Brands can effectively use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives as a strong marketing strategy, and business driver
While India’s new Company Act 2013 was enacted in April last year, making it mandatory for companies to spend 2% of their profits on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), industry experts maintain that it should not be looked at as a mere obligation or punishment, but more as a ‘business driver’. Jaideep Shergill, co-founder of brand consultancy firm Pitchfork Partners, says, “At this point, a large part is still chequebook CSR as most companies don’t have a separate sustainability or CSR department. It is mainly the finance guys who take charge, but now the scenario is changing. The trigger isn’t only the bill passed by the government, but there is now a new world order. People want to work with a company that makes a difference.”
Giving the example of PCS Technology, a major Indian IT company, he said their employment numbers drastically increased after they offered young, new employees the opportunity to take up a cause with any NGO of their choice which would be funded by the organization for a month. “We
are now at a tipping point which will cascade into what we call purpose driven marketing,” says Shergill.
While earlier, priority was given mainly to investors and then customers, these business humanizers, as they refer to themselves, say that brands now have to connect with millennials first. Joyshree Reinelt, cofounder of CSR consultancy Innate Motion, says, “Companies need to start integrating CSR initiatives with their brand’s purpose.”
Millennials, who are born in a world of abundance, want to give back to society and hence identify better with brands that stand for a cause. “The Lifebuoy Handwash campaign which was launched to reduce cases of diarrhoea among children is another case study. Taking affordability into consideration, hand wash sachets were given to people from the lower income background,” says Subodh Deshpande, partner of Innate Motion. With digital world consumers becoming more demanding of brands, they are under intense scrutiny and need to ensure what they stand for also
resonates with the consumers. “In the luxury cars space, all have German engineering, state of the art technology... but what makes them different is the cultural identity they stand for,” explains Reinelt.
After working in 35 countries, she maintains that even in the West, this concept hasn’t progressed. “Big corporations like Amul, which is mainly an aggregation of farmers, are good examples that businesses can do social good while reaping profits,” adds Deshpande.
In a tie-up with Innate Motion, Pitchfork Partners recently hosted industry experts to discuss how philanthropy can be an effective business driver.
