A Branding Question With 'Heart' For Marketers

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On Tuesday, May 4 at the University of Miami's School of Communication (my alma Mater) I attended an event coordinated by the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. The center directly supports the issues relating to immigration, deportation and human rights of the significant Haitian community both in Miami and in Haiti, as well as other communities in need. Headlining the event was CNN's Soledad O'Brien, who presented a prescreening of her very moving documentary on Haiti's children pre- and post-earthquake, entitled "Rescued," which first aired on CNN May 8.

The documentary stirs strong emotion as you follow the story of two Haitian children within the broader issue of Haiti's overall impoverished and orphaned population. Following the screening, a panel of experts who are very active in the Haitian support movement gave actionable advice on how the average American can help Haitians directly build infrastructure, buildings, create jobs and opportunities, and fulfill core needs still not being addressed following the millions in donations so many of us gave.

I was moved and had the opportunity to ask the evening's last question. Very little time remained for answers, so O'Brien herself quickly replied to mine. My point was very much from a Communications/Marketing perspective: What were some ideas or suggestions that the panel might have for marketers, communicators, advertisers, digital strategists, etc. to help drive support for Haiti from their very strong brand and service platforms? Her answer was short but insightful: "Find an organization, clear issue, problem or even just one person in Haiti that a brand can directly connect with and that becomes the story." Simple, yet so true.

The marketing community has a powerful opportunity to help empower lives and build long-term share-of-heart. While brands must always have a strategy and the story of major catastrophe in Haiti seems a daunting task to support, I believe that we can't abandon the possibilities. According to the panel, the people of Haiti still need the most basic support -- from running water and sanitation, to medical infrastructure and supplies, housing, food, clothing, shoes and educational materials, sporting goods for youth (yes you read correctly), and teaching/training of all sorts, to name just a few.

There is strong buzz in the communications and marketing industries regarding corporate social responsibility and multicultural marketing. By presenting a case for your brand, service, organization or a specialized internal team (maybe it's the tech team!) to support just one initiative that helps the Haitian people recover and rebuild their country, a great connection can be created between brands and people that will pay off with the broadest dividends.

Food for thought.

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0 comments on "A Branding Question With 'Heart' For Marketers ".

1. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited
   

   commented on: May 17, 2010 at 6:11 p.m.

   Until or if Haiti gets their population under control, they will always be the same under water situation they are in now, unfortunately. There have been many articles and studies about this subject. And there will never be enough corporate social responsibility to rebuild Haiti. How many billions did they admit that would be needed to put the country back to the squaller conditions before the earth moved? There are also millions and millions of charity aid which have yet to be spent due to their own government (whatever there is of it) hold backs, desire for the charities (so they say) to ensure proper spending and to give the local economy a chance to feed themselves without food dumping causing their crops to be worthless as what had been happening even before the earthquake. The greater tragedy has yet to take place since Haiti is positioned on a double fault line and another earthquake will occur. So far, solutions for Haiti's problems do not seem like they have been addressed. So what about the trillions of dollars of corporate social responsibility to overcome the other horrors of the world including what is needed right here in the U.S.? This is way bigger than a company having an internal team and it should not be trivialized in such a manner. Who benefits more from a 5 dollar donation to a charity from a 20 dollar t-shirt than a direct charity 10 dollar donation ?

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