Lily Pai, Boston University
The one thing I took away from the Beyond Cause Marketing Summit was that working together makes us much more effective than we are individually. As we talked about the concepts behind our topic, I was struck by the energy and the multitudes of ideas that came out of each new contribution. Building on each other’s excitement and experience, I can see lots of potential for the next hack-a-thon.

Sarah Wood,  MIT Engineering 
As a budding entrepreneur in energy technology, the one thing I took away from the Summit last Friday was the importance of thinking about how to use the core competency of a business to give back in a way that benefits not only the collective good, but also has a positive feedback loop for the company itself. For Groupon, this means leveraging local sales teams by acting locally to help the communities it serves. But this could also build awareness of the brand and goodwill among potential vendors and buyers. Ideally, this one thing (focusing on strategic alignment) will eliminate many of the other complaints about for profit/non profit partnerships we covered, especially the “just money” and lack of engagement problems. If businesses are appropriately motivated to care about the fate of their nonprofit partnership or internal initiative, it will certainly show in the quality, longevity, and impact of the endeavor.

Sonal Dhingra, Boston University
Attending the Beyond Cause Marketing event allowed me to learn about a variety of organizations that I did not even know existed! For instance, I never knew that the Groupon G-Team existed. I just thought LevelUp was doing social/non-profit coupon benefits and it was great to see the market leader in this industry also have a presence and want to partner with non-profits in and around the community.

The overwhelming consensus among participants at this year’s Beyond Cause Marketing event was not if companies should address social issues, but how.  Consumers have echoed this sentiment in Cone Communication’s newest research, the 2011 Cone/Echo Global CR Opportunity Study, in which the unequivocal takeaway is that consumers globally believe companies have an explicit responsibility to help change the world.

Global findings indicate:

> 81% of consumers say companies have a responsibility to address key social and environmental issues beyond their local communities;

> 93% of consumers say companies must go beyond legal compliance to operate responsibly; and,

> 94% of consumers say companies must analyze and evolve their business practices to make their impact as positive as possible.

What’s more, consumers report they are already using their own spending and loyalty to press these demands. More than three-quarters of consumers surveyed (76%) bought a product with an environmental benefit in the past 12 months, and 65 percent have purchased one tied to a cause.

So what does the study reveal about the future of cause marketing? Consumers are primed to support companies in their efforts, but only if they are authentic, credible and transparent. Consumers may accept imperfection when it comes to a company’s social and environmental track record, but they also expect nothing less than the truth. Nearly nine-in-10 (89%)  say it’s ok if a company is not perfect, as long as it is honest about its efforts.

Despite their tolerant stance, a troubling number of consumers still think they are being duped. In fact, an equal percent (89%) believe companies share only the positive information about their efforts while withholding the negative. High consumer expectations coupled with this strong degree of skepticism means companies must be more proactive than ever to ensure their efforts are watertight, and they are talking openly about their efforts, providing the details consumers demand and listening to their feedback. After all, these same consumers won’t hesitate to boycott a company they believe has acted irresponsibly – in the past year, more than half (56%) already have.

Cause marketing has evolved and consumers are now willing to buy, donate, volunteer and boycott for a cause. The 2011 Cone/Echo Global CR Opportunity Study reveals that together, companies and consumers can address social issues through frank and honest communication beyond traditional cause marketing.

To learn about the key social and environmental issues, business approaches, preferred communications channels and other expectations of consumers around the world, please download the full 2011 Cone/Echo Global CR Opportunity Study here.

As marketers, and especially in PR, our job is to communicate the message of our organization externally. We’re given a narrow set of guidelines and we work within them to create a campaign or mechanism that best represents what we’re trying to accomplish.

But how often do we really take that organization and flip it on its head, questioning the very reason it exists, and making major overhauls in order to ensure the success of its mission?

That was the backbone of Beyond Cause Marketing summit, organized by Scott Henderson and held in Boston on September 16. Each of the 60 attendees were pushed to identify one thing organizations could do better, and one thing organizations need to stop doing in order to really foster and enable change.

