CSR Branding

Branding CSR

Before corporate citizenship can become a way of acting, it must be a way of thinking, and the only way to accomplish that is to embed it fully into your brand.

By Cheryl Heller
Companies like Timberland, Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia and Seventh Generation were “born” with good genes for corporate social responsibility (CSR). Each company was founded with a mission that included responsibility to the environment and community. In fact, Seventh Generation’s CSR is so deeply embedded, it is the source of its name (to quote from their website): “We derive our name from the Iroquois belief that ‘In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.’” And from its inception, Ben & Jerry’s did things like working with World Wildlife Foundation scientist Jason Clay to develop sustainable ways for Amazonians to produce Brazil nuts for its Rainforest Crunch ice cream.
CSR is second nature to these companies, but that is not to say it is easy for them. CSR takes constant vigilance and discipline. What this early integration does mean, though, is that nobody has to waste time and energy on repeatedly selling the concept within these corporations.
Conversely, companies like General Electric were not created with sustainable standards, yet they are leading the corporate world in transforming themselves and imbedding sustainability into every aspect of their business. In GE’s case, this includes everything from re-examining both its own and its customers’ energy use, to purifying water in developing countries, to creating programming with socially conscious agendas at GE-owned NBC.
Why is this transformation working at GE, and companies like Interface, while at so many other organizations CSR remains a series of unrelated initiatives that never add up to a tipping point? It takes a committed CEO but there’s more to it than that.
The simple answer, which is not at all simple to implement, is that when this kind of transformation works, these values become an integral part of what the company stands for. They are a part of the promise the company makes to itself and its stakeholders—a part of the brand.