Yesterday PepsiCo brought hundreds of people together in a trendy Manhattan workspace to discuss the role of social and mobile media in driving social good. This inaugural one-day conference during Internet Week was called the #Promise (the hashtag is a reference to Twitter for you non-tweeters) and was sponsored by PepsiCo in partnership with ThinkSocial. Not only did the topic, speakers and panels fascinate me, but in the true spirit of the event, the role of technology spoke for itself: all day long people tweeted their questions, opinions, concerns (and even “Who keeps coughing in the back? Shh!”) to a live stream which was projected on two giant screens in front of the room.
Corporate Cases
The event featured speakers from five large companies (PepisCo, Timberland, GE, MTV and Nokia) who addressed how social and mobile media are changing the way their companies achieve social good. Naturally this led to conversations about their overall Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives (their corporate “promises”) and campaigns (which was bound to turn into a passionate debate amongst the tweeters). In between these presentations there were panels, interviews and “shorts” which covered different sides of interactive media and social good. A variety of distinguished professionals and companies were featured including non-profit charity:water, media source Fast Company, author Douglas Rushkoff and even Edward Norton who is starting a fundraising website.
It was really wonderful to see these executives (CMOs, VPs, etc) discuss their initiatives so enthusiastically and such a clear sense of pride for what their companies are doing to drive business forward through prosocial good. PepsiCo’s Jeremy Cage kicked off the morning by discussing Performance with Purpose and three specific ways we are living that line: the Dream Machine recycling partnership (which I am very proud to be working on with him), Pepsi Refresh Project and the newly announced Universal Purpose Code. There were many lessons on best practices across the five companies which I won’t dive into here, but I think two important messages stood out: stick to social good that is core to your company’s mission and be transparent about it. Margaret Morey-Reuner from Timberland expressed these two points when discussing her company’s promise to plant five million trees in Haiti and China over the next five years. She talked about how they narrowed down their causes to focus on environmental preservation—core to the mission of Timberland and their goal of being the outdoor company. In the vein of true transparency, she referred to Timberland’s processes as becoming more “environmentally-forward” and clarified that she didn’t use the term “environmentally-friendly” because her company is “footwear manufacturers and that’s not the most environmentally friendly group out there.” I truly appreciated this honesty which is so practical and apparent yet oftentimes I see companies try to reframe their messaging to highlight responsibility efforts which end up detracting from the core of the corporation.
One Tribe Ya’ll
Another theme that came up throughout different speakers was the power of employees. The interview with author Douglas Rushkoff was (in my opinion) one of the most provocative and thoughtful portions of the day and he framed it up by saying “With the Internet, the jig is up.” Rushkoff argued that companies can no longer decide to be transparent; with large numbers of employees and the internet, they are transparent. June Cohen of TED also mentioned that individuals within a company are some of the most loyal brand ambassadors and definitely the most authentic. Harnessing those on the inside—who know the business transactions and values—can not only propel business but is also a strong recruiting tool for the best talent. Rushkoff took this idea one step further by saying “I don’t believe in consumers. I believe in people.” He explained that with the internet and today’s economy, these roles aren’t split like they used to be in the times of corporatism (if you’re into this, read his new book Life, Inc. instead of having me butcher his brilliancy in translation). Blogger, consumer, employer, media, producer, shareholder…it’s all one person today (which made me think of our favorite Pepsi song today). It was ironic to think about this convergence of identities and the power of the employee just as I received Indra’s letter encouraging all of us to be “Feet on the Street.” I think we have an understanding of the importance of employees (which is also reflected in Performance with Purpose: Talent Sustainability) but challenge everyone to think about how to truly harness this living force for strong business results.
And PepsiCo?
At the end of the day, I think everyone agreed about the importance of technology (in this case the emphasis was on social and mobile media) in driving social responsibility. What there was debate on (and in my opinion confusion on) was the roles that different companies play in driving social good. Is CSR part of your actual business model (think Tom’s shoes—consumer buys a pair of shoe and a pair is given to someone in need) or is it an incremental part of your marketing plan (think Sports Marketing, Multicultural Marketing, Cause Marketing)? Or maybe you’re a non-profit in which case your business objective is really for-good, period? Can one of these business models achieve more social good than another? And how do they work together?
I think Evan Slater of Ogilvy made a small yet critical remark during one of the panels. He said there is a difference between companies that fundamentally do good and those that do what they do in the most prosocial and “environmentally-forward” (as Morey-Reuner would say) way possible. At the end of the day, we need to consider the different sectors and companies and appreciate them for what they are able to accomplish in their space. Linda Boff of GE introduced her company’s promise by saying “This is first and foremost a business strategy, but we’re thrilled we’re doing good too.” Companies like Boff’s and ours are undoubtedly contributing to social good, but we are all making our “promises” in different ways and it is important that we are transparent. As a public company, our responsibility is to shareholders but we have also made it to the world and future of the planet. I think the phrase “Performance with Purpose” succinctly covers both sides and we are really just beginning to share what this means for the products, processes, and people at PepsiCo. Sparking the dialogue at yesterday’s #Promise conference was just one more data point showing that we want to continue the conversation on corporate responsibly and the crucial role technology plays in communicating and advancing social good.
