Image: Absolut/Fader

I had the pleasure of speaking at the San Diego Ad Club last week after Dan Burrier, the Chief Innovation Officer at Ogilvy and my former boss on the Motorola account. Not only is Dan a friend and someone I greatly admire, but he said something that evening that struck me very deeply. He said that branding is now more about the “doing” than the “telling.”

I think Dan is absolutely right. For too long, branding as practiced by advertising agencies has been focused on the Big Idea that, well told, will connect emotionally with a customer and motivate them to buy a product or service. But in this new era of transparency, characterized by Wiki Leaks, the activities of Anonymous, and the revelations about corporate practices that have filled the newspapers over recent months, a brand can no longer afford to simply trade on an idea of what it stands for. Instead, in this era of radical transparency, a brand must be willing to tell the story of what it’s actually doing.

That’s why the purpose of a brand is so critical to its bottom line success in the social business marketplace. That purpose not only informs how leadership steers the company and the satisfaction of its employees, but it also defines what actions the brand takes to improve the lives of its customers. For if a company wants their customers to grow their business by buying its products and services, that company must be meaningful to its customers lives. Such meaningfulness is found in the concrete actions a brand is taking to better the lives of its customers and the world at large in alignment with its core values.

On the one hand this is a burden on companies, in that brands must work out what they stand for, communicating it with employees, and bring it to life through their actions. This is not a simple or quick process. Yet at the same time, once you’ve done it, storytelling becomes much easier. A brand simply needs to share the story of what it’s doing with its employees, products, services, and cause work to improve the well being of others. It will enable the brand to build a community of customers aligned around shared values and connected by social media that will be happy to amplify the brand’s message using their own social media channels.

So instead of fabricating the Big Idea, and living in fear of the rise of transparency, a brand can put its shoulder behind its purpose and simply tell the story of what it’s doing in the marketplace. It’s this connection between the “doing” and “telling” of a brand’s story that defines success in the new social media marketplace. So if brands want to capitalize on social media to build their bottom line, take Dan’s advice by focusing on what your brand is doing in alignment with its purpose and values and simply tell that story.

If you’re interested in your brand storytelling, I invite you to join us at the We First Social Branding Seminar on the 1st and 2nd of February in Los Angeles at the Marina Del Rey Marriott hotel. Every attendee will be walking through a Social Branding Blueprint that takes them from the definition of their brand purpose through to its social media expression, so you walk out with a Blueprint that offers real value to your business that you can act on. Plus, every attendee gets an extra ticket free to invite their favorite non-profit. This is the last week to register, so visit www.WeFirstSeminar.com now.

The idea behind the seminar is to make sure your brand (whether they’re a non-profit, a start up, a social entrepreneur, social enterprise, mid-size company or Fortune 500 brand) doesn’t get left behind in this fast changing marketplace by learning to use social media in a way that truly builds your business. Too often brands are rushing to social technology but overlooking the importance of storytelling. Or they have a solid understanding of their brand and its story, but they don’t deeply understand how to make social media work for them. Both alternatives are incredibly dangerous to your business and future.

Getting this balancing act between storytelling and social technology right is really hard to do. Most brands are so caught up in the day-to-day of running their business, and so overwhelmed by the pace of change in social technology, that they don’t get the luxury of time or resources to focus on it. So the seminar, and the Social Branding Blueprint created specifically for it, were designed to make this possible in a condensed time frame of two days with the support of three world-class experts.

So imagine an 70-page Blueprint that distills the learning of the speakers into actionable choices, that builds in the most effective strategic and tactical options based on the best practices of the smartest marketers in the world, that leads your through the eight critical steps that every brand must walk through to build and maintain a customer community that builds its business with them – that’s what the Social Branding Blueprint does so that you spend the two days working on creating a plan specific to your business rather than just taking notes you put on the shelf that don’t translate to real value to your business.

So the real value of the two-day seminar includes:

1. Two days focused on creating a specific plan for your business rather than a series of talks.

2. That plan is built around the best practices, cases studies and ROI of the smartest marketers in the world so it mitigates the risks you take for your business.

