No, color-coded cause movements are not as asinine as GW’s terror alert scheme. The blue movement broadens the scope of the green movement.  It is about human awareness, including world peace, human rights, social and economic justice and a sustainable lifestyle, according to the movement’s website, thebluemovement.org. In essence, people are the focus of the blue movement.

Much like the green movement around 2005, the blue movement focuses on accessible consumerism. We’ve heard of the saying, you vote with your dollar. Well, the blue movement, like the green movement,  takes this concept to heart with its three Ps: price (everyone should have access to sustainable goods), purpose (why we need the product) and process (how did the product come to be).

Ahead-of-the-curve brands are pushing the concept forward, with BMW calling their “green” engine Blue Tec and VW following in kind with its Blue Motion engine. And the creative advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, has also picked up on the concept with its endorsement of Adam Webach’s, Birth of Blue:

Hints of the blue concept have percolated to the cultural surface in the past, with blue as the color of the United Nations flag, and the European Union and words like the blue marble and the pale blue dot to describe the planet. The color is emblematic for the entirety of our existence on earth. Now the concept of blue being all-encompassing is beginning to sprout some legs and cutting-edge brands are moving it forward.

The blue movement is still in its infancy, much like the green movement in the early 2000s. With cutting edge brands like BMW and VW seriously pursuing the concept, we should expect blue to begin penetrating the consumer lexicon, much like organic, locally-sourced and eco-friendly several years ago. And unlike the Al Gore doomsday message of the green movement, the blue movement is driven by optimism and hope for humanity and the world we live in. “I’m done with convincing people that the world is going to end,” writes the blue movement activist, Adam Werbach. “This is how the world is going to begin again.”

As the demand and number of green products on the market grows, there is an increased need to sort through products and services to determine the greatest value. Here are five free resources that can help you incorporate more green in your life:

Traveling
There are over 7,000 green / sustainable-certified hotels in the world and sorting through all of them can be a daunting task. Green Hotel Finder helps eco-minded consumers find green hotels in their vacation destination and filter out the “greenwashers” (i.e. those that tout their eco-status without the credentials to back it up).

Green Products
The number of green products flooding the market can be overwhelming for consumers to wade through. The Good Guide site and app enables users to browse over 75,000 green products and the Good Guide rating system helps users learn how green products actually are. We’d encourage you to download their app, which uses the smartphone’s camera to scan product barcodes.

Eco-Gadgets
Let’s face the facts: we live in a throw-away society that doesn’t think twice about trashing old gadgets in lieu of the next greatest thing. Enviro Gadget’s aim is to introduce tech consumers to energy efficient, eco-friendly gadgets to off-set the mounting techno waste.

Green Autos
Started in 2006, Green Car Guide discusses “cars that are best in class in terms of emissions, fuel economy and efficiency, but that are also great to drive.” Although the site focuses on the UK, there are helpful tips for any driver interested in making their commute more green.

Green Lifestyle
What is the best way to recycle electronics? How can commuting be green? These are just a few questions Yahoo! Green answers on its site. Yahoo! has pooled resources from around the web to help anyone live a greener lifestyle.

Is it effective?

Just over half of Fortune 200 companies used crowdsourcing in the CSR efforts, but an overwhelming percentage of those that did use crowdsourcing, reported the approach added value to their initiatives. And we should expect CSR crowdsourcing to be on the rise, as the majority of those that didn’t use the strategy can see potential in the approach.

• 95 percent reported the tactic was valuable to the company’s CSR efforts
• 55 percent used crowdsourcing as part of CSR programs
• 83 percent that did not leverage crowdsourcing can see the potential

Why use crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing is a great way to pool diverse viewpoints, enable corporate brands to build meaningful relationships with consumers via a social mission and it add momentum for innovation.

• 36 percent said crowdsourcing provides new and diverse perspectives
• 25 percent noted that the most valuable aspect was that it can build engagement and relationships with key audiences
• 22 percent said it invites input from nontraditional sources
• 16 percent said it brings a new energy to the idea-generating process

How can CSR managers leverage crowdsourcing?

Social media is an effective way to enhance a crowdsourced CSR campaign. Networks have a wide range of audience segments and offer a low-cost solution to connect with consumers.

• 38 percent said the primary value of social media to CSR initiatives is the opportunity to reach broad and diverse audiences
• 29 percent said the primary value of social media for CSR efforts is that it allows companies to connect with consumers in a low-cost way

There are dozens upon dozens of social networks out there, so which are the most effective for CSR campaigns?

