G Business Solutions, and author of the book Lead With Your Heart. Our chat had no agenda. We connected online a few months ago after we noticed we seemed to be singing from the same hymnal. [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Responsible or not? PETA’s campaign against KFC

By on February 22, 2008 in corporate responsibility, responsible or not?, socially responsible, videos, word of mouth

It really doesn’t matter how you feel about PETA, you have to admire their marketing chutzpah. I heard their ad was banned from the Super Bowl, but couldn’t find it on YouTube. A visit to Gino Cosme’s Bridging the Gap blog revealed all. Here’s the banned ad (viewer discretion advised): Clearly, this was meant to [...]

Read full story • Comments { 10 }

Toy safety and timing

By on February 20, 2008 in corporate responsibility, environmentally responsible, socially responsible

As the father of two preschoolers under age five, I’ve been frustrated with the toy industry’s failure to aggressively address lead, PVC and phthalates in toys. Needless to say, I was happy to see that both Wal-Mart and Toys R’ Us announced new guidelines for manufacturers last week. In a letter to customers, Toys R’ [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Southwest Airlines looking for luv in all the right places

By on February 14, 2008 in corporate responsibility, message responsible, roi responsible, socially responsible

You gotta love Southwest Airlines. Known as the “Luv Airline,” Southwest wears their heart on their sleeve, professing their affection for their employees, customers, planes and more on their blog. The blog includes a photo caption contest for Southwest employee dressed as cupid, a series of articles on the “next generation of customer service,” info [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Responsible Super Bowl ads? You decide.

By on February 4, 2008 in advertainment, message responsible, polls, responsible or not?, socially responsible, strategically responsible

The Super Bowl frenzy is over, but the analysis of the Super Bowl advertising has just begun. Millions are already viewing and voting on their favorites at YouTube Adblitz and MySpace. I’m interested in something a little different. I’ve taken the liberty to list just over twenty of the ads that are currently receiving at [...]

Read full story • Comments { 4 }

Preview Pepsi’s Super Bowl ad for the deaf

By on January 30, 2008 in responsible or not?, socially responsible, videos

This ad from Pepsi will air during the Super Bowl. Pepsi shows support for the deaf, makes sure advocacy groups will support them and then puts on what will be one of the most unique ads during the Super Bowl. Instead of participating in the advertising shouting contest, Pepsi zags and does an ad with [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

On photonapping and double standards

By on January 23, 2008 in corporate responsibility, privacy, socially responsible

From software license audits to record labels suing teenagers’ parents for downloading music through a file sharing services, corporate America is working overtime to protect its intellectual property rights. Just in the last week, the blogosphere was abuzz with news that Ford had asked the Black Mustang Club to cease and desist from using photos [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Two trends you need to wrap your head around now

By on January 4, 2008 in environmentally responsible, social networking, socially responsible, strategically responsible, videos

AdWeek released its Top 10 Trends of 2007 late last month. Trends included the explosion of social networking and its impact on privacy, increased mobility, the growth of the BRIC nations, online gaming, and how open systems are prevailing over closed ones. But two trends are of particular relevance to responsible marketing: It’s time to [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Tide offers “Loads of Hope” for natural disaster victims

By on January 2, 2008 in cause marketing, socially responsible, videos, word of mouth

Do you have an affinity to your laundry detergent? You might after you read this. After Hurricane Katrina and the recent California wildfires, Tide dispatched their CleanStart trucks to the scene to help. These mobile laundry facilities provided the families of these disasters with free laundry services when they needed it most. The CleanStart trucks [...]

Read full story • Comments { 7 }

Inspiration from unexpected places

By on January 1, 2008 in environmentally responsible, socially responsible, videos

Happy New Year! Finding the right topic for my New Year’s Day post was more difficult than I thought. Sure, I have hundreds of things bookmarked and find new things every day. And this time of year, there are plenty of worthy “2007 Marketing Year in Review,” “2008 Marketing Forecast,” and “Marketing Top 10 List [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Ad Age Trends for 2008: My take

By on December 27, 2007 in casting responsible, creativity, execution responsible, roi responsible, social networking, socially responsible, strategically responsible

Ad Age released their Trends to Watch in 2008 recently. Here’s a loose summary of the article with my comments in italics. MARKETERS HIT A ROUGH PATCH With growth slowing, fuel prices high and credit tight, marketers will struggle as consumers will reduce spending. This puts marketing responsibility at a premium. Now more than ever, [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

A little present from Coors to the world

By on December 25, 2007 in environmentally responsible, message responsible, socially responsible

Santa actually has nothing to do with this post, but how could I resist? The Denver Business Journal reports that the Molson Coors Brewing Co. of Golden, Colorado has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent within the next two years, reduce energy use and convert some waste into ethanol. “Waste [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

A multicultural marketing swing and miss

By on December 11, 2007 in execution responsible, multicultural marketing, socially responsible, strategically responsible

Multicultural marketing is smart. It makes a lot of sense. And it could be your company’s next competitive advantage. A few of my team members at Outsource Marketing wrote a substantive article on the topic awhile back in Are you serving the minority-majority? Why multicultural marketing matters more than ever. It’s definitely worth your time. [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Why won’t Starbucks do something like this?

By on November 23, 2007 in environmentally responsible, socially responsible

Go into any Starbucks and you can pick up one of their brochures sharing their corporate social responsibility. They are really putting some energy into their communications in this area, and I applaud them for it. Tully’s is a Seattle-based company that has followed Starbucks, literally, into many of Seattle’s neighborhoods. Their strategy: open a [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Can CREDO mobile make each call a call for change?

By on November 21, 2007 in ads everywhere, socially responsible

Today is Thanksgiving. After using a forklift to bring the Seattle Times in, I was surprised to see a sticker saying “Make each call a call for change” from Credo Mobile. My first thought, cool, kind of like Working Assets, but for mobile phones. Well, I was almost right. As it turns out, Credo is [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Preview the Responsible Marketing book

By on November 20, 2007 in books, casting responsible, environmentally responsible, execution responsible, information overload, message responsible, roi responsible, socially responsible, strategically responsible

Why is marketing ROI is an oxymoron for most companies? “Spend more, get less” just doesn’t pencil. There is a pathway to marketing that delivers results, but it might not be the path you’d expect. Here’s a link to a white paper-length preview of my upcoming book entitled, you guessed it, Responsible Marketing. In it, [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }