Beyond Cause Marketing 2010: Report of Findings

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Released: 4/15/20111

Report of FindingsOctober 8, 2010 Summit

Six months ago, over 125 innovators and disruptors gathered on the MIT campusin Cambridge, Massachusetts, to develop new principles for how organizations

can engage individuals to solve social problems. Participants included marketingand advertising professionals, corporate representatives, government staffers,

nonprofit leaders, students and university researchers.From the outset, the 2010 Summit set expectations audaciously high andchallenged participants to enlarge their mental framework to see the practice ofcause marketing fitting into a broader ecosystem bustling with new opportunities.

To frame the conversation, the morning began with a short welcome and wentstraight into the Conversation Gauntlet, which featured the same moderatorinterviewing six different innovators in a consecutive series of ten minute 1:1conversations. The insights shared by a nonprofit founder, digital advertisingexecutive, CEO of a crowdsourcing platform, corporate philanthropy advocate,expert on X-Prize grand challenges and a federal government innovator createda mosaic of perspective and understanding for what is now possible.

For the remainder of the day, Summit participants divided into six breakout teamsto process what they heard and generate new ideas based on the broader

framework and new insights. At the end of the day, Summit participantspresented a sizeable list of ideas for organizations to go beyond cause marketingand ways to implement them.

In the weeks and months following the summit, CauseShift considered how tosummarize the findings of the day. By laying out all the ideas side-by-side, theteam saw a pattern emerge for how these ideas could be encapsulated under

three driving principles of success. The following pages summarize and illustratethese findings for all aspiring organizations to consider and adopt.

To view the complete library of outcomes and a list of 2010 Summit sponsors,partners, and attendees, you can visit: http://beyondcausemarketing.com




Principle #1: Measure Progress with Reverse Metrics

Drives: Goals and Objectives

What This Means: New metrics are required; focus on ending problem.

Shifts: How success is measured. Itʼs not about getting bigger or more resourcesbut rather about how to actually achieve the mission.

Old Way of Thinking: Too much emphasis on accumulating dollars or followers.Dollars and followers are not a direct line to eradicating a problem.

Depends on: Good, reliable data.

How: Emphasize progress to a decreasing, finite goal.

Ideas to Implement:1. Long-term metrics focused on impact and results, not just donations.

2. Develop new methods to measure metrics and record results.

3. Social life cycle analysis can provide a framework for companies toquantifiably compare ethical strategic decisions and forecast the potentialeconomic advantage. For example, local vs. foreign manufacture. It would

be cheaper to choose foreign, but local may increase brand value, reduce

uncertainty in shipping time, create job increasing disposable income, etc.,making good action the right strategic direction.




Principle #2: Master the Art of Adaptive Scale

Drives: Operations/Tactics

What This Means: Develop solutions that fit local, individualized needs and can

scale in a flexible, adaptive manner based on protocols, not rigid franchises.

Shifts: How success is delivered.

Old Way of Thinking: Approaches have been either "one size fits all" or toosmall/esoteric to replicate. Need ability to find what works and adapt to uniqueconditions of community, however that is defined.

Depends on: Understanding local needs.

How: Increase participation and engagement.

Ideas to Implement:1. Partnerships based on strategic objectives and shared value.

2. Demonstrate value and impact of coming together to change, deliver andaffect; celebrate collaboration.

3. Community driven partnerships/collaboration.

4. Human interaction: more long-term impact; face-to-face; act before you

talk.

5. Use story telling and other frameworks to target and engage allstakeholders.

6. Engaging specifically with small businesses to create local impact throughreal partnership.

7. Redefine global - Local = individual communities and individuals, whileglobal = collection of local impacts.

8. Local and manageable.

9. Redefine local.

10. Empower end user to impact change and define the success of the effort.

11. Instill the idea and ethics of citizenship from an early age.

12. National, grass roots format for sharing what works -- crowdsourced, localshare standards, best practices.




Principle #3: Every Cause Needs an Expiration Date

Drives: Business models and organizational values

What This Means: Build obsolescence into business plan and organizational

mission.

Shifts: How success is enabled.

Old Way of Thinking: Organizations – for profit, nonprofit and government -- aredesigned for long-term sustainability (e.g., organizational structure, leadershipchange, etc), which can often distract them from what they are trying to achievein "ending" a problem. Serving the cause instead of solving the cause.

Depends on: Leadership and organizational willingness; Understanding of what

it takes to solve the problem; Establishment of expiration conditions.

How: Design for success and expiration.

Ideas to Implement:1. Recognize what people want to do and give.

2. Create a positive and meaningful behavioral change for all stakeholders inthe cause.

3. Change practices of engaging in the solution such as leveraging a

company's resources to solve a problem.

4. Action and new forms of philanthropy.

5. Deliberately invest in innovation for sustainability -- for your community,audiences, environment, then start small, measure, iterate and vocalize tobe your own Bono.

6. Let values drive logistics and educate consumers young.

7. Be confident and stand behind actions/programs.

8. Learn and improve.

9. Adjust; authenticity: transparency.




10. Starting with and keeping the recipients of the cause at the core ofpurpose and defining success. The “What” and “How” (marketing strategy)can and should fluctuate.

11. Create momentum for others to follow.

12. Shift control of message.

13. Create a social entrepreneur position within companies. Salary to be taxdeductible to the for-profit, as long as social entrepreneur has trackablepositives for causes. Also, social entrepreneur within company to aid mind

shift in business to long-term vs. short -term bottom line.

14. Create new incentives that encourage social entrepreneurs to launchresults-oriented businesses.

15. Businesses first do no harm.

16. Strategy and cause aligned with corporate values.

17. Companies defined by social mission -- culture inside out; ideas that haveimpacts in community; sponsors ideas from those within communities.

18. Connect activities to value.

19. What do you have to offer that can help?

20. New breed of company defined by social mission. Culture is built from theinside out -- B Corp.

21. Long-term impact and short-term win. Defined beyond revenue. Revenue+ energy saved = community.

22. Add value beyond cause -- think Starbucks model.

23. Build ecosystems and be systems based -- think United Way.

24. Move away from "generic donations" and let people know exactly wherethe money goes, e.g, Toms Shoes. You buy a pair of their shoes and they

supply a pair of shoes for a child in need. This is the "one for one" modeland easy to market.

Beyond Cause Marketing 2010: Report of Findings

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