Author: Drew Neisser

Last week, I ran a quickie creative workshop for some ad students from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. At the end, the students shared with me some ads/videos they had created as part of competition for Chipolte restaurants. The three I watched were reasonably clever (see 1, 2 and 3 for yourself) but what really surprised me was the enthusiasm they showed for the contest and residual affection they had for Chipolte. Evidently more than 50 schools participated and being recognized as a finalist was quite an honor for the student and the school. So not only did Chipolte get a bunch of free ad ideas and lots of play on YouTube (the students were encouraged to get their friends to watch) but also they gained some hard core fans. Tastes like marketing for good to me.

Update 11/30/06  BRANDWEEK announced the winners of this contest today. Looks like SMU took the top honors.

Marketing for good is a complex notion and need not be the sole domain of “goodie two-shoes”. A few months ago Renegade created a buzz-generating promotion for Panasonic Oxyride Batteries called Neuter Your Bunny.  Today BRANDWEEK recognized Panasonic as a Guerrilla Marketer of the Year for this effort.  A few weeks ago, the folks at PETA gave Panasonic a “Glitter Box” in recognition of this effort to build awareness of an often overlooked but important cause.  What’s amusing here is that BRANDWEEK celebrated the irony and PETA admired the sincerity of the campaign (including the $10,000 donation to the House Rabbit Society and the awareness-building neuterings on Neuter Your Bunny day).  So even though this we created this program with our tongues firmly in our cheeks, the net result was still marketing that enlightened, simultaneous building awareness of a high performance battery and a surprisingly important cause.

I read with fascination in the Wall St. Journal about how Betty Crocker had increased the appeal of its Cornbread mix among African Americans. They did a little research and found a new recipe for enticing this heavy using segment without actually changing the product. Simply by changing the product name to emphasize cornbread over muffins, improving the product photography and adding the photo/endorsement of celebrated black chef B. Smith to the package, the product suddenly had “crediblity with blacks”. General Mills also went to the trouble of creating a “serving up soul” program that encourages black women to maintain healthy diets using B. Smith as the program’s spokeswomen. Meanwhile, competitor Jiffy, which relied on its box and strong distribution to sustain the brand, got burned as Betty Crocker sales rose like a baker’s dream. With a 50% increase in sales from a faux product enhancement this is certainly an example of marketing for good results if not marketing for good.

A fellow Renegade sent this note around the office today:

Pretty neat stuff……..a little goes a long way….Something cool that Xerox is doing. If you go to this web site, LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them…

Seems like MFG to me.

Could walking toilets really be Marketing for Good? No, I haven’t lost my mind. These particularly walking toilets will be promoting a program that offers tourists access to clean bathrooms in Times Square 364 days a year (visitors on Christmas Day will have to make do elsewhere).  Here’s the deal–those bear-loving folks from P&G have decided to host a 20-stall restroom in Times Square stocked to the rim with Charmin.  Rather than flush marketing dollars down the drain of traditional media, P&G is investing in a program that addresses a real problem and a fundamental human need (“when you gotta go, you gotta go”).  My prediction is that visiting tourists will be forever greatful to Charmin for the relief provided and gladly begin a long-term relationship with this brand.  As for me, I can’t wait to get my picture taken with one of those portable potties.
Claudia Deutsch of the New York Times covered this story in detail this morning.

KFC caved last week to pressure from the New York City Board of Health among other sources announcing it would substitute soybean oil for its trans-fat laden stuff. The American Heart Association and the former Surgeon General are among the many celebrating this move. I am not yet one of them. Just a few years ago, we were told to eat margarine instead of butter and now it turns out butter may have been a better choice. We were told to consume sugar substitutes instead of sugar and then it turns out sugar substitutes rarely help with weight loss and some have side effects that natural sugar doesn’t have. Besides the fact that health science is an inexact one at best and seems to change radically every 20 years, I believe marketers need to have reasonably free reign over their products and consumers total free reign over their selections.  Seems to me that fried chicken is fried chicken and will not qualify as health food under the best of circumstances soy bean oil or otherwise. If a marketer wants to make a healthier product to gain competitive advantage more power to him. If a food marketer wants to make that the richest apple pie in the world complete with lard to enhance a flaky crust and cheddar cheese on top, I say bring it on.  Consumers should have the freedom of choice and can elect to eat healthy or not.  In the world of marketing for good, good comes from making life a little better and sometimes a fat-laden calorie-rich piece of pie is just what the doctor ordered.