Saturday, December 1, 2007

Goodpurpose must mean Goodproduct

http://www.prweekus.com/Edelman-ups-social-impact-in-latest-unit/article/99116/
This article in PRWeek by Irene Chang discusses a recent survey supported by Edelman on the influence environmental and societal consciousness has over consumers.

As cynical as this sounds, people don’t do something for nothing.
This survey may have proven that people say they want to help society and the environment, but just because they say it, doesn’t mean they will do it. I don’t know if you all know this, but people are shallow. They will say things like “I want to help the environment” whn people can hear them, but how much do you want to bet that 75% of those people don’t even recycle and drive gas-guzzling SUVs?
Consumers aren’t as concerned with the results as they are with how it makes them appear.

I think that consumers have to have a reward other than how it makes them “feel” at the end of the day. They want something tangible, beneficial to their everyday life. If they say that they will change from a current product to a new one with social decency- they will only do so if the product is better than the current. No one wants to down grade, not even to help society.

I think that the general idea of the “Goodpurpose” division is a great one, but Edelman will have to make sure the clients they consider make an above-average product.