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Entries in CSR (6)

Tuesday
Mar302010

Always On

It’s hard to find a bigger believer than me in the advances of the digital revolution and the power of the social Web. I was conducting online market research in the ’90s, and one of my early clients was America Online. More recently, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR has helped clients use Twitter to fundraise for ReMIND.org and Facebook to bring 20-something delegates to our inaugural One Young World convention, among many other initiatives. And I love the way these tools have shaped my professional and personal life.

There’s no doubt that our new connectedness has transformed our ways of doing everything and that the tools have been a huge force for good in the world. The Red Cross raised millions for Haiti by text messages. Twitterville holds businesses accountable and forces them to behave appropriately, from customer service to corporate social responsibility. The social Web has democratized everything from creative content to small-scale philanthropy. Cell phones allowed Muscovites to quickly let loved ones know they were alive yesterday. Society would be impoverished without these ways of interacting.

So I’m not about to stop cheerleading. But I do have a confession: I’m tired.

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DateMarch 30, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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Thursday
Mar042010

Putting the Social in Social Responsibility

creativecommons.org/by Damien BasileOriginally posted on huffingtonpost.com.

Corporate social responsibility looks a whole lot different now than it did a few years ago. Back then, the emphasis was on responsibility—look at all the good things we’re doing!—and on corporate, since so much of its DNA was based on business practices and funded by corporate largess. Lavish one-off benefit events with five-figure price tags paid for by sponsors such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers? That feels as 2007 as that bright, shiny new skyscraper sitting empty in Dubai.

Now the focus is on social. Think about it: In 2010, social networks are central in our lives. Our networks have been redefined based on our voice power—it’s not about whom we can seek advice from over coffee but about whom we can influence online. These communities of our own creation are now who we know and how we reach people.

Along those lines, social media has done more to promote causes, generate awareness and raise funds than any tool before it. Its advantage is that social action is involved at the ready. People can get involved in ways that are immediate and meaningful. The bar to enter is lowered, and the process has been democratized: You don’t have to pony up $100 for a benefit ticket; you just have to use a tool you’re already using, such as Twitter or your cell phone, to make a microdonation or to spread the word. The Red Cross raised more than $5 million for Haiti through text message in the first two days.

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DateMarch 4, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , , , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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Wednesday
Feb102010

Lessons from Legends at One Young World

Originally posted on huffingtonpost.com.

The inaugural One Young World summit under way this week in London is a next-generation Davos: a gathering of hundreds of future leaders from the world’s 192 countries. All under age 30, they’re bringing youthful energy, passion, optimism and creativity to the most challenging issues facing people around the globe today. I have no doubt that the best among them will alter the world for the better, inspire positive change in others and solve problems that today seem like intractable challenges.

In other words, some of them will become legends.

In that regard, One Young World can be seen as a passing of the torch. The summit’s delegates are being guided by the current generation of legendary leaders as they’re exchanging ideas, engaging in debate and drafting resolutions on pressing issues including global business, interfaith dialogue, climate change, corporate social responsibility and economic justice. Leading the sessions are such legends as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Sen. John Kerry and former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo.

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DateFebruary 10, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , | Comment1 Comment
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Wednesday
Feb032010

How Young People Are Changing the World

Originally posted on huffingtonpost.com.

The opinions of young adults—which today have solidified into values—are not to be ignored. Not only are people in their 20s powerful voices within their communities, but they’re also consumers. These first adults of the millennial generation (roughly, the people born between 1981 and 2000) are bellwethers for a group that’s already estimated to earn more than $200 billion a year, of which they spend about $127 billion in the U.S. alone.

With this generation’s population vastly outstripping that of its predecessors, the baby boomers and Gen Xers, it’s not just spending power but also the ability to influence others that matters, especially as they’re armed with the power of social media and narrowcast communications. While the effusions of the Flower Power generation could have been chalked up to irrelevant ranting, the exhortations of today’s youth—for companies to clean up their acts, for the news media to be independent and for the privatization of public services to stop—are socially significant and underpinned by ethical meaning.

All this makes the results of the Global Youth Study important. The extensive 38-country online survey of 15,844 people ages 23 to 28 was fielded by SurveyShack in association with YouGovStone between July 2008 and December 2009. Its results will feed into the inaugural One Young World summit, a global leadership forum for hundreds of young leaders from the world’s 192 countries taking place in London next week.

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DateFebruary 3, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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Wednesday
Jan272010

How Young People Are Changing Multinationals

“Multinational corporations have too much power.” It’s a meme that has been around since the Vietnam era, when bra-burning, festival-going hippies chanted about the evil deeds of “the corporations.” Today, however, it’s no radical fringe expressing the view, and it’s no simplistic view they’re expressing.

In the newly released Global Youth Study, 64 percent of the 23-to-28-year-old respondents answered that “global corporations have too much power,” putting the view squarely within the mainstream. Young people from all corners of the globe also believe there’s an ethics gap in the way multinational corporations behave.

This means the opinion—which today has solidified into a value—is not to be ignored. Because not only are these young people powerful voices within their communities, but they’re also consumers. The age range of these respondents represents a large segment of the millennial generation (roughly, the people born between 1981 and 2000), a group estimated to earn more than $200 billion a year, of which they spend about $127 billion in the U.S. alone.

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DateJanuary 27, 2010 | by AuthorMarian Salzman | | tagged , , , , , , , , | CommentPost a Comment
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