OK, did
you catch this story? A family physician near San Francisco is encouraging
members of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to resign in
protest of the organization’s alliance with The Coca-Cola Company to
educate consumers about how Coca-Cola’s products fit into a healthful
lifestyle. Cola products fit into a healthy lifestyle!?
Dr. William Walker said he had resigned from the AAFP “with great sorrow.
I resigned in protest of (AAFP’s) judgment in this time of epidemic
obesity,” he said. Coca-Cola provided “strong, six-figure revenue” through
a one-year contract for the alliance to develop consumer education content
about beverages and sweeteners for the AAFP’s consumer health and wellness
Web site.
The AAFP was not necessarily adopting a cause as much as going into a
business arrangement. The offshoot of that was to somehow adopt the cause
of healthy behaviors, something certainly supported by family physicians
everywhere right? They could not have been more misguided. It is pretty
common knowledge and statistically supported that soft drinks do nothing
for your better health. So they inadvertently adopted the cause of
un-healthy consumption.
What causes are you associated?
People want to align themselves with brands that stand for something they
believe in and that they can feel good about. When you adopt causes that
your customers care about and start showing up at the venues where your
customers are, they notice and they talk about it. When you take ownership
of a cause and bring communities of people together around it and step out
of the way, they notice and talk to others about it.
Adopt Causes Strategic to Your Business
I joke with orthopedic practices and nursing homes that they should adopt
the cause of slips and falls. And they at first look at me and say slips
and falls are the main sources of their business. Why would we do that? I
then explain that if you can keep someone in a better quality of life for
five, ten years inevitably something will happen to someone. They will
fall. And when they do where will they seek care? With providers that
showed compassion for them and contributed to their better quality of life
for a number of years.
Employees Judge Companies to Work for by Causes They Adopt
Employees are looking for more than money. Surveys have shown that
students are willing to trade income to work for a company they consider
to be socially responsible and ethical. According to Sherlyn Manson of Two
West, a branding firm, nearly 90% of employees report strong loyalty to
companies that support a cause, compared with two-thirds of employees at
other companies.
Causes Aid You in Crisis
When a crisis arises, your track record in adopting causes could help or
hurt. Here is a personal example. In the 1990s, I was chief marketing
officer for two NJ hospitals. The smaller of the hospitals, one that had
been in the community much longer, was the target of closure. As that
became a possibility and well before any official decisions were made, we
instinctively started heavily marketing the larger and more profitable
hospital. That included becoming much more involved in the community,
being part of other causes and even owning one around bicycle safety. In
another era, the announcement of the closing of the smaller hospital would
have been front-page news not just for weeks but for years. Instead
because of all the relationships we developed and causes we participated
in the hospital closing story was the topic for one day, one front page of
one local paper. That was it. Years of investment paid off in the court of
public opinion.
So take the mantle for adopting causes. Just make sure they are the right
causes.
All this writing has made me thirsty. Think I’ll go have a nice
refreshing………………..
