Rafael Nunez Aponte: What to Learn About CSR Campaigns

Thinking about sustainability and hard work

Corporate social responsibility is a term that an individual and a company has to perform to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. A trade-off can exist between economic development, in the material sense, and the welfare of the society and environment. Social Responsibility is about giving back to the communities that keep your business in a good position, maybe even ones beyond your reach. Having a social commitment and good culture allow employees to know they are working for something that is good and with a high impact. Business becomes something far from dimensional and more importantly, it cares about people.

As you already have noticed, we like to show you different great references and examples of what means to be a very responsible company or brand. We do this for you to have the best examples and know how to act when creating your brand or company’s CSR campaign:

Social commitment

1. The Promise of Healthcare is one of the tasks created and developed by Johnson & Johnson regarding their CSR activities. The company believes the best healthcare systems put the needs of people first.
2. Forever 21 Vendor Audit Program. While many of the brand’s vendors have worked with Forever 21 for a number of years and are trusted, all suppliers and vendors must provide factory contact information and all factories must participate in the audit program as part of the company’s CSR actions.

And, of course, never forget that you have to promote all the effort. Brands, with their big advertising budgets, have a big opportunity to educate consumers about important causes and issues and the nonprofit organizations that are making a difference. The tip for businesses is to distinguish the cause area they are impacting, the charity with which they are collaborating, and the tangible, measurable impact that is being made.

Considering the people and your business

What Considerations We Take about CSR

Actions to take for CSR programs

As we all know, when thinking about creating social programs or corporate social responsibility campaigns, we have to consider more than simply measuring our positive image or reputation on the market and the society.  This topic is more important than you may think and it is present in almost every committed company or individual with a deep sense and interest on social issues and needs of the different communities where the companies are operating.

Corporate social responsibility is an ethical framework which suggests that any entity - an organization or individual - has the responsibility to act for the benefit of society in different aspects: economy, technological development, education, environment, etc. Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems.

About the concept

Covering every aspect

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be defined as the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time.  The concept of corporate social responsibility means that organizations have moral, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities in addition to their responsibilities to earn a fair return for investors and comply with the law.

History

The concept of CSR is relatively new - the phrase has only been in wide use since the 1960s. But, while the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations placed on organizations may differ, it is probably accurate to say that all societies at all points in time have had some degree of expectation that organizations would act responsibly, by some definition.

CSR

Today, the International Organization for Standardization  has the responsibility to encourage voluntary commitment to social responsibility and will lead to common guidance on concepts, definitions and methods of evaluation. The standard describes itself as a guide for dialogue and language, not a constraining or certifiable management standard.

Improving the World

Rafael Nunez Aponte: Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns with Creativity

Think with creativity

There is no secret on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for companies or brands: having great and powerful campaigns will attract more customers to you! Those campaigns have to be carefully thought with respect, commitment and, of course, creativity. Today, we have brought to you little examples of great campaigns developed by famous companies in order to have more presence in the global society.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means companies aligning their values with a greater good and taking action to have a positive effect on the people and the environment. They often do so through cause marketing, joining forces with nonprofit organizations and focusing ad campaigns on those philanthropic relationships.

Design catching ideas

CSR unforgettable campaigns are everywhere in your daily activities, from Pepsi Refresh giving away millions for ideas for improving the world to Tide sending a mobile fleet of washers and dryer to areas hit by natural disasters. Why are more companies than ever flaunting their good works this way? It could be because they realize that their employees want to be part of a business that does more than just make money.

Other example

We can also consider the recent collaboration between The Central Bank and the Gallery of Photography. This work creates a single image. In a stunning series of pictures, Michael Durand used images of staff together with shredded banknotes to provide a great meaning to the actual monetary value that society has assigned to certain functions: from recycling to charitable donations to reality TV shows.

The image shows a staff member sitting at a desk with a little pile of notes showing the average annual donation to charity per person in Ireland, set with a photograph of another employee in a car park next to a great volume of shredded notes which represent the value of a Mercedes Benz Maybach. A super great and visual promotion.