Any good examples of crowdsourcing CSR?

Instead of looking at several corporations that integrated crowdsourcing into their CSR campaigns, we are focusing on GlobalGiving, a company that specializes in CSR crowdsourcing.

GlobalGiving leverages crowdsourcing through:

• Voting and crowdfunding challenges — the company’s most recent challenge qualified over 75 new organizations for GlobalGiving, and generated over $570,000 in crowdfunding
• Building collective wisdom — GlobalGiving’s Storytelling Project asks beneficiaries talk about their communities in an effort to build collective wisdom about the performance of GlobalGiving’s network of organizations

Client successes:

• Ford Motor Company’s The Focus Global Test Drive — Internet users submitted videos detailing why they should test drive the 2012 Ford Focus in Madrid and the charity they thought should receive a $10,000 donation from Ford
• Pepsi Refresh Program — The Pepsi Refresh Program allows entrepreneurs to submit business ideas to Pepsi. Internet users then log onto Pepsi Refresh program’s website and vote for the best entrepreneur projects. Those that receive the most votes wins funding for their business idea.

What are the best practices for CSR crowdsourcing?

To learn what the best practices of CSR crowdsourcing, John Hecklinger, Chief Program Officer, GlobalGiving Foundation, offers the following tips in an interview with Fast Company:

To Dos:

• Set clear objectives and success metrics
• Set clear rules and enforce them consistently
• Provide immediate feedback to encourage activity
• Make sure your design stimulates desired activity and discourages simple gaming

Not To Dos:

• Don’t over-incentivize participants
• Don’t assume the crowd will show up on its own
• Don’t underestimate the need to moderate content and to support participants

Image by Svilen Milev from Stock.Xchng

Sparxoo has explored innovators in the social cause / nonprofit sector, such as Kiva and Volunteer Mobs, but in the new year, we’d like to step back and look at charitable giving stats from the past 3 years and predict what we should expect in 2011:

Who makes up the bulk of charitable giving in the US? The largest slice of the charitable giving pie comes from individuals, at $227.41 billion in 2009 — contributing to 75 percent of total giving — followed by foundations ($38.44 billion / 13 percent), bequests ($23.8 billion / 8 percent), and corporations ($14.1B / 4 percent).

Approximately 65 percent of US households give to charity, with an average annual contribution of $2,213 and mean of $870. When we look at high net worth households, the numbers change quite drastically. An astounding 98 percent of high net worth households give to charity.

Historically, charitable giving increases roughly one-third as fast as the stock market. The correlation between the stock market and charitable giving could be the reason for 2009’s charitable giving decline.

However, there are charity sectors that are somewhat resistant to economic dips. Most charities saw drops in charitable giving in 2009, except in the sectors of Human Services, Health, International Affairs, and Environmental / Animal.

If we look at the correlation between the stock market and charitable contributions, we should expect 2011 to be a greater year of giving — as the US government officially announced the end of the recession in 2010.

Although where people allocate their donation dollars will likely parallel previous years, how they donate will likely change. In 2009, online giving rose 5 percent and the top social media tool used by charities for fundraising was Facebook.

With charitable apps popping up nearly every week — such as Social Vibe, Good Samaritan and iRipple — we should expect Facebook to be an even greater utility to connect charities and digital-savvy donors moving forward.

We anticipate, as we Facebook and other online utilities transform how we make our charitable contributions, to be a large part of the estimated total charitable contributions in the future. In fact, given the tremendous influence and functionality of Facebook, we expect the social networking site to be a conduit for much of the expected remaining total charitable donations to total between $21.2 to $55.4 trillion in between 1998-2052.

Image by Charlie Balch from Stock.Xchng

Search Engine Land (SEL) recently wrote an insightful article that explores how SEO can help increase conversions regarding a particular issue. Their rational is: more and more, consumers are looking to the web to make informed decisions and placing #1 in organic search results can help sway opinion one way or another.

Among the many tips SEL offers, here are several highlights that could help non-profits increase awareness and convert web users teetering on the fence about issues:

Why use SEO to campaign for issues?

SEO can be a form of “message control” over a particular issue, such as “high fructose corn syrup” or “gun control,” that can compliment PR campaigns.