Through a heated debate over banana rum (pronounced “banana room”) cake, we questioned whether or not the marketing efforts surrounding cancer walks are effective measures of actually curing cancer, let alone the walks themselves. Over breakout sessions the following morning (led by rockstars Sloane Bennett, Margot Bloomstein and SchneiderMike), we outlined how government organizations, big companies and non profits could work together for the greater good. We watched leaders in our field (Becca Colbagh, Robbie Vitriano, Joe Waters) sit in the hot seat and answer challenging questions from our (very opinionated) moderator, Brian Reich.

Yes, some big ideas were thrown around. Yes, the chances of getting everything we discussed that day actually executed through real marketing campaigns will be close to impossible. But it felt great to be challenged. To be pushed so far out of our comfort zones and to engage in real discussions about how we, as marketers, can impact real social change was invigorating. It was one of the most inspiring conferences I’ve been to, and I look forward to continuing some of the discussions we started there throughout our growing online community.

Here’s a recipe for social change I took away from the Beyond Cause Marketing Summit:

1. Find a crew of techies inspired by the idea of using their skills for social good.

2. Find a committed nonprofit partner with a technical challenge.

3. Gather them together for a sleepless weekend.

4. Insert computers, whiteboards, Cheetos, Red Bull and a little competition.

5. Mix all ingredients at your corporate headquarters and serve with a heavy dose of camaraderie and corporate spirit.

What I’m talking about is a hackathon for good. Hackathons are already used by companies for team building, professional development and new product ideas. So there’s a natural connection to social good and corporate giving. Teams of developers are gathered, issued a challenge and guidelines for what the nonprofit needs, and then set loose to get creative and develop systems, applications and products that will fulfill the challenge.

Many developers are already volunteering their time and expertise to help nonprofits (check out this example where LinkedIn engineer Alejandro Crosa created a mobile app for DonorsChoose.org). Hackathons for good take skilled volunteering to new heights – applying the talents and brains of groups of motivated developers to the immediate needs of a nonprofit or social cause.

Amazing groups such as Random Hacks of Kindness (RHOK) have formed to facilitate hackathons, both to match the teams up with great nonprofits and to ensure that volunteers have the right information and resources to succeed. An upcoming example of a RHOK-facilitated hackathon is the “Hack Autism” event in October for host HP. The challenge is to create software applications to address the needs of people with autism. The results will look like interactive and visual applications that teach safety skills, time management and allow parents to track and record developmental progress.

Ensuring that your hackathon results in real impact can be complicated. At the Beyond Cause Marketing Summit, my team for the “hackathons” breakout session identified the following best practices to keep in mind for a successful event:

> Define your objectives – In order for a hackathon to be successful, the end goal of the event needs to be established up-front. Work with your nonprofit partner to clearly identify their challenge. Creativity is key, but having a touchstone of what you’re trying to accomplish will help volunteers stay focused.

> Engage developers in a way that taps their passions – Developers love creative challenges, so tap into their particular interest areas and skills when organizing a hackathon for good.

> Use game theory and competition to drive interest – At the core of all hackathons is competition. The challenge is presented and teams work together to make the best solution. Layer in incentives and awards for teams to keep the teams highly engaged and motivated.

> Get out of the way and let them develop! The main benefit of a hackathon, for both the volunteer and the nonprofit, is the opportunity for developers to stretch their creativity and skills, and to rapidly innovate over a short period of time. Set your goals, then step away and watch the magic happen.

There is an exciting opportunity for more companies to formalize hackathons as a strategic way to empower employees to volunteer. These events are not only a great forum to foster team building and professional development; they also create valuable impact for nonprofits where technical skills are not always accessible. Our friends at LinkedIn already have plans to formalize employee volunteer engagement in this way next year, and RHOK continues to work with companies who care to solve pressing nonprofit needs. Are you on board? Share your opinions about hackathons for good with us below.

