• Washington Post, Forbes CMO Network, FoxBusiness/Business Wire, Thursday, March 26, 2009 11 AM

Whoa. What happened while we took a hard-earned slumber from the tsunamic economic downturn last night? Things are maybe/could be/hopefully on the upswing? And everybody's got religion on the social responsibility front all of a sudden?

First, the Washington Post reports this morning that analysts have some reason for hope after months of "relentlessly grim" economic news. "What gives some economists hope is a recent string of not-so-bad news that suggests, at least for now, that the recession is not getting worse," Annys Shin and Renae Merle write. "Retail sales, for instance, have held steady recently. And there are signs that the housing market is stabilizing." And the government also reported yesterday that orders for machinery and equipment posted surprising gains last month. There's a lot of hedging going on there, but we'll take it.

Allen Adamson, managing director of the New York office of Landor Associates, writes on the Forbes CMO Network site that, in this time of great uncertainty, consumers are not only considering "price-value" but also "the ethical, humanitarian and environmental values of a company," and that doing good differentiates brands beyond product value. Adamson cites as examples Coca-Cola's efforts on behalf of clean water, IBM's promise to "build a smarter planet," General Electric's "Ecomagination" projects, and Clorox' green packaging (which also makes bottom-line business sense.)

Meanwhile, ConAgra Foods this morning announced the release of its first "Corporate Responsibility Report." Available online, the document "transparently shows the company's performance in climate change, packaging, food safety, employee relations, corporate giving and a wide range of other important topics," a company press release says.

advertisement

advertisement