3. An intimate environment limited to 80 people so that we can work directly on your business.

4. World class support including myself, Robert Tercek, (former President of Digital Media at Oprah’s network OWN), and Carol Cone, (Global Practice Chair of Edelman Business + Social Purpose).

5. 1 on 1 time with the experts and additional mentors to ensure you get the personal attention your deserve.

6. Networking with the experts, sponsors (including UN Foundation, HP, Causecast, SocialVibe, Radian6, CSRWire, PRNewswire, Social Media Monthly and GOOD magazine), and fellow attendees from some of the biggest brands in the world, the smartest social enterprises and start-ups, and most progressive non-profits.

7. You get an extra ticket to invite a non profit for free. So you get to make an important contribution just by attending.

8. Taking action by investing time in yourself, your business and building a better world is the thing that will set you apart from your competitors and give your the greatest fulfillment.

We have around ten spots left and obviously registrations have to close this week as it only a week away. We’re super excited to work on your business together so register now.

I wanted to share this video with you that features David Kirkpatrick, the author of The Facebook Effect, talking about the impact of social tools and technology on the way consumers and citizens around the world are demanding change. He does a wonderful job of articulating how the internet has heightened awareness around the world of economic inequality, and how social media has given citizens and customers all around the world an unprecedented platform to have those grievances heard. Specifically, David does a very effective job of framing a series of questions that every brand must answer today if they want to survive and succeed in the future. Those questions include:

- What is the purpose, mission, and vision of your company that could make it meaningful to distrusting citizens and customers?

- As citizens and customers around the world vent their grievances over economic inequality and demand greater social responsibility from brands, how do those companies respond using the very same tools?

- Given this inequality, how do companies themselves not only build their bottom lines, but shore up the well being of the society on which their own survival depends?

We find ourselves at a very interesting intersection between economy, which is why David’s film is aptly named “Techonomy.” For social technology is not only empowering citizens and consumers to have their grievances heard, but it also provides brands with an unprecedented opportunity to scale their messaging and play a meaningful role in social transformation. Ultimately, those that adapt and play a role in this shift will not only be the bottom-line success stories of the future, but will be the social architects of change.

It is these very questions that we’ll be addressing and answering specific to your business at the We First Social Branding Seminar being held at the Marina Del Rey Marriott on February 1-2. It’s a two day deep-dive into the specific challenges your brand faces, exploring how it should define its purpose, and tell that story in a community-facing way, that will be meaningful to its customer community and drive social change.

The seminar will be led be myself and Carol Cone (Global Practice Chair of Edelman Business + Social Purpose), and Robert Tercek (former President of Digital Media at OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network). What’s more, anyone who attends will receive an extra ticket to invite their favorite non-profit for free.

The We First Social Branding Seminar is an intensive workshop in which you get world-class support to answer the very questions that will determine those brands that succeed and leverage social media to build their business and positive impact. This is the last week to register, so register now at www.WeFirstSeminar.com

Image: AP

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, I’m sharing the epilogue to We First in which I reference famous words from his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech that still ring true today. Economic equality was an important part of his vision and legacy, and while strides have been made, we still have far to go. It is my hope that enlightened and purposeful brands can help to better share prosperity and create a fairer, more equal and sustainable global community.

I opened this book [We First] by asking the question: Is this the world you want? For the many reasons outlined in its pages, my answer is no. Still, the future has never looked brighter. The challenges we face are enormous, but the opportunity to shape our future has never been greater.

There is no time to waste.

Whether we are corporate executives, entrepreneurs, consumers, concerned citizens, or activists, we must begin working on behalf of our planet and those without power. If we continue to neglect them, their combined impact will permanently harm the Earth and destroy the fabric of our societies. In characterizing the plight of the African American community decades ago, Martin Luther King spoke of “a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” Tragically, in today’s global community, that metaphor is still true but it has reversed. Our world is now an ever-shrinking island of extraordinary wealth fortifying itself against a widening ocean of abject poverty and broken dreams.

Yet the shift we seek has begun. Citizen media now competes with media monopolies to tell the story of our future. As more people tell it, the needs and hopes of more people are being reflected. And the stories they tell are being framed around values that unite rather than divide us.

