But it wasn’t launched as a social responsibility initiative. It was launched as business strategy. And it’s proven extremely successful, attracting millions of new customers, influencing greater store sales and establishing Walmart as the third largest pharmacy in the United States with 16 percent market share.

Walmart launched the program because it saw a market opportunity to meet the specific need (inexpensive medication independent of insurance status) for an enormous population (not only the uninsured and Medicare recipients but anyone looking for affordable prescriptions or one-stop shopping).

As Jason Saul writes in his recent book, Social Innovation, Inc., this was a “true business strategy that happened to involve social change as a leverage point.”

Of course social impact shouldn’t only be a freak side effect of a business strategy. Opportunities are born from the challenges around us. As Peter Drucker says, “Every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.”

Bill Marquard also speaks about reframing social issues as an opportunity for business growth, rather than as a societal obligation. During last year’s Sustainable Brands conference he used Groupe Danone’s partnership with Grameen to illustrate this. To address the issue of malnutrition in Bangladesh, Danone elected a market-based approach over a philanthropic investment, product donation or cause marketing campaign.

The output is a new yogurt product available for around nine cents that fulfills children’s basic nutritional needs. The outcomes of this venture, both social and business, are tremendous. Through it, Danone developed a new market in Bangladesh, created a low-cost product that’s since been introduced to French consumers and strengthened operational efficiencies (the small footprint manufacturing facilities and processes that were developed in Bangladesh are being replicated globally). This market-based solution also yielded a greater and more enduring social impact (a new national industry, more jobs and access to critical nutrients for many Bangladeshis) than if Danone had just gifted money.

Bit by bit, we’re seeing more companies using their core business to address social issues and viewing these issues as potential profit. It’s not unethical. It’s the most generous thing a company can do.

You can hear Jason Saul speak at Sustainable Brands next month. As a presenter, I can offer 20% off conference registration through May 15. To register with the discount, email me at olivia[at]causecapitalism.com.

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“What would you say to companies that see improving even one piece of their supply chains as too expensive?” I asked.

Joe Sibilia had just shared one method to help companies become more sustainable: take one ingredient in the supply chain and use it to create a social benefit. This is what he had done with Ben & Jerry’s through the aptly named 1 Ingredient program.

Partnering with Greyston Bakery, Ben & Jerry’s uses one ingredient in its products, brownies, to create jobs for the chronically unemployed–former convicts and addicts. Greyston Bakery provides its Brownie Artisans with living wages and skills training and invests all profits into the Greyston Foundation to support job development, healthcare, childcare and housing.

By re-imagining the production and sourcing of just one item, Ben & Jerry’s has supported the rehabilitation and growth of thousands of society’s most marginalized people over the past 23 years.

But not all companies are Ben & Jerry’s. Anticipating that most companies think differently (or not at all) about their impact on society, I asked Joe how he would coach companies to see the financial value in creating something that benefited society. He gave an exasperated grunt.

“I’d Say to the company, ‘If  you’re valuing your supply chain on the narrow scope of cost-effectiveness and you really wanted a cost-effective approach, you’d use slaves, child labor and put up with unsanitary working conditions.’”

Joe’s right, of course. We all care about more than just cost and profit. But we use money as a false restriction, assuming there’s a trade-off between money and doing the right thing. Ben & Jerry’s didn’t take 5% of Chocolate Fudge Brownie sales and donate it to workforce development. Instead the company used market systems and creativity to deepen its impact at no additional cost.

A long-time social entrepreneur, Joe Sibilia’s ventures include CSRWire, the social investment bank Meadowbrook Lane Capital and the Gasoline Alley Foundation, which incubates socially responsible businesses in inner city neighborhoods.

I spoke to Joe in preparation for a session I’m leading on integrating social responsibility into your brand at Sustainable Brands.  If you’re interested in attending the conference (June 7-10 in Monterey, CA) email me for a 20% discount. This will be my second year attending; it’s an absolute playground for people interested in using business as a force for change.



