CSR’s time has come. Consumers care about you being responsible in business – it’s now a vocal, deep down part of consumer engagement with brands. More than ever consumers are fully aware that choosing a brand reflects on them.
Suggesting that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is too ‘pc’ as some marketers still imagine, just reflects the lack of understanding in the basic premise of CSR. Take a lesson from the Web 2.0 movement and its reflection of the rise in consumer power and consumer voice.
CSR is a concept which can offer easy to access brand differentiators and more importantly deep down connections with customers at a beliefs and values level. The challenge to a brand is how it is going to leverage actions to reflect beliefs, CSR policy and brand values.
Just as brand is a ‘promise’ to the consumer, so CSR must just be a dimension of the brand. CSR is your promise to consumers about social engagement, economic behaviour including supply chain policies and attitudes to labour and of course the environment.
What won’t work of course is just paying lip service and saying things. With CSR its act first and say second. What we did learn with the Internet was not only the connection you have with a personal relationship with customers but also the power of first mover advantage.
CSR is a very visual and demonstrable part of your brand and its personality and part of the learning, behaviour and culture of your business – at every stakeholder level – just the same as brand.
What better way of creating deep brand engagement than through the intentions, actions and policies of CSR.
We are currently watching companies in India and China using an active CSR policy to effectively buy brand status and positioning. It makes sense. For these emerging markets what vehicles are available to convince a western and global audience that they have western style values and qualities. Answer? Being able to demonstrate being responsible.