How to run an issue-based SEO campaign

Issue campaigns parallel traditional campaigns in that you must find and optimize keywords through on-site changes and link building, but issue campaigns should have a stash of white papers and blog posts that are primed and ready for journalists when the topic hits the headlines.

A good example would be environmental advocates after the BP oil spill. A great way to get links during a buzzworthy news topic is to be the authority on the subject. An environmental non-profit could have taken advantage of the topic by contacting journalists to give their opinion and links to research.

Non profit vs for profit outreach

In addition to SEL’s article, non-profits have an advantage when building links, particularly when it comes to outreach. For-profit SEOs have to go the extra mile when reaching out to link opportunities because they financially benefit from a high organic position. Non-profits, however, do not have to do as much convincing in their outreach because they are making a social impact if they rank #1, therefore simply reaching out to bloggers that are passionate about their issue would be an effective link building technique.

Although there are several link building advantages for non-profits, converting or swaying web users to join your side of the argument is incredibly challenging. Ranking high in organic search results is one of the first steps in scaling your side of the issue.

We expect mobile charitable donations and engagement to increase exponentially as iPhone’s, Blackberry’s and Android’s and non-smartphones play a more intimate role in our daily lives. Let’s look at the American Red Cross’s success with mobile donations and how other non-profits are engaging donors and non-donors through mobile apps:

Fundraising Via Mobile Devices

The bulk of mobile donations are micro donations of usually $5 to $10 — typically from SMS. As we can see from the successes of the American Red Cross, donations via SMS can be an easy way to engage new donors in fundraising.  In fact, 95 percent of the consumers who texted in to the Haiti campaign were first-time donors to the American Red Cross.

Texting campaigns provide a way to engage and build relationships with new donors. The American Red Cross received donations for its Haiti earthquake relief campaign via SMS from 3 million unique donors, of which 20,000 opted in to receive ongoing email communications from the nonprofit organization.

While opt-in campaigns, triggered by a donations, are an effective way to build relationships with new donors, mobile apps can be much more engaging and intuitive than your standard e-newsletter.

Engaging Donors and Prospective Donors

Smartphone apps deliver news, entertainment and information in creative, innovative ways that could never before be fully realized and nonprofits can utilize their incredible features to engage current donors or prospective donors.

Take example from Capital Area Food Bank in Texas that created the iPheedaNeed app. “We created a simple, fun and engaging iPhone experience that will further our mission, show up-to-date information such as local fundraising events, and fully engage users in real-time,” said Lisa Goddard, CAFB Online Marketing Director.

Or we can look at the American Hiking Society, that leveraged the iPhone’s location-aware features to create an engaging, fun experience for hikers to find explore new trails and go on “adventures.” Both charities use the smartphone features uniquely to create an experience through the brand, which can help create or re-enforce relationships with prospective or existing donors.

Apps are not the only answer to user engagement. In the US there are 5,200 different versions of handsets and operating systems, reports Mobile Marketer, so creating a mobile app for the iPhone could be limiting. This builds the case for optimize websites for mobile devices. The Nature Conservancy, for example, has a very stripped down mobile website that conveys its mission of preserving the environment (through donations and awareness):

SMS is still the dominant channel for mobile donations and websites are one of the primary ways to engage users, but as mobile technology advances, we should expect the two to combine into an app that offers both engagement and donations.

Here are some of the latest innovators in the mobile space that are helping those in need, whether it’s an individual, community or the non-profit itself:

Business-in-a-Box

Indonesia has incredible cellphone penetration rates and three quarters of the population live in poverty. The RUMA organization aims to combine the two to empower individuals to emerge from poverty. RUMA sends a “business-in-a-box” to qualified franchises for $23. The individuals are equipped with a phone, promotional materials and an operating manual to set-up kiosks and sell prepaid airtime to their community. The enterprise has taken off with support from the Grameen Foundation and Qualcomm. RUMA sent over 1,600 microfranchises in its first five months. The “business-in-a-box” enables and empowers impoverished individuals to dig their way out of poverty.

Sparked

Just as Kiva and the Grameen Foundation revolutionized social cause fundraising through micro-loans, Sparked aims to take that concept and apply it to volunteerism. Sparked’s The Extraordinaries enables users to micro volunteer by donating only a few minutes of time here and there. Sparked’s site lets nonprofits post requests (called “challenges”) that are then routed to volunteers that have the skills to complete the task. Then, when volunteers have a spare moment or two, they jump onto the Sparked mobile app to complete a given task.