As a staffer from the Ad Council of Rochester, a nonprofit that has been in the Upstate New Yor, Rochester community for just more than 60 years, I had the good fortune of being able to attend marketing’s equivalent to Fashion Week in Boston - Future M, a city-wide event in Boston that spans 5 days of events, discussions and, my favorite, parties that explore and celebrate the future of marketing (and Massachusetts’ role in helping to realize it).  My colleagues and I weren’t able to be there for the entire week but instead took advantage of one of Future M’s events, the Beyond Cause Marketing Summit held at the Microsoft NERD Center on the MIT campus in Cambridge.

So, if digital is the new black and blogging is the “must have” because “everyone’s going to have one” then cause marketing is that signature piece that lets your personal style shine through. Beyond Cause Marketing (BeyondCM) was dedicated to addressing social change within the context of cause marketing.  Participants included marketers, business leaders, nonprofit leaders, universities and public policy – a mash up some of the top players and innovators who have a role in defining and refining the impact their cause marketing effort can have on making real and measurable social change.

Aside from money (and fundraising), how else can a company through its cause marketing campaign improve health outcomes, strengthen communities, or improve graduation rates, etc… another words, if cause marketing in its current form isn’t helping to improve our community and the lives of our fellow human beings then what needs to change?

Brian Reich, SVP, Global Editor, Edelman Digital and Edelman.com, author of two books on technology and organizational behavior (Shift & Reset coming soon), contributor to Fast Company, and the moderator at the BeyondCM Summit, asked presenters, facilitators and participants to “Push the reset button.”  Another words, what one thing should an organization STOP doing (nonprofit or for profit) and what one thing should they START doing?

The presenters came back with a range of suggestions -

> Don’t start with the money, it’s the idea/mission (that you start with), Robbie Vitrano, Co-Founder & Brand Architect, Naked Pizza

> Let the brand support the cause, not the brand driving the cause - Brian Reich, SVP, Global Editor

> Give new technology a shot (nonprofits take awhile to process change) – Adam Archer, CEO & Co-Founder, Games That Give

Many other responses were shared, as you can imagine, but I’m going to focus on focus.  Focus was a common theme that kept resurfacing whether it had to do with prioritizing activities that align with your core mission, focusing on having a measurable impact, or ensuring there is a strategic plan for growth and impact.

When the question, “what one thing should organizations start doing?” was asked at the beginning of the summit, I had the chance to speak up for nonprofits (most of the responses up to that point were from business marketers and marketing firms) and emphasize the need for nonprofits, in particular, to have a strategic plan.  A solid plan can prevent an organization from just “following the money trail” and the next best fundraising trend that isn’t relevant to their mission.

A strategic plan gives a nonprofit a road map to follow and from a cause marketing standpoint, it helps nonprofits discern what co-branding opportunities align with their mission or their cause more “naturally” (by more natural, I mean better strategic fit or alignment between a nonprofit/cause and the company so as to give the appearance that the partnership was a natural fit between the two organizations) thus allowing the cause to lead the marketing effort and not the corporate brand.

A sound strategy also helps nonprofits stay true to their mission and maximize their resources.  An organization that feeds the homeless might feel compelled to offer job training or emergency shelter services but a strategic plan keeps the mission intact and the limited resources (staff and money) focused.  Focused resources mean greater impact and better outcomes.

So, as you look ahead to the fall fashion trends, go ahead and customize your facebook page, take a chance with a hack-a-thon or even gamification but always remember a strategic plan flatters every body (or organization) type and is a classic look no matter what your style.

Twitter: @AdCouncilofRoch; @Mktg4Good
Facebook: Ad Council of Rochester

On September 16, I participated in the Beyond Cause Marketing Summit, presented by Scott Henderson and his CauseShift team (Anne Mai Bertelsen and Brian Reich) led us through one-one-one discussions and collaboration sessions, expanding the horizon. It was a very special morning and here are a few tweets from the participants, just to give you a few insights the group gathered:

@sloane: People want us to build a bonfire but give us 2 sticks, a match and it’s really cold & wet outside.

