Twitter. While it’s difficult to quantify
the return on investment of any advertising campaign, especially for a retailer
large enough to be affected by countless
market fluctuations, in terms of advertising, the number of social media and
word-of-mouth impressions exceeded
the few million that would have watched
a Super Bowl ad.
Long before retail giants hopped
on the cause bandwagon, a humble
shoe manufacturer in Santa Monica,
Calif., named TOMS distinguished itself
with a simple offer: For every pair of
shoes purchased, another pair would be
given to a child in need. The company
became on overnight success, with fans
promoting the shoes as they would
a presidential candidate. More
than a thousand college
campuses have TOMS
shoes clubs, where hip
college students gather
for Style Your Sole
events and paint their
own unique style on
the canvas of a plain
white pair of shoes.
While many of
these companies
are notable, pre-
cisely because they
are exceptions, that
trend may be chang-
ing as Generation Y
impresses more com-
munitarian values on
its future employers.
According to Deloitte,
70 percent of young work-
ers prefer a company that
provides volunteer opportuni-
ties, and 62 percent prefer a
business that allows them to
develop skills applicable to
nonprofit work.
Predicting the future is
always precarious. Whether
these statistics show that
exceptions will soon be the
rule is anyone’s guess. What
is almost certain, however,
is that being prosocial and
happy at work will be a
viable option.
According to
a survey by
Edelman,
61%
of consumers are
willing to pay
more for products
that support a
good cause.
And the market
bears this out.
CHARITY AND PROFIT
TOMS
Every year, hundreds of thousands of
TOMS shoe fans go barefoot for the
company’s One Day Without Shoes
event to raise awareness of children
without shoes in developing countries.
Countless celebrities and supporters
produce barefoot videos and post them
to their Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Excited followers tweet back pictures
of their blackened, dirty feet—reaching
an exponentially expanding set of eyes.
The whole campaign is free advertising
for TOMS.