Free2Work

As consumers, we vote with our dollar and sometimes that dollar goes to corporations that outsource their labor to manufacturers that abuse employees through humiliation, starvation and rape. Free2Work’s new iPhone app aims to educate consumers by rating products, from Apple’s iPad to Hasbro’s Beyblades, based on the labor practices. The app has a barcode scanner that consumers can use to scan products and while the list of brands and products is limited at the time, Free2Work is building more and more products into its database. Free2Work hopes consumers will put pressure on corporations that have loose morals when it comes to how its products are made.

CCBRT

Mobile banking is surging in Africa, with innovators like FrontlineSMS and Paypal taking the lead. The Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania clinic (CCBRT) has created an app that leverages mobile technology to provide healthcare to women in rural Tanzania using micro payments. Using Vodafone’s M-Pesa service, “the clinic can send transport grants directly to patients to cover the average USD 60 cost of a round-trip from rural Tanzania,” reports Springwise. Like CCBRT, there are numerous small startups in Africa that are revolutionizing communities through mobile devices in highly targeted and need-based ways.

MoVirtu

More than four billion people do not own a mobile device. And as we’ve explored, mobile phones can offer access to healthcare, banking and entrepreneurship to those that wouldn’t otherwise have access. Movirtu’s aim is to provide mobile services to those four billion without mobile devices through “the cloud.” Movirtu’s cloud-based service, called MXShare, creates cloud phone numbers for anyone in without a phone, so one community could have one cell phone, but each member of that community could have access to individual mobile accounts.

If you could reduce your product packaging costs by 38% while offering a more sustainable solution to your customers, would you think twice? Many companies are taking bold steps to incorporate sustainability into their core business strategy, reaping not only brand and customer benefits, but bottom line benefits as well.

In a recent example, the outdoor industry, whose customers are known for their environmental savvy, is embracing sustainability through industry wide collaboration. A sub-group of the Outdoor Industry Association called the Eco Working Group spent the past four years creating the Eco Index – an environmental assessment software tool designed to advance sustainability practices among the apparel, footwear and equipment manufacturers.

Launched in the summer of 2010 and backed by supporters like REI, Target, Timberland, Patagonia, Brooks, Levi’s and Nike, the Eco Index is quickly earning credibility and has the potential to drive major changes in the apparel industry. The Eco Index addresses two of the biggest challenges companies face in making a case for socially responsible business practices – quantifying the costs and savings and standardizing performance metrics that can be easily communicated to customers.

According to their website, the Eco Index “provides companies throughout the supply chain a way to benchmark and measure their environmental footprint, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and make informed sourcing and product life cycle decisions.” Furthermore, the index seeks to create “common language” around sustainability for consumers and retailers alike that will allow for more informed decisions.

The Eco Index is similar to Energy Star, the EPA’s rating program that ranks the energy efficiency of appliances such as refrigerators, which has become the international standard in measuring appliance energy efficiency. In the Eco-Index, products are ranked based on suppliers’ answers to survey questions and then assigned a score that is some percentage of “perfect” in each of 7 “lenses”: Land Use Intensity, Water, Waste, Biodiversity, Chemistry/Toxics – People, Chemistry/Toxics – Environment, and Energy Use and Green House Gas Emissions.

Unlike the Energy Star program, the Eco Index is currently only an internal supply chain tool and is not a consumer-facing label. In order for the Eco Index to reach such a level of adoption, it would have to be made available at the point of sale. For now, “it’s a tool for a company to use to make a better choice,” Amy Roberts, vice president of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association explains.

While the Eco Index does provide a methodology that is easily applied across categories, it is only in Phase 1 roll out and there are still some big questions to address. For example, some survey questions rely on estimates from suppliers, which could call into question the accuracy of a score; and currently there is no total score, although one may be incorporated during later phases of the project.

Despite the fact that it’s still a work in progress, the Eco Index has proven that a focus on sustainability can impact the bottom line. Even at the most basic level, programs that reduce, reuse and recycle frequently lead to cost savings. According to the Eco Index website, Patagonia’s efforts to encourage its supply chain to adopt more sustainable practices have resulted in eleven of its textile

If you could reduce your product packaging costs by 38% while offering a more sustainable solution to your customers, would you think twice? Many companies are taking bold steps to incorporate sustainability into their core business strategy, reaping not only brand and customer benefits, but bottom line benefits as well.