@sd913: Get out of your comfort zone and try things out!

@CaseyB: @stmhoward says we need more cause intelligence – be a listener that distills true meaning.

@sd913: Stop measuring: 1. Reach 2. Size 3. Awareness/Impressions

@sonarc: data/=insight. more data/=more insight, more likely = confusion. Telling a story based on data? priceless

@sd913: Social is about finding expertise rapidly. Bringing teams together. Organizing ppl in a rapid fashion to take action

@sattler360: Lots of small actions can add up quickly. Time to change ‘go big or go home’ to ‘go small lots of times?

@TeshiShell: We need to start treating social as an ecosystem instead of individual tools, says @calebbarlow of IBM

@mktg4good: @brianreich – stop what you’re doing, simplify your purpose into an 8 word sentence, communicate it, see what happens

It’s just the beginning of a journey.

My biggest takeaway is that we just need to get started. Yes, we have major economic problems and I’m big fan of being aware of the macro-economic issues and challenges, building a better world in the spirit of Umair Haque’s The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business. But we have to make sure to start the work now, in the spirit of Seth Godin’s premise of Linchpin.

Changing the world can be as simple (and brilliant) as finding a new use for a bottle of water.

We have all these tools – including cause marketing and mobile and location-based services – but we don’t know how they work, or what they’re for. Or we expect them to do things they can’t do. A hammer doesn’t make a home. Its job is to pound in nail. It’s a tool. But we wield it like Thor’s hammer expecting wonders.

Our group agreed that we need to set aside our tools and focus on what will truly build our success. Only then can we choose the right tool for the work ahead.

> Take a good look at your brand. It’s the number one predictor of cause marketing success. I’ve learned the hard way that cause marketing doesn’t build brand and technology will mostly just communicate it.
> Analyze your assets. What is it about your cause or company what makes it truly special, unique. What do you have that others would die (or give you a really good fight) for.
> Focus on things that work. The tangible, the measurable.
Work on developing your story.
> Build your foundation first. Do this before you try to construct or innovate anything.
> Stick with the basics. They work!
> Start with ideas. They’ll drive your success better than any tool.
> Focus on a lasting value. Something that shines through and permeates everything you do.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. Cause marketing and technology are tools that needs to be backed by ideas, purpose, identity, results and values. When we say a house has “character” we recognize the craft and art of the maker, not the tool that made it.

During the breakout team session of public and private partnerships, we outlined 11 keys tips for building a social contract. Think of these as a check-list that you use when looking to build a partnership of any kind. They all don’t have to be used – but the more of them you can incorporate, the better and stronger the partnership.

1. Buy-in from all partners. This can include government, corporate and nonprofit.

2. Identify responsibilities and goals. Who is doing what and how much clarity can you get on this before you start?

3. Do your research. All sides have a responsibility to know who they are doing business with. Do background checks, be prudent in who you partner with.

4. Create a contract of expectations. This is different from a scope of work or a contract. This is something all parties create that outlines what they expect from the partnership and what both sides are going to do to get there.

5. Leverage Resources. Leave nothing on the table.

6. Avoid silos. Collective impact will, by definition, have the most impact. Don’t think you can operate alone – you can’t.

7. Be tactical on timing. Double the money and double the time it’s going to take to build/launch.

8. Hook ‘em. What is the partnership going to do to hook the audience? Don’t forget the PR when you’re building a program. People need to know what you’re doing to support it and tell others.

9. Define measurable goals. The goals can change, but outline them when you start. Don’t be afraid to be bold. Really push for what you want this partnership to accomplish.

10. Reassess the impact of the program. If you’re going to take a partnership to year 2 or year 3, you have to take your measurable goals and align them with the objectives and really look at what you’re looking to do in future years. Critical for all sides to do this – first separately and then together as a team.

11. Take an agile approach. Launch and then reconfigure. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect at launch – often it can’t be – because you have to see the partnership in practice to really know what is going on and that you’re hitting all of your targets, goals and objectives.