Business is rising to the challenge. Top down, hierarchical, fear-based organizing principles are being superseded by organic, distributed and free-flowing structures. Leading-edge companies are integrating values into their business strategies and embracing their role as enduring custodians of community and planetary well being. Billionaires and corporate leaders are willingly following the example of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg, whose personal successes feed their public generosity.

Slowly, the false separation between economic and moral values is dissolving. As it does, the measure of success is shifting from the gross domestic production of a single country to global human well being.

The great hope for business is to commit to the business of hope.

Technological change is accelerating this shift on two levels – speed and scale. Both must be enlisted if we are to collapse the time it takes to build a better world. The merger of mobile, social and gaming technology portends even greater transformative opportunities that leverage both the real and virtual worlds.

Still, the world we want will not be built by fiber optics, cell phone towers or social media platforms. It will be created choice by choice, in our hearts and minds, and with our hands. That desire for a better world is innately contagious. As Jonathan Haidt explains in The Happiness Hypothesis: “The emotions that promote the meaningful life are powerfully contagious, which increases their chance for propagation, and their encoding into our nervous systems and their ritualization into cultural practice.” New studies by behavioral economists draw the same conclusions. As one of the leading economists studying altruism, Professor Herbert Gintis, states: “It is increasingly obvious that people are motivated by morality; people are motivated by ethics. We may be seeing a possible renaissance of economic theory.”

Given this, the most critical role that social technology plays is to compound this contagious quality and quicken the half-life of change even further. To enable this generation to serve as an example for others in the future, such that we are effectively creating a self-perpetuating, generational cycle of responsibility. The gift we each give our children is the world we leave behind.

Whether or not we realize this potential depends on our choices as individuals. It is our personal responsibility to manage our thinking, behavior and lives so that we bring our best selves to what we want to achieve. Every daily choice, task and commitment represents a chance to shape our future and add meaning to our lives.

We are the ones to build the world we want. Let’s put each other first.

Last week I had the pleasure of joining other guests on This Week in Social Media with host, Robert Tercek. As always, it was a lively discussion ranging from the rise of Google+, to citizen and consumer activism, to the future of journalism. I hope you enjoy it.

Today’s marketplace is almost defined by a lack, or loss, of trust. This is borne out by research by the world’s largest PR firm, Edelman, whose 2011 Trust Barometer found that trust in US business to do the right thing had fallen eight points in the last year to be only five points above Russia. So nothing could be more important right now than a book that speaks to the architecture of trust with a view to core business benefits that include teamwork, culture change and leadership, all of which drive profits.

Smart Trust, by renowned bestselling New York Times bestselling author, Stephen Covey and Greg Link, is a book that all business leaders need to read. This is apparent from the outset, where the foreword by Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo (Fortune’s most influential female business leader for the last five years running), characterizes this book as a renaissance of trust.

Like all hard-won victories, trust needs to be earned, built, and maintained. Steven and Greg to a masterful job of telling us exactly how to do that step-by-step so that we can integrate it within our organizations and take it to market. Not surprisingly, rather than looking at the issue of trust from the outside in, they challenge each of us to build trust within an organization from the inside out. Specifically, it starts by requiring that each of us choose to believe in trust again and builds through 5 key steps:

1. Choosing to believe in trust
2. Starting with yourself
3. Declaring your intent and assuming the same positive intent in others
4. Doing what you say you’re going to do
5. Leading by extending trust to others

As self-evident as these may sound, anyone who’s worked in a large organization knows that the integration of such human qualities throughout a company’s culture requires a delicate and specific set of skills. Using insights from their work with thousands of employees in companies like AT&T, Frito Lay, La Nova, Zappos and Whole Foods, Steven and Greg walk us through the insights learned from hands-on experience in transforming large scale corporate cultures into bastions of trust.

Ironically, it’s these very human qualities that define the interactions between employees, between employees and leadership, and ultimately the profits of a company. Smart Trust is an indispensable guidebook in how you not only create, disseminate, and inspire trust within an organization, but in so doing, unlock all the brand reputation, customer service, and bottom-line benefits for a company that only trust can create. It’s a must read so order your copy now by clicking here, or visit SmartTrustBook.com.