In a recent example, the outdoor industry, whose customers are known for their environmental savvy, is embracing sustainability through industry wide collaboration. A sub-group of the Outdoor Industry Association called the Eco Working Group spent the past four years creating the Eco Index – an environmental assessment software tool designed to advance sustainability practices among the apparel, footwear and equipment manufacturers.

Launched in the summer of 2010 and backed by supporters like REI, Target, Timberland, Patagonia, Brooks, Levi’s and Nike, the Eco Index is quickly earning credibility and has the potential to drive major changes in the apparel industry. The Eco Index addresses two of the biggest challenges companies face in making a case for socially responsible business practices – quantifying the costs and savings and standardizing performance metrics that can be easily communicated to customers.

According to their website, the Eco Index “provides companies throughout the supply chain a way to benchmark and measure their environmental footprint, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and make informed sourcing and product life cycle decisions.” Furthermore, the index seeks to create “common language” around sustainability for consumers and retailers alike that will allow for more informed decisions.

The Eco Index is similar to Energy Star, the EPA’s rating program that ranks the energy efficiency of appliances such as refrigerators, which has become the international standard in measuring appliance energy efficiency. In the Eco-Index, products are ranked based on suppliers’ answers to survey questions and then assigned a score that is some percentage of “perfect” in each of 7 “lenses”: Land Use Intensity, Water, Waste, Biodiversity, Chemistry/Toxics – People, Chemistry/Toxics – Environment, and Energy Use and Green House Gas Emissions.

Unlike the Energy Star program, the Eco Index is currently only an internal supply chain tool and is not a consumer-facing label. In order for the Eco Index to reach such a level of adoption, it would have to be made available at the point of sale. For now, “it’s a tool for a company to use to make a better choice,” Amy Roberts, vice president of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association explains.

While the Eco Index does provide a methodology that is easily applied across categories, it is only in Phase 1 roll out and there are still some big questions to address. For example, some survey questions rely on estimates from suppliers, which could call into question the accuracy of a score; and currently there is no total score, although one may be incorporated during later phases of the project.

Despite the fact that it’s still a work in progress, the Eco Index has proven that a focus on sustainability can impact the bottom line. Even at the most basic level, programs that reduce, reuse and recycle frequently lead to cost savings. According to the Eco Index website, Patagonia’s efforts to encourage its supply chain to adopt more sustainable practices have resulted in eleven of its textile mills adopting the Bluesign standard – allowing Patagonia to

reduce the costs and time associated with monitoring those vendors.

A Wall Street Journal article reports that, in and effort to improve their Eco Index score, “Brooks got rid of moisture-absorbing silica bags, which turned out to be ineffective, and stopped stuffing the insides of shoes with tissue paper. As an added benefit, the “green” changes reduced the cost of the shoe box by 38%.”

With both proven bottom line impact and growing consumer feedback favoring green minded companies, as a business leader, are you adequately engaging your customer around your sustainability efforts?

Many consumers cite that they recognize that sustainability and social responsibility is a developing conversation in the business world and they want to hear about the work in progress. They don’t expect companies to have all of the answers, but they do expect a response.

As the Eco Index, and tools like it in other industries, moves toward a more consumer-facing model, there will be increased incentive for companies to incorporate sustainability in all facets of their business from product design to supply chain. Will you be a leader in green innovation, or will you be left standing in a pile of tissue paper and silica bags?

Now more than ever consumers are purchasing with a purpose. In the fourth annual Edelman goodpurpose® Study, experts indicate that what consumers want goes beyond just form and function to include a positive community impact.

As a business leader, are you doing the best job possible to develop sales if you focus on innovation, design, and brand loyalty? Not really. According to the study, nearly half (47%) of respondents said that social purpose ranks higher than brand loyalty and design and innovation as a purchase motivator. In addition, another recent PRWeek/Barkley Cause Survey suggests that a full 88 percent of American men say it’s crucial for a brand to support a social cause.

When business leaders think about how to engage their customers and communities around social causes, social media presents an ideal vehicle. Social media channels offer powerful opportunities for organizations to bring these purpose branding and marketing strategies to life. Exposure through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, etc. engages existing and potential customers, increases transparency, and solicits feedback. Yet with this relatively new frontier of branding and marketing opportunities comes many questions.