Jim Niegowski, Director, Nike Patents announcing the SBIO 2010 winner

I don’t often plug competitions, but Sustainable Life Media, Sustainable Brands Innovation Open’s parent organization, has a way of making magic out of the typically mundane. I’ve experienced this first-hand as an attendee at Sustainable Brands conference and have seen how past entrants of Innovation Open have benefitted from their participation. Earth Aid, winner of the 2009 competition recently raised $4 million in funding and BioLite was profiled in The Guardian and Men’s Health after its 2010 win.

Criteria
Sustainable Brands Innovation Open is open to entrepreneurs and companies with either idea-stage or early phase initiatives. Entries are scored on their potential to deliver a sustainable consumer product or business-to-business solution that promotes social and environmental responsibility.

Incentive
Ten selected finalists receive free admission to the Sustainable Brands conference (June 7-10 in Monterey, California) and the opportunity to both display and pitch their initiative to green/social investors, executives from leading companies, top brand consultants and conference attendees.

One, winning start-up will receive seed money, business services and consulting services from industry professionals, as well as top-level exposure and recognition.

Details
Submit a one-page business plan by April 25. Details and the submission form can be found here.

1. Consumers trust brands more than they trust the government.

(Annie Longsworth, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe)
Republicans and Democrats meet at the checkout. Brands have a colossal toolkit to affect positive change. They’re working from a current level of high consumer trust.

2. 4  motivators in consumer behavior: Status, Altruism, Safety & Value.

(Mike Kraft, Senior Manager of Environmental Sustainability for Clorox)
Kraft used these principles to help turn Clorox’s Green Works line into the #1 consumer choice across every category of natural cleaning products.

3. Sustainability needs to be expressed honestly.

(Duke Stump, North Star Manifesto)
Consumers are highly skilled at sniffing out inauthentic brands and campaigns. Be authentic, be transparent, be honest.

4. The movement begins inside the company.

(Duke Stump)
Business initiatives need to stem from the company’s value-system. Creating an environmental campaign around saving the rain forest when you’re a cruise line or cereal manufacturer lacks internal (and customer) resonance.

5. Consumers are willing to pay 60% more for Fair Trade products.

(Rob Cameron, Fair Trade International)
Fair Trade Certification has become a brand, which draws its strength from its multilateralism. Many brands can be a part of this umbrella designation.

6. 76% of people will spend the same or more on green products in the next year.

(Annie Longsworth)
If you solve the top consumer obstacles to buying green–price, limited selection and limited availability–3/4 of consumers will be attracted to your product.

7. 83% of people want a label that tells them where their was grown and produced and clearly lists all ingredients.

(Annie Longsworth)
Given the bombardment of claims, certifications and nutrition information on our consumer goods, I’m surprised that consumers would look for additional (and esoteric) product information.

8. Interest in personal health correlates to interest in health of the planet.

(Thomas Oh, Director of Marketing, Frito-Lay)
SunChips connected its message of healthy, whole-grain snacking to environmental sustainability and appealed doubly to its target consumer.

9. 88% of people interviewed say the business sector should play a role in contributing to social and environmental change.

(Andrew Winston, author of Green Recovery)
Brands have consumers’ trust (see #2) and dollars (#4 and 6) and now consumer expectation for a product that’s both of value and of values. Business is now a powerful vehicle for social and environmental improvement.

10. The top green brands are found across sectors and aren’t ‘granola.’

Toyota, Walmart, Burt’s Bees, Green Works, Procter and Gamble, Ikea, Disney, SC Johnson, Toms of Maine and Dove.
(Annie Longsworth)
Your brand does not have to be organic, unprocessed or carbon-neutral to be a sustainability heavy-hitter. Social and environmental responsibility is not reserved for the benevolent; it’s just smart business.

Sustainable Life Media is a fantastic resource for sustainability news, trends and best practices, and they put on one heck of a conference.