We’re super excited to announce that Robert Tercek is a special guest speaker at ther We First Seminar on February 1-2 at the Marina del Rey Marriott in California. Robert is one of the world’s most prolific creator of interactive entertainment and former President of Digital Media for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, as well as previously serving in executive leadership roles at Sony Pictures Entertainment, MTV: Music Television and several startup technology companies.

So I wanted to share this TEDx talk to give you a little insight into some of Robert’s thinking. At the We First Seminar, he’ll be working on your Social Branding Blueprint for 2012 with a specific focus emerging media and technology so you’re well positioned for success this year and beyond. Specifically he’ll address the following questions:

1. Why social media isn’t just a business modification but a total business transformation

2. How to dialogue with your customers using the latest in social technology and media

3. The skill sets you must possess to keep up with your audience and market successfully in the future

So if you’re interested in what comes next there is no better authority than Robert and along with Carol Cone (Global Practice Chair of Edelman Business+Social Purpose), we’ll be working with you for two days on building your Social Branding Blueprint for this year and beyond. But don’t delay, places  are limited and time is almost up to register. Go to www.WefirstSeminar.com and join us to ensure your success in 2012

You can follow Robert on twitter @superplex

1. How non-profits use Facebook to build awareness, community and fundraising

2. 2011: Facebook puts all brands on notice

3. Sherry Turkle of MIT: The human cost of social technology

4. Zynga: How the virtual world can save the real world

5. Exactly what role did social media play in the Egyptian revolution?

6. Review: Brian Solis, ‘The End of Business as Usual’

7. Why storytelling and social media need each other to survive

8. How brands rediscover the lost art of conversation

9. Egypt: Social media as a life or death proposition

10. Apple: How brands, customers & society benefit when a company shows what it stands for

Thanks to everyone for sharing your comments and these posts in 2011. We all now 2012 is going to be very interesting with the explosion of social business, mobile, gaming, citizen activism, the U.S. Presidential election and so many other issues that will shape our lives. I’m looking forward to exploring them with you.

And don’t forget. If you’re interested in attending the We First Social Branding Seminar to ensure your brand success in 2012, this is the last day of the New Year’s Special that gives you 50% off. Just click here to register and enter the special code NEWYEAR. You leave the event with a Social Branding Blueprint specific to your business that you can act on plus invite a non-profit for free. So click here now as the offer ends this week!

So much sobering news around the world, so much painful, heartfelt transformation, so much optimism in the face of challenges by millions of people around the world.

The year also saw the successful launch of the book, We First, for which I’m enormously grateful. The aim of the book was to share ideas that would have a tangible, positive impact on other’s lives. That would not be possible without a successful send off through your support. Here’s a few highlights of the response to the ideas about a re-purposed capitalism:

- New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon bestseller
- Amazon Top Ten Business Books of 2011
- strategy+business Best Marketing Book of 2011
- Nominated for 800 CEO READ Best Book Awards 2011

This truly was a team effort. Here’s are a few important thank you’s.

WE FIRST FAMILY: First off, thank you to my team at We First: Morgan, Ryan, Rick, Devin, Cameron, Natalie, Cole, Sid, Bill, Catherine, Bryan, Laura, and Sarah. Thank you for putting up with the emotional roller-coaster ride and for boot-stapping our way through the year together. I’m so glad you were my fellow passengers!

WE FIRST BOOK TEAM: We couldn’t have made any impact with We First without the incredible support of my agent, William Morris Endeavor, publisher, Palgrave Macmillan, and publicist, Fortier PR.

SPEAKERS: Thanks to the speakers who are going to make the start of 2012 so exciting. Our We First Social Branding Seminar is on February 1st and 2nd, 2012, in Los Angels and is going to be amazing. Carol Cone, Global Vice-Chair of Business + Social Purpose, and Robert Tercek, former President of Digital Meida at OWN, will be joining me in creating your own personal Social Branding Blueprint for 2012. If you can make it, don’t miss out as the work we are putting together for you is fantastic. Just click here to join us as there’s only a limited number of places.

SPONSORS: Thanks to our great sponsors for the Seminar that include Causecast, SocialVibe, HP. Your support is invaluable in making the event special.

UN FOUNDATION: Plus we are super excited to announce that the UN Foundation will also be a Platinum sponsor. As an organization we deeply respect, we are so proud to be working with you.