CEO’s are asking themselves: What are the leading companies doing? What should you keep in mind as you launch your next (or first) social media campaign? How do you make it effective, relevant, and consistent with organizational objectives?

Ultimately, the recipe for success centers on creating compelling content, building “living” campaigns and acting with creativity. Industry innovators like GE, Pepsico and Intel recognize that people want to buy from responsible companies and engage with purpose-driven brands. To achieve success, they go beyond simply communicating the social causes they support through a blog or a Facebook page. Their messaging resonates authenticity, directly connects to their brand and business, and incites action in their customer base.

When Anvil Knitwear, for example, convinced Disney to use its organic cotton knitwear line for all of its branded t-shirts, it turned to social media to communicate the significance of these efforts. Anvil operates a website called Track My T which allows younger customers to see the evolution of their tshirts from farm to retailer. They also have posted this video on YouTube which educates consumers about the negative impact of pesticides on farmers and the environment, further reinforcing their leadership position in organic and sustainable apparel.

Secondly, successful organizations treat social media as a living campaign, as opposed to traditional marketing where companies simply dispense ideas and hope for the best. Social media’s immediate connection with customers humanizes brands and provides a platform for engagement. To achieve a sustained community and build long-term relationships, companies listen to, track and solicit feedback carefully and towards a purpose. The GE Ecomagination project shows this best practice in action. The initiative calls for stakeholders to submit their ideas, inventions and strategies around clean energy. The winning proposals receive up to $200 million in funding, business strategy evaluation with GE technical teams, and opportunities to leverage GE’s extensive network of customer relationships.

Finally, social media offers many opportunities to interact that rely on creative thinking and not necessarily on a large advertising budget. One recent campaign organized by Keep a Child Alive, musician Alicia’s Keys’ foundation, featured celebrity social media “deaths” whereby celebrities stopped tweeting until fans donated $1 million to support AIDS-related causes in Africa and India. The campaign raised the money in less than a week and helped generate awareness through a creative and unique social media undertaking. Though not every organization is backed by the star power of a Grammy winner, every company has the potential to come up with inspired ideas and engage their customers to help those ideas take flight.

As a leader, how do you approach these issues? Are you sure that your social media strategy is really innovative, driving not only brand awareness but also sales and customer retention? By creating compelling content, building living campaigns and acting creatively, companies can leverage both their social media and social purpose strategies, enabling them to build meaningful relationships with their customers. It is these relationships, built on the power of social media, which ultimately drive sales and facilitate sustained success for a brand.

Here are some stats to illustrate the size and strategies of the sustainability movement sweeping the business and consumer sectors:

Consumers Are Searching For a Green Thumb — Consumers’ expectations are changing and holding brands to a higher, more eco-conscious standard. Sixty six percent of consumers think it’s important or very important for companies to offer green products. Just because you cannot offer a bio-degradable bag, you could reduce the size of your packaging — making it not only eco-friendly, but cost effective — or make your distribution routes more efficient.

All Things Being Equal — All things being equal, consumers are willing to support a social cause. Two out of three consumers will switch brands if one works with ’good causes’ and the other does not. “Equal” is the operative word here. The majority of consumers are not willing to sacrifice user experience, quality or anything else in exchange for a feel-good mission.

Green Points Can Equal More Green — The cost of making green products generally does cost more and some consumers understand that. Consumers who said that they were willing to pay more for a green product rose from 20 to 24 percent. Yes, some consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products, but that doesn’t mean the majority are on board. Companies seeking the greener side might have to count their eco-friendly products as a financial loss to stay competitive with existing, non-eco products.

Where Do I Sign Up? — Brands are focusing increasingly on how to incorporate a social mission into their overall agenda. In fact, the “IEG Sponsorship Report” predicts that cause marketing will be the fastest-growing category of sponsorship spending in 2010, rising 6.1 percent over 2009 to reach $1.61 billion. As more brands integrate a social mission into their company, it will be increasingly difficult to differentiate from one socially-conscious brand to another. Therefore, creativity and audacity will play a more critical role in how social missions are formed.

Social Missions Are More Than a Marketing Tactic —  It’s not what you do today that matters, it’s your history of caring that matters. Seventy three percent of consumers believe companies should have a good environmental track record. Donating money to charity, creating eco-friendly products, these are just a few ways brands can jump onto the social mission band wagon. Consumers can see through the PR stunts, which means brands have to be in it for the long haul, not just the end of the next quarter.

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