This isn’t all of it – but it’s a great start and a lot to chew on. Huge thank you to Scott and his team for providing the atmosphere to engage in this conversation with my peers and stretch my way of thinking about programs from the agency, brand and nonprofit side.

What do you look for when building partnerships?

After a great morning session of thought starters generated from the Conversation Gauntlet, participants divided themselves into six breakout sessions to develop ideas to take home and implement immediately to make a difference.  Like other brainstorming sessions, these sessions focused initially on quantity, not quality.  The goal of the breakout sessions was to identify one approach that any person or organization could immediately implement to move beyond cause marketing as we know it.

The focus areas built off ideas discussed during the Conversation Gauntlet:

Storytelling (data & visual storytelling) led by Richard Santiago:  Cause marketers have relied on story telling for decades to raise awareness, funds and engage supporters.  What can we do differently in how we use story telling to gain greater awareness, engagement and yes, even, funds.

Hackathon lead by Mike Schneider:  The marathon sessions of coding or breaking code give developers an opportunity to develop new tools/approaches/capabilities that can further engagement and increase effectiveness.  How can cause marketing practitioners leverage hackathons to solve pressing problems?

Mobile and Location Based Services (LBS) led by Joe Waters:  Mobile and LBS, like gaming and hack-a-thons, are the shiny new objects that both cause and non-cause marketers are discovering.  What one thing can any organization do to take advantage of the immediacy and/or geo-location that mobile and LBS offer?

Transmedia (Multi-channel storytelling) led by Margot Bloomstein  Beyond just storytelling, how does an organization utilize the multitude of channels to drive desired behaviors?

Public/Private partnerships led by Sloane Berrent:  Public/private partnerships are nothing new.  In fact, it’s expected.  But what can be done to make these partnerships more effective – for both parties?

Gaming/Gamification led by Jessica Estes: The other new shiny object, gaming, offers cause marketers the opportunity to offer experiences that can drive greater engagement and even attract new audiences.  How can organizations use gaming to greatest effect?

After 45 minutes of brainstorming and curating, the groups came back with their one idea that everyone attending could implement immediately.  Interestingly, most groups could not come back with one single idea.  Instead, they had a handful but sometimes paring our priorities to one singular focus provides the greatest impact.  Here, then, are the singular ideas anyone can adopt today to become more effective:

Storytelling (data & visual storytelling): State your purpose in eight words or less and use that one sentence for seven days. Measure and reflect on responses to that statement. If people don’t understand what your purpose is, then clearly those eight words weren’t the right ones.  Iterate as needed to meet your engagement objective.  Streamlining your purpose forces you to focus on the most important story elements.

Hackathon: If you want to use a hack-a-thon, define your objectives, engage developers and give them access to key leaders in your organization and then get out of the way and let them hack-a-way.

Mobile and Location Based Services (LBS):  Remember these are tools. And, tools are only as good as an organization’s passion. Let that passion flow through to the tools.

Transmedia (Multi-channel storytelling) Understand your organization’s unique relevance to your cause and to your target audience to drive precise, effective actions.

Public/Private partnerships: Establish a social contract between the parties.  You can read more about that social contract, written by Sloane Berrent, here.

Gaming/Gamification:  Understand what it can do for your goals; align with appropriate partners to deliver meaningful experience. And, if possible, measure impact.

Interestingly, each of these ideas either directly or indirectly touched on the notion of purpose and objectives.  And, yet, so often strategies and tactics in cause marketing stray from the original, motivating purpose and objective.  So, perhaps, need to reset our priorities, strategies and tactics. Perhaps, it’s not a new way of thinking but a return to what was — and is — fundamentally important:  the original motivating purpose/objective.

The idea behind the conversation gauntlet at the Beyond CM summit is to get smart people to apply their experience and perspective to issues that are not necessarily a part of their daily focus.

