If you haven’t noticed recently, there has been an encouragingly large amount of good being done in organizations. The Pepsi refresh project is a platform that allows causes to submit their ideas and they are voted on by a community. The winner gets a fairly large donation from Pepsi. American express has also joined the good with their Member’s Project with a similar system.
So what is with all the good? Is it just a PR stunt to make them look… good? There may be some of that there, but I also think there is more. A recent study has shown that 50% of the brands recognized by consumers as inspiring outperformed the S&P 500 by an average of 45%. Earnings per share of companies with high employee trust out performed low trust companies by 186% (WatsonWyatt.com).
So there seems to be a connection with brands that make great products with happy employees and having a system of good embedded within the organization. It is most likely because they are working for more than just a paycheck or glory. They are working for a company that cares about the world and proves it through their actions; which in-turn makes an employee care. This can then have a domino effect that leads to better designed or built products, better customer service and happy customers. Sure it sounds idealistic, but it’s being proven true.
So what can we do as marketers? Look for ways to integrate good into our organizations. Not just giving money to some org that you can get a tax write-off a PR for. But create a tie-in between your employees performance and how you give back. Create internal rewards in the form of giving. Create internal platforms to allow your employees to set goals and compete against other departments. It will become a virus that inspires your company and in the long run will increase the bottom line.
