As we move into 2010, our team at Lovely Day has put together a short list of ideas and examples of doing well by doing good that we’re giving away to the top Fortune 500 companies as a special holiday bonus. Our goal? Encourage global brands to support social innovation as a new way of doing business in 2010 and beyond. If you’re new to Corporate Social Innovation, check out our presentation on (human) brands.
COLLECTIVE ACTION: ADD ADDITIONAL IDEAS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW. WE WILL FORWARD THE LIST TO FORTUNE 500 BRANDS TO TAKE ACTION ON CORPORATE SOCIAL INNOVATION IN 2010!
1. Corporate Social Innovation
Example: Grameen Danone
“The yogurt Danone would make would be fortified to help curb malnutrition and priced (at 7 cents a cup) to be affordable. All revenue from the joint venture with Grameen would be reinvested, with Danone taking out only its initial cost of capital, about $500,000, after three years.”
“The new wave in business is, forget corporate social responsibility and philanthropy – how do you integrate this into your core business? The idea Danone has of creating a social dividend for shareholders – that’s cutting-edge. No one else has come up with this interesting a model. It supports your brand, returns your capital, you’re not going to lose money and you give your shareholders a vision of doing something good.” — Emmanuel Faber, Danone’s former CFO
Actionable Idea: Rethink your market and utilize your brand to create social enterprises that lift the BOP out of poverty. Teach them how to fish. Stop giving them fish.
2. Corporate Social Innovation
Example: Marks & Spencer Plan A
Plan A is a five-year, 100-point ‘eco’ plan. “It tackles some of the most important social, environmental and ethical challenges facing our business and our world.” Through Plan A, Marks & Spencer is working with their customers, employees, and suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, use sustainable raw materials, trade ethically, and help their customers live healthier lifestyles. Why? Because there is no plan B.
Actionable Idea: Crowdsource ideas from your employees, customers, and stakeholders to create your own 100-point plan. Implement it over the next 5 years, and make the world a better place. Or hire us.
3. Strategic Philanthropic Investment
Example: GOOD + Pepsi
GOOD has recently partnered with Pepsi to “drive positive change in the world… around their bold new Refresh campaign — a $20 million grant-giving effort that will support ideas big and small that are designed to create positive social change.” Pepsi will start accepting submissions on refresheverything.com from people on how they will create change in the world.
Actionable Idea: Shift capital from non-profit donations to creating an investment fund for social entrepreneurs and changemakers. It’s no longer about charity. It’s about investment.
4. Collective Action Campaign
Example: Carrotmob
Carrotmob is a “network of consumers who buy products in order to reward businesses who are making the most socially responsible decisions.” The idea is that a big mob of consumers will buy products in order to reward businesses that make the strongest commitment to improve the world. It’s the total opposite of a boycott. Awesome right?
Actionable Idea: Leverage collective action and community thought to do big things and make sweeping changes. Or sponsor an international Carrotmob to support those who do good business.
5. Employee Engagement
Example: Freedom, Inc.
According to a recent article on changethis.com, “Work has always been seen as a constraint and the workplace as a ship’s galley. But this is beginning to change, and it comes by using a source of benefits neglected by most — complete freedom and and responsibility for employees to take action they, not their bosses, decide are best.”
Actionable Idea: Hold an internal social innovation competition, and give the winning employee free reign to put together an action plan for their proposal.
Lovely Day is an agency for (human) brands. We develop strategies for global brands to do well by doing good. Our strategic focus is Corporate Social Innovation (CSI). Why? Because we believe business is run by people and people are inherently good. We exist to let that shine. Like a Lovely Day.
6 responses so far ↓
1 mikekarnj // Dec 15, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Fund all of the micro-loans on Kiva.org
2 teddlesruss // Dec 16, 2009 at 1:36 pm
List of ideas:
1 re-use cars with a retrofit of electric power http://tedadynes.blogspot.com/2008/10/want-to-sell-something-other-than-cars.html
2 make smarter traffic lights that could save energy currently wasted sitting at lights http://tedadynes.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-smarter-traffic-lights-could-save.html
3 a website that lets people enter details of what they’re planting by location, and that lets people swap hints and tips, swap vegetables locally, help each other locally, etc.
Any of these ideas could make a company far more environmentally friendly and liked.
3 teddlesruss // Dec 16, 2009 at 1:39 pm
BTW those large companies I’m happy to consult about these and similar issues with you.
4 Tristan // Dec 16, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Best Buy has started to focus on e-waste reduction with recycling and trade-in initiatives, complementing their electronics sales nicely. Of course, there is always more to do.
Ethical supply chain sites and public awareness are two big factors that will help grow corporate social innovation. I have to run, but there is a really good Web site to see where your purchases components come from…
5 Tim Gregory // Dec 17, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Great idea guys.
An example for you:
TESCO’S COMPUTERS FOR SCHOOLS
“After seeing a downturn in educational investment by Government and a rise in the importance of computers for children’s learning, Tesco’s launched a sales promotion where by buying at Tesco’s, you could get vouchers that helped your child’s local school be better equipped for the future. This ‘promotion’ was instrumental in moving Tesco’s from a small time player to the World’s 3rd biggest retailer” http://robcampbell.wordpress.com/
This one may be relatively straight forward compared with some of the social innovations we talk about today (though you could argue it was very innovative of Tesco’s from a progressive business sense to do something like this at the time). However it is a nice, simple example of how a company can find unexpected relevance, by really looking at a need exist in society and doing something to help meet it.
It proved that doing good works, and paved the way for other mass retailers to think about how they can be important to the wider world, not just to shoppers.
6 Tim Gregory // Dec 20, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Employee Engagement.
Example: Walmart Personal Sustainability Project –
Focused on helping employees integrate sustainability into their own lives by making small changes to everyday habits. Really doing things from the ground up – and when you have as many employees as Walmart do this could make a big difference.
Actionable idea: Every company can get their employees on board for change by making personal the way Walmart have. There’s a passion in everyone if you know where to look. The job of the conscious leader of today should be about discovering, harnessing and leveraging the passion of their people.
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