Vote with Your Dollars: Promotional Products with a Positive Impact

We teach our kids to be kind. To sit with the new kid at lunch. To recycle that milk carton. Company behavior should be no different. Companies should be more than just a place of employment, a place to make money, a place to hide from your spouse for eight hours a day. Companies have a moral responsibility to community. It is often expressed in mission and company credos. But is it truly expressed in their corporate social and environmental actions?

What is Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility?

To me, it’s a company consciously operating in a manner that has a positive impact on the environment and ethically oriented social practices.

Don’t you want to buy from companies that:

• Ethically employ workers and provide safe working conditions?
• Offer giveback programs?
• Support causes or provide solutions that better the world?
• Bring awareness to causes?
• Create employment opportunities?
• Encourage and support Fair Trade?

Are you interested in buying products that are:

• Made with materials which can be recycled or are biodegradable such as cotton, jute, or corn? Check out THIS plastic bag that dissolves in water!
• Made with materials which have been upcycled. Check out our partnership with Reborn Clothing that gives unused branded apparel a second life and story.
• Made with renewable materials such as bamboo?
• Reducing the need for one-time use items such as Grocery Totes, Water Bottles and Straws?

Why is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) important in the Promotional Products Industry?

The ‘feel goods’ of CSR are omnipresent. The product recipient feels good that the product they just received is associated with doing good. Recipients look at your brand in a positive light for investing in community. They can be inspired to act with a CSR mindset. When you know better, you do better.

• Socially conscious products have increased impressions because they are often more sustainable
• The items you give away should have a story connected with CSR values
  • 86% of consumers want companies to stand for social issues
• CSR often increases brand alignment and builds a stronger company

As you vote with your dollars and invest in your brand, remember this – when people make a conscious effort to create change, beautiful things can happen. When organizations decide to create change, movements happen.

About the Author

Gillian Utesch is our Senior Account Manager. She has been a team member at Brand Fuel for over 15 years and enjoys working with clients all over the world in developing creative and effective promotional product campaigns.