Social responsibility and the related business benefits are a favorite tactic of HALO Business Advisors. We often recommend that our small business coaching clients identify one or more community organizations or charities with which to build alliances and on which to lavish their philanthropy. It’s a Golden Rule philosophy, and it works.
However, new information shows that Generation Y doesn’t just reward social responsibility, they demand it. Thanks to our new friend, Anastasia Goodstein over at YPulse, we learn what companies are getting a piece of the GenY pie – imitate their goodness and earn a slice of your own.
It seems that consumer activism has become college students’ protest of choice these days with coeds "directing a portion of a record $182 Billion dollars in consumer spending power toward brands they perceive to be socially responsible." So who gets their almighty dollars?
Other findings include: 33% prefer brands that give back to the community, are environmentally safe, or that are connected to a cause. Together these socially responsible characteristics surpassed paying more for a brand with a great image (16%) or preference for a brand used by celebrities (2%) by wide margins in their influence on discretionary spending. Substantially, one in four students (24%) has purchased a product this year specifically because it was socially conscious.
Dear Marianna,
I like this idea and will keep it in mind when I am purchasing inventory for the up-coming Christmas Season.
Thanks, Billie