How would someone who works to develop new technology platforms approach the challenges of addressing a social issue differently? What can someone whose work revolves around building big global brands help us to understand about how to inspire individual actions? Can someone versed in the world of nonprofits and causes come up with a model that changes the global business landscape? We know that when people are given permission, or better yet a directive, to shift the way they think about how to solve a problem, a totally different set of answers and ideas will emerge.

There were six conversations this year. Each conversation only lasts 12 minutes… which barely affords us enough time to even scratch the surface of an issue. We certainly aren’t going to develop a plausible solution to a complex problem in that short amount of time. I am not sure any immediate next steps are going to be obvious either. But that’s not the point of the conversation gauntlet.

Many people attend an event like Beyond CM looking for answers. Our focus is on asking questions. We heard loud and clear from the attendees at this year’s Beyond CM event that they wished more case studies had been discussed and more direction on how to improve their work was offered. We put Beyond CM together because we want people to change how they work, not just embrace someone else’s way of thinking.

In my new book, Shift & Reset, I use the idea of a giant meteorite striking the earth to describe the likely future of cause marketing – and a host of other organizational, communications, and related challenges today. Its a metaphor (I hope). That meteorite represents everything from voter apathy to information glut. The meteorite is the byproduct of our old ways of thinking – our inability or unwillingness to do things that make us uncomfortable, even if the potential for a meaningful, measurable and truly disruptive outcome exists. The meteorite is meant to represent whatever is holding us back, individually and collectively, from truly addressing the serious issues that exist in today’s society. As long as we are staring at the meteorite, instead of doing anything about it, we are on a path towards certain destruction.

I believe that we can knock that meteorite off its course… and it starts with thinking differently. If we knock that meteorite off its course, we’ll save the world (and our jobs, our organizations, the people who are unaware they in the path of impact) — and we’ll open up a whole set of new opportunities we never realized were out there. As long as we are staring at the meteorite, we won’t see anything that lies beyond it. Beyond CM is about knocking the meteorite off its course.

Still, as much as I believer that our Beyond CM conversation will help to shake up the way people think, I am not yet convinced that the actions and direction of the work to address serious issues and causes will change. Not enough. Not soon enough. And that prompts another thought/question. What would happen if the meteor actually struck?

Here is how I describe the scenario in Shift & Reset:

Just imagine. The economy continued to worsen and organizations were unable to raise enough money to continue operating. Thousands of nonprofit organizations and charities are forced to shutter. What little remaining confidence or trust that people had in government, and our political leadership around the world, was exhausted as gridlock and political acrimony worsened. Voter participation plunged. Volunteerism and civic engagement all but evaporated. Customers’ felt taken advantage of by major corporations abandoned their loyalty to certain products and services, forcing even the most successful and widely-regarded brands out of business. Communities – both real and virtual – began to dissolve. Individual and self-serving actions – driven by fear and selfishness – became the norm. And as the infrastructure and interest for address the serious issues that exist in our society disappeared, the issues – poverty, hunger, cancer, climate change, and more – remain unsolved, and their effects become more disastrous.

If you survived the impact, would you do anything differently? Would you prioritize things in the same way? Would you rebuild your organization to its previous form, or embrace the opportunity to try something completely different?

If we truly want to solve the problems that exist in our society, we need a whole new approach, a dramatically different structure for all the social, economic, political, organizational, communications, and personal efforts we undertake. We need to shift our thinking, reset our operations, and establish a way of addressing serious issues that is designed for the current realities, not for the past. We absolutely need to think about causes, how they are marketed, and what we expect from those efforts, in a radically different way.

We need to go beyond awareness and deepen our knowledge of how to address serious issues. We need to truly engage with individuals, and as communities, and take actions that do more than expand the size and reach of an organization or campaign. We need to fix what’s broken about our current systems, close down organizations that aren’t getting the job done, remove staff that aren’t performing and end partnerships that don’t make sense.

That’s what Beyond CM was all about. That’s what I hope the conversation gauntlet started you on the path to make happen. But please don’t be offended if I choose not to stand too closely to you until I see you thinking, or acting, differently when it comes to these critical issues. I don’t want to get hit by the meteorite.