Feature: Brands take responsibility

Heinz is a brand that dare not speak its name. Since it caused outrage by giving into complaints about two men kissing in a light-hearted ad for Heinz Deli Mayo, it has refused to comment on criticism from human rights campaigners or the MPs who tabled an early day motion condemning the company.

Heinz has not even responded to a boycott, led by gay rights group Stonewall, whose chief executive, Ben Summerskill, went as far as to promote sales of rival brands. “We find Branston Baked Beans, Baxter’s Soups, Buitoni Spaghetti, Jardines Tomato Ketchup and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise all to be much more delicious than their Heinz counterparts,” he said in a statement last month.

However, Heinz’s silence is clearly a tactic to avoid fanning the flames of publicity. While brands are under increasing pressure to reflect the socially responsible concerns of consumers, this boycott is unlikely to have a lasting impact on sales. After all, Nestlé continues to post sales increases despite being the subject of a boycott for over 30 years over its marketing of formula milk in the developing world.

Andrew Griffin, author of New Strategies for Reputation Management, believes controversy over ad campaigns can be great publicity. “I doubt Heinz are unduly concerned about the threat of a boycott on this particular issue,” he comments. “After all, Benetton built a global business on the back of courting controversy and provoking outrage in advertising.”

And, with rising fuel costs and inflation, price and other practicalities come into play when shoppers choose what to buy in-store. “While consumers do make ‘ethical choices’, the over-riding factors affecting purchasing decisions are cost, quality and need or desire,” Griffin says. “But that doesn’t mean companies can get away with anything. If they are seen to have acted irresponsibly or hypocritically, such as with child labour or fixed telephone competitions, the reputation damage can run much deeper.”

Brands have long sought to position themselves as socially responsibly by running promotions with a cause-related angle. United Biscuits has just completed an on-pack campaign on its McVitie’s Penguin brand that links up with charity WWF to raise funds for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean – home to the Emperor penguin. Packs feature information on how to sponsor a penguin, and consumers can send off for a cuddly penguin and other information to educate and encourage people to raise money.

Sophie Boston, senior account manager at Wax Communications, which created the campaign, says a key objective was to position the brand as socially responsible. “It provided consumers with a feelgood factor and a positive warm feeling when they bought packs of Penguin,” she explains. According to research group Millward Brown, consumers have felt more positive about the brand since the start of the promotion.

However, Boston adds that, while the promotion was tactical, it is part of broader longer-term efforts by United Biscuits to be socially responsible, which range from sustainability initiatives to supporting communities.

Its commitments include a pledge, made earlier this year, to reduce carbon and CO2 emissions in the UK. This kind of move, according to Adrian Ferrand, general manager of design-led manufacturing consultancy BrandInc, helps brands to market to a new “ethical consumer base” – something his business does by supplying carbon-neutral promotional merchandise.

A study by the Carbon Trust found that nearly two-thirds of UK consumers want to know the carbon footprint of the products and services they buy. It also found that so-called “low-carbon consumers” tended to look more favourably on brands that were taking positive action to tackle climate change. “I believe promoters can gain a significant brand positioning by using ‘carbon zero’ promotional merchandise to demonstrate their environmental credentials,” Ferrand says.

Margot Parker, European spokesman for the British Promotional Merchandise Association, agrees that brands can benefit from promotions that tie in with a good cause. “The companies who have huge profits will do more for their brands by connecting in a practical way by raising standards in poorer countries with its labour force,” she says. However, she stresses that, “if a company is serious about social responsibility, it must engage fully”.

David Evans, chairman of marketing and motivation group Grass Roots, warns that customers will quickly see through a company’s claims if it is not totally committed to CSR. “Corporate social responsibility should be at the heart of a business rather than just a thing to do,” he says. Evans, who last month was made an MBE specifically for services to CSR, believes that it has become a key factor in an organisation’s success, not least because of the impact it has on staff. Grass Roots is in the current Sunday Times list of best companies to work for, praised for its “green and caring culture”.

According to Best Companies research, staff were motivated partly by their company’s credentials, with 70 per cent praising their employer for putting a lot back into the local community, and 74 per cent saying it did a lot to protect the environment.

Richard Thompson, managing director of Pitney Bowes Management Services, believes that a genuine long-term CSR programme can help to recruit good staff and customers and improve employee engagement. “CSR can be important for improving a company’s standing in its own locale, which in turn can aid the recruitment process,” he explains. “And crucially, customers are beginning to expect the businesses they deal with to be CSR advocates.”

His business has been involved with the National Literacy Trust for five years, identifying it as a relevant partnership because both are about communication. “The message is: don’t simply adopt CSR for the sake of it. Think long term, find relationships that make sense for your brand, and be creative,” he advises.

Carol Stickler, planning director at agency 23red, notes that, as ethical consumerism grows, commercial brands are increasingly seeking partnerships with third parties with a strong ethical position. “Ethical credentials may be a way to address negative brand perceptions or to build credentials that are not core to a brand’s positioning,” she explains.

Cause-related marketing can sometimes appeal to people who are looking for more credible rewards, Stickler adds. “Consumers are cynical about the real value of loyalty points or BOGOFs and more interested in ‘money can’t buy offers’ – even if they benefit society rather than themselves.”

She also believes ethically based promotions can achieve stand-out, such as American Express Red, which donates one per cent of every purchase made to fight Aids in Africa. “It has provided an opportunity for Amex to re-engage with consumers,” she says. “As consumers have become expert in screening out unwanted brand communications, ethical promotions may simply be a way to cut through and engage with consumers.”

Bodyform

SCA Hygiene has established a collaboration with Action for Southern Africa’s Dignity! Period campaign, aimed at providing essential sanitary protection to women in Zimbabwe.

Last year, its Bodyform brand donated 250,000 packs to the women of Zimbabwe, and this year another 230,000 packs – 2.3 million individual sanitary protection products – will be distributed. With all the packs being manufactured in Zimbabwe, this also helps to boost the local economy and reduce the environmental impact of transportation.

In August, Bodyform’s agency, Space, is launching a new integrated marketing campaign to communicate the partnership. Duncan Phillips, SCA Hygiene’s UK marketing director, hopes this activity will help to drive awareness of the Dignity! Period programme and reflect Bodyform’s “core brand value of positive feminity”.

Jane Medina, account director at Space, explains that the initiative aims to build both the brand and customer base. “We plan to develop a campaign for Bodyform that delivers exceptional stand-out and inspires women in the UK to take action and make a difference to the tremendously difficult lives of women in Zimbabwe,” she says.