the(new)mediaslut

A news report by The Star said that the Malaysian Government is now going to actively engage bloggers because it is now “a new dimension in shaping public opinion.”

All this when just last year (365 days ago) the very same government was “overlooking”, “criticising” and “running them down” because of the “wild and baseless allegations” which the new media makes. After March’s shocking general election results, fast forward to the present, in front of over 500 delegates from Asia and all other places that matter during the Asia Media Summit 2008 and Deputy PM, Najib Tun Razak says, “We need to have people who are active participants of the new media, who are sympathetic and understanding of the government’s position.

He even went so far as to reply to a posting on the Malaysia Today blog. Via his press secretary of course.

And while things seem to be looking up for new media at last, can the same be said for traditional media? To the same aforementioned crowd of 500 delegates, Najib had said, “If you read the newspapers on a daily basis, you will see that they don’t hold back their punches. If they know there are weaknesses or abuse of power anywhere, they will latch on to these and criticise the Government and individuals openly.”

But just three days after this news report, after a Talk for Media Freedom event hosted by all sorts of independent media bodies, Ahirudin Attan of Rocky Bru opined that while he salutes the mainstream media journos and single group chief editor he saw at the Walk and Talk event, “The others mainstream editors* are playing golf, too lazy, very contented, afraid, or probably didn’t even know what the NUJ, NPC, CIJ, WAMI, BENAR and All-Blogs were up to today.”

Having my left ear somewhat adjusted to the disturbing frequency of Advertisement world, sometimes tends to give me an headache.

I have understood that Nestle is a company particularly concerned about integrity of their brand (at least when it comes to display campaigns). That’s a good thing, especially when you have multi-billion dollar brands such as Nescafe under your wings. The boys and gals at Swiss based Nestle wouldn’t really be doing their jobs if they didn’t make sure Nestle’s brands were displayed in a strictly positive context.

This is not always simple.

In display campaigns, companies traditionally enjoy only a limited level of control over context. This could mean anything from a roadside billboard witnessing a deadly accident to having your banner ad eyeballed in a ChikBlog after a hard night out.

This is advertising, and it’s not that much of an big deal. You control the message and it’s up to you how your brand is perceived. Good message (with integrity) and a shining brand will take context driven blows with a smile, where as BS message and questionable perceived image will make you look bad even in the best of contexts.

So what can a brand do to improve their perceived image? Well, it all comes down to the image the brand portrays of itself. And especially to the part in which the brand has full control in. The message.

The simple concept of doing good coming back to you applies well here. But first, let’s look what Wikipedia says about CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility:

“Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, and responsible business) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment.”

Basically social responsibility of a corporation is somewhat equal to that of a human being. We like to build relationships with those that seem to add positive value to our lives and do it with integrity.

What’s great about this from a brand’s point of view, is that when company has its’ social responsibilities in order, they will have a tendency to communicate in ways that will translate in to positive brand value. A company with social responsibilities in order, has no choice but to communicate with integrity.

And this is something every brand owner can and should think about. See for yourself, which one feels better for you:

a) Having a socially responsible message displayed in a negative context such as together with your competitors products

b) Having a socially irresponsible message displayed in a context that maintains your brand integrity

For having an instant increase in sales, ´b´ might be the one driving greater returns (at least when the social irresponsibility is not obvious). But as a marketer, I would always want to look beyond just boost in sales, and I´d be inclined to go for ´a´ as the winning choice. I dearly hope that if you’re in marketing (any field of it) this is obvious to you.

Not being sincere and responsible, is one of the easiest way to market any product. At the same time it’s one of the surest way to long term brand damage and customer dissatisfaction. And always remember, there is no value in customer relationship like the lifetime value.

So let us look how this works in the real world.

Examples of Bad Marketing - “Dude, Where is My Social Responsibility?”

Brand communication is everywhere. Just take a look around yourself right now and see. I have Dell, Apple, Sigg, Royalex, Microsoft, Logitech, Misfits and Unicorn on my rather Spartan desk. And this is ok, I chose these brands (at least some of them I did). But what I don’t really take well is when they try to educate you through the products you have paid for. Poorly disguised as ‘added value’, you best see this in a breakfast table. Below an cutout from a cereal box as courtesy of Nestle:

Vitamin C plays a significant role in human health throughout our lifespan. Many nutritionist agree that it is one of the most important nutrients in maintaining good health (and curing from illness). It is safe to say that a steady supply of readily available Vitamin C is vital to everyone.

Orange has 50 mg of Vitamin C per 100 g where as cow milk has 2 mg per 100 g. In other words, orange is 25 time more potent in Vitamin C. And as if that alone was not enough, nutrients in fruits are in a much more bio available form opposed to that in animal products (e.g. cow’s milk), so they are delivered to your bloodstream in much more efficient way.

Cow’s milk also has plentitude of residue from antibiotics, hormones and pesticides used in growing their feed. None of which are beneficial to human health, and of which two (antibiotics and hormones) are never found in oranges. And the fact that by some estimates 50% of the adult population of our planet suffers from a disorder which prevents the digestive system from breaking down the consumed milk in the way healthy workings of our tummy requires. This alone would make promoting milk as a primary source of any nutrient questionable.

These are commonly known facts, backed up decades of scientific research.
Nestle tells in it’s website that it has “Over 135 years of dairy expertise”, so I don’t feel that I’m actually going on a limb when I ´assume´ that they’re aware of the facts presented here.

As an marketer and as an consumer, I feel that it is safe to conclude, that by no means cereals with milk offer a viable choice for oranges (or in general) as a source of Vitamin C.

As an marketer and as an consumer, I feel that it is my responsibility to conclude, that Nestle has not understood what Corporate Social Responsibility is about, so in the fortunate case in which someone from Nestle or working with Nestle reads this, a brief summary of what I believe CSR is all about:

• Realize that the short-term profits are not the only measurement for successful business (after all, Milton Friedman is DEAD)
• Remember that We’re all responsible for our actions within our company, our customers base, our community and the earth
• Accept that sometimes communicating strictly ‘fact’ based can be even more irresponsible than telling outright lies (like is the case in this example)

My challenge to you, Nestle or not, is can you look at your own brand and sincerely answer “Yes I Do” to all three accounts.

This story will be continued in the coming weeks with another article touching the same topic titled “Responses to Social Irresponsibility in The Social Web”. If you enjoyed it, why don’t you get the feed here.