YOU: When I think of the amazing number of people I have met and chatted with through social media over the last year, I really start to appreciate how it enriches my life and purpose. Thank you so much for all your time, interest, feedback and encouragement. Yes, there’s a lot in our world that needs to change in our world, but things are trending in the right direction and together we can make significant shifts happen.

FAMILY: No one has ridden the 2011 roller-coaster ride with me more closely than my family. To my two kids, thanks for putting up with Daddy’s travel and for filling my life with joy. To my wife, you are a rock for all of us, an incredible mum, and a constant source of love.

As we’re handed the reins of 2012 its up to us to make it meaningful and memorable. This is my prediction of what to expect.

Here’s to bringing our best selves to the personal, professional and social challenges we face and, by seeing ourselves in each other, working together to build a world we can be proud of.

Happy New Year to all from everyone at We First!

Image credit: AP/Paul Sakuma

2011 has been distinguished by dramatic citizen activism in the United States and around the world. Perhaps largest in public consciousness are the Arab Spring revolutions that continue to transform the political landscape in the Middle East, and the homegrown Occupy Wall Street movement spreading around the world protesting economic inequality. Each is significant in its own right and portend an even more dramatic shift in consumer behavior in 2012 that will impact business, marketing, and society at large: the rise of the consumer activist.

The reasons for this are several. The economic inequality that characterized 2011 looks likely to persist, with one in seven Americans currently relying on food stamps, one in six Americans below the government-set poverty line, and real unemployment above 16%. At the same time, it is likely that political gridlock will persist, especially in a Presidential election year as both parties jockey for election rather than substantive change. Meanwhile, emboldened by the citizen activism of the Arab Spring revolutions, and aided by the mainstream adoption of social media, customers will increasingly look to the private sector to become more socially responsible serving as custodians for social change.

Research bears out such expectations. Edelman, the world’s largest PR firm, found that 86% of global consumers want companies to put society’s needs on the same level as their business needs. While their 2011 Trust Barometer Report shows that “trust in US business to do the right thing” fell 8 points in 2011, to be only five points above Russia. This large discrepancy between consumer expectations and trust is all the more acute due to a lack of viable alternatives. Government is burdened by historic debt and gridlocked by partisan politics, while the important work of philanthropists, non-profits, and NGO’s is not sufficient to meet the scale of the challenges we face. As a result, in the face of persistent self-serving corporate practices, customer communities will seek to impact corporations where it hurts them most– their bottom line.

This process has already begun. We saw the dramatic backdown of Netflix over the launch of Qwikster, after so many customers deserted the brand that its stock price fell 37%. We saw over 700,000 people transfer their accounts away from major financial institutions toward credit unions to the tune of $4.2 billion on Bank Transfer Day. We saw Bank of America reverse its decision to charge a 5 dollar monthly debit fee in the face of customer activism.

Customers are quickly embracing new platforms and tools through which to express their demands, whether it’s through mobile apps like GoodGuide or online platforms like BrandKarma.com, both of which allow them to track the corporate practices of the brands they buy. To their credit, some of the smartest marketers in the world are responding, recognizing that these are the new emotional drivers that will determine the brand success stories of 2012. These include Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Nike, Patagonia, Unilever, Proctor and Gamble, and Starbucks. In fact, in an unprecedented move, Howard Schultz of Starbucks is leading 140 corporate CEO’s in a boycott of political campaign donations until the gridlock in DC is ended. Further, impatient with the slow process of economic recovery, Starbucks has taken the bold move of enlisting the support of customers and credit unions to jumpstart the ability of small businesses to thrive in the US.

The rise of customer activism can no more be turned back than we could turn back the economic crisis, the internet, or social media. Those marketers that seek to thrive in 2012 will rise to the challenge of practicing business in a more socially responsible way, unlocking the potential of becoming deeply meaningful to their customer lives by improving the world they live in. The brands that lead this charge will not only be surprised by the customer loyalty it inspires and their desire to demonstrate that loyalty across social media channels, but also by the personal fulfillment that their leadership, employees and customers will enjoy.

For information on how you build a Social Branding Blueprint to ensure your company succeeds in the face of customer activism, click here.