What I feel grateful for Thanksgiving...

Since it is Thanksgiving I might as well diverge a little bit and write about what I am thankful for for 2009.


I still remember this time last year I was sitting with a group of beggars and volunteers in a church, praying to God and enjoying turkeys, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie - that was my first real American Thanksgiving dinner, and I was grateful for spending it cooking for the poor and the homeless, listening to their sad stories, soothing their tortured hearts, and extending gratitude for the extravagant food and love. This Thanksgiving I'm sitting alone at my desk - there is even no turkey - but I can feel more joy and gratitude.

I am thankful - for all the difficulties that almost devastated me this fall, for my family, friends and professors who've been supporting me with great patience, for the bumpy journey of learning and navigating social media (my newly found passion), and for the most amazing serendipity of cause marketing and corporate philanthropy.


When I felt I could no longer sustain the pain I was told "this too shall pass" by Steven Gross, founder of Project Joy at Life Is Good; when I was mired in despair and almost lost hope I was told to make a wish to the Santa Claus at Macy's; when I was indulging in my own miseries I was told there were angels expecting merely a doll or sweater for the Christmas; when I was a little crushed by negativity and pessimism the movie "My Sister's Keeper" told me how cancer patients were fighting for their happiness and spreading their optimistic spirit... when I first embarked upon the journey of exploring causes and philanthropy, it was like an outlet for my pain and grief. But more and more I realize how wonderful it is to align brands with causes. If I were a brand I've become stronger, more optimistic, loving and responsible through learning all the little, cute, warm stories... what about for other brands and businesses? I feel cause is no longer just the embodiment of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) - cause actually helps a business understand the meaning of "love" "humanity" and "responsibility"; cause helps a brand connect to its customers, employees and the community, but more importantly, it helps it connect to its core value, its significance, its mission and unfinished tasks.


Just like the words of wisdom from the Life Is Good Book: 

Takers may eat well, but givers sleep well.

Take your love everywhere you go.

I am proud of spreading the message: With Love, Here for Good. I am thankful for relearning myself through participating in cause. What about you? What are you thankful for?

Are You Sure Your CSR Programs Are Bringing Measurable Results?

During today's business research class we had a heated discussion about measuring the results of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. As potential market researchers my friends and I are curious about quantifiable benefits brought about by cause-related marketing initiatives. As the year 2009 closes an increasing number of reports and surveys are coming out indicating CSR programs are positives viewed by the C-suits and stakeholders. The problem is - does intention and attitude really translates into behavior and revenues?


Probably not.


When your consumer do not care about you as a brand in the first place; when your CSR programs do not resonate with your targeted audience; when you mismatch your causes with business, and when you donate without your consumers' awareness... 


But even if you did everything perfectly... how do you measure your CSR benefits on the business?


Here the advantage of consumer participated cause marketing kicks in. As I proposed - there are two basic forms of cause-related practices - corporations either cut a small portion of their yearly revenues and make a direct donation to the foundations/charities of their choice, or they could ask for their consumers' engagement. For example, JCPenney's Adopt-an-Angel and Macy's 2009 Believe have consumers be the heroes who spread warmth and kindness during the holiday season. Lands' End's Big Warm Up steps further by providing entice (discounts) for consumers' do-good behaviors. 


For the first type - direct donation without consumers' participation - as companies you really need to correlate year-end earnings with customer awareness of the programs, attitudes and intentions in a long run... not to mention numerous distracting factors that might render the correlations invalid. For the second type things become much easier - how many consumers are actually participating? Are they loyal customers or just getting attracted by the corporations' riveting responsible behaviors? When every penny/good donated is connected directly with consumer participation... now you do the maths.


The greatest challenge encountered by every market researcher is to translate intentions into real behaviors - survey participants are influenced by things they are unaware of or unpredictable, which could lead to drastically different behaviors from answers they previously give on a survey.


So easiness of measurement constitutes another merit of audience participated cause marketing initiatives. The others are related to participants' "feeling-good" psychological value, direct impact they can track, or monetary reward (discounts or special offers, etc. ) So why not embrace this innovative method and let your customers play the role of heroes?