Creativity

Three Celebrities with Social Commitment

Not only companies or brands have the possibility of doing something good for the communities, animals, the Planet, etc. Charity campaigns are also in the hands of some of the most known celebrities. Here are 3 charities or foundations created or cofounded by celebrities, both big-name superstars and young entertainers paving their own way. You can also feel free to share any nonprofit organizations you personally like supporting!

Leonardo Dicaprio

Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation – Leonardo Dicaprio

This organization is dedicated to protect Earth’s last wild places and fostering a harmonious relationship between the people and the nature. Since 1998, the Foundation has been working on pressing environmental and humanitarian issues through grant making, campaigning and media projects. They focus on wildlife and habitat preservation, healthy oceans, water access, climate change, among others.

Born This Way Foundation

Born This Way Foundation – Cofounder Lady Gaga with Cynthia Germanotta

Leaded by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, the Foundation was founded in 2011 to encourage a more accepting society, where differences are always welcome and individuality can be celebrated. The Foundation is dedicated to create a safe community that helps connect young people with their skills. All this with the aim of giving opportunities they need to build a kinder, braver world.

The ONE Campaign – Cofounded by Bono

ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization that counts with more than 3 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, since the facts show extreme poverty has already been cut in half and can be virtually eliminated by 2030, but only if the society acts with urgency now.

Rafael Nunez Aponte: Know These 3 Social Responsibility Campaigns

Social Responsibility is about giving back to the communities that keep your business in a good position, maybe even ones beyond your reach. Having a social commitment and good culture allow employees know they are working for something that good and with a high impact. Business becomes something far from dimensional and, more importantly, it cares about people. People want to do things that matter; companies that encourage employees to participate in volunteerism and giving back all efforts are creating fulfilling environments to work in.

Let’s see some of the best companies that have great campaigns on Social Responsibility.

One for One

1. Toms “One for one” motto is a very popular phrase. They have recently upped the ante by donating a part of their sunglass sales to vision care for children in need. However, this is not just consumers that are involved in this social action for good, there are also employees involved. Toms’ employees participate in an annual Shoe Drop where they travel and donate a variety of goods to children. Their careers page specifically calls for employees that want to change lives and be a part of a movement.

Social Responsibility

2. IBM truly believes in corporate citizenship. Their social good projects extend across issues and needs of the society. Employees volunteer in environmental efforts, community economic development, education, health, literacy, language and culture. Their volunteer initiative goes all year long; it is called the “Celebration of Service,” logged over 3,000,000 hours of service. IBM has also established “On Demand Community” enabling employees and retirees to find volunteer opportunities, through trainings and placement.

PG&E Earth Day

      3. PG&E works very well serving the communities of California. On Earth Day employees help clean and restore 18 state parks. They are members of Habitat for Humanity and volunteer by providing solar panels on new Habitat homes. Employee volunteerism hits inside the home as well by participating in various food programs providing those struggling to make ends meet with care packages and thousands of pounds of groceries.

Charity through 3 Campaigns in Social Media

Social Media can definitely be used for charity. The list below represents the campaigns that not only generated huge publicity for their respective causes, but were also highly creative and made effective use of tools such as stunts, social media tactics and viral videos.

1.      “I like it on…”

Breast Cancer Campaign 

In 2009, Breast Cancer Awareness launched their purely Facebook-based campaign where girls were invited to post the color of their bra as a Facebook status while confusing their male friends who were kept in the dark about what these colors meant. As the campaign was a huge success and gained coverage not only all over the world, but also in print media, Breast Cancer decided to repeat the success with another campaign the following year.

2.      UNICEF on Youtube

Swedish UNICEF ran a campaign to highlight that likes on Facebook were not enough to help them save children’s lives. To do this, they created four YouTube videos, including one of a child saying ironically that he feels hopeful because of the amount of likes UNICEF’s Facebook page has achieved.

Each video ended with the powerful message that likes cannot fund vaccinations. The videos were viewed more than750,000 times across 195 countries, and led to more than 10,500 tweets during the campaign period.

3.      Marriage Equality

Marriage equality

The Human Rights Campaign changed their logo to an equal sign last year as a vote was taking place in the Supreme Court over marriage equality.

The image of the equal sign on red background went viral as thousands of people all over Facebook changed their profile pictures to also show their support. The support of the campaign was so visible that it would have been impossible for ministers to ignore it.