How advertising will heal the world and your business

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The consumer’s universal search for meaning calls for a new type of brand and company. This book unveils new insights and practical knowledge that will make your brand grow and bring about a huge positive impact on our world.
By more than 24,000 very friendly people and Mark Woerde
    How Advertising Will Heal the  World and Your Business
First published May Mark Woerde Publishing on demand How Advertising Will Heal the World and Your Business The bound book is printed and distributed via Free Musketeers, but we encourage you to save paper and download the digital version of this book and its accompanying research for free at www.letsheal.org. To order additional print copies of this book, you can contact your local bookseller or visit www.letsheal.org. The printed book is sold at cost price. This cost price can vary per country. The author and the advisory board can be contacted at: Mark Woerde mark@letsheal.org Letsheal.org p/a LEMZ - First Floor Mt Ondinaweg Amsterdam RE, The Netherlands
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This book is printed on paper from responsible sources. Feel free to copy this book. The work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution . Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ . / or send a letter to Creative Commons, Second Street, Suite , San Francisco, California, , USA.
Letsheal: Please download the e-book and research for free  via letsheal.org and spread the word
   
How Advertising Will Heal the World and Your Business
Mark Woerde
 
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” 
  Albert Einstein1  
The five-second elevator pitch:    Make this world a better place, win a Nobel Prize, and sell more.  
Letsheal: Which brand will be the first to win the Nobel  Peace Prize?
To ceos: The recent financial crisis left many reevaluating capitalism and its role in our society. The old capitalist credo, “survival  of the fittest” is gradually giving way to a stronger, bolder and,  indeed, fitter counter: “survival of the kindest”. Profit maximization alone is no longer a sustainable motive as people are asking  for more and better from the companies they choose to buy from.  Embracing new prosocial values can help you move more products, attract and keep top employees, and make a huge impact on  the world. Just imagine what would happen if even a fraction of  the us $450 billion spent annually on advertising, instead, went  into prosocial marketing?   To marketeers: The time has come for a radical paradigm shift in  branding as we know it. Where in the past branding has seemed  mainly focused on fulfilling hedonistic individual needs, it’s gradually becoming clear: people are waiting for brands to facilitate  them to help others. And, in doing so, these so-called ‘Meaningful  Prosocial Brands’ help fulfill a basic, strong and growing need: the  need to live a meaningful life. This book, and the research it was  based on, unveil new insights and practical knowledge that can  make your brands grow and bring about a huge positive impact  on our world.   To advertising professionals:  Building  Meaningful  Prosocial  Brands requires big, bold, new ideas. Never before has creativity  been so important. Our focus has to widen beyond selling things,  to facilitate people to live a meaningful life by helping others. The  goal of this book is to inspire you and give you the tools to unleash the huge potential of Prosocial Brands. Forget about those 
6 Letsheal: Radical paradigm shift in branding, people are  waiting for brands to facilitate them to help others
typical ad-industry awards… focus on something bigger (like, say,  the Nobel Prize) and you’ll be amazed how inspired your work  will be. To ngos: It is only natural for ngos to be in the business of helping  people,  but  why  not  brands?  Meaningful  Prosocial  Brands,  that  can  motivate  people  to  help  others,  can  offer  a  great  deal  to  their  communities  and  the  world,  but  they  will  need  your  help. ngos offer the understanding and experience that can make  Prosocial Brands truly meaningful. Forging cooperative relationships with brands can prove very rewarding to your organization  and its mission.
Letsheal: Never before has creativity been so important
7
The book in 2.5 pages
  I’d like to start by thanking you for reading this book. It’s probably  not going to win me any literary awards and, since I’m putting it  out for free, I don’t think it’s going to make me a fortune to retire  on. But, really, I am grateful that you’re reading this book, because  I believe that your interest could help in making this world a better place for all of us. This book lays the foundation for a radical paradigm shift in  branding as we know it. Where branding has seemed mainly focused  on  fulfilling  hedonistic  individual  needs  throughout  the  years, it’s now becoming clear: people are waiting for brands that  can help them help others.  Helping  others  gives  their  lives  the  meaning  in  life  they  are  looking for. This is a unique chance for brands to play a meaningful role and gain relevance. If you decide to follow the outline of  this book, you can turn your brand into what I call a ‘Meaningful  Prosocial Brand’, with huge positive effects on society and business.  Research  in  the  16  biggest  economies2  in  the  fourth  quarter  of 2010, which formed the basis of this book, shows how people  today have a strong, fundamental and increasing desire to live a  meaningful life. But what I find really remarkable is what respondents said gives their lives meaning: 74% of the people indicate helping others is their way of finding meaning in life. Incredibly, only  16% are not actively searching for a significant life.  All over the world, people want to do more for others; 60%  of us say that we’d like to do more than simply donate to good  causes. But lack of time, money or opportunities can prevent peo9
ple from doing this, possibly leaving them feeling detached, their  healing potential left untapped. The study found high levels of empathy in every country surveyed, indicating that those who want to help do have the ability  to recognize people in need. And, although this book highlights  interesting differences on a country and sub-category level on different topics, when it comes down to true altruism, several scientific publications have proven that it is in our very nature to help  others.  For  our  species,  often  it’s  not  survival  of  the  fittest,  but  survival of the kindest3. Meaningful Prosocial Brands go beyond ‘social responsibility’.  These brands use their marketing power and engage target groups  to the max and facilitate them to help other people by tackling  small  or  big  societal  issues.  These  efforts  can  yield  tremendous  effects. To  provide  a  glimpse  of  the  potential  power,  over  $450  billion usd will be spent on advertising this year4. Only a fraction  of  that  amount  would  be  needed  to  tackle  some  of  the  world’s  most  harrowing  challenges.  These  brands  are  overwhelmingly  welcomed by the public: 64% state that it makes sense to buy socalled Prosocial Brands over normal brands, and 70% of people  would prefer to work for a meaningful company. In this book, I will share with you a validated model to create  successful Prosocial Brands yourself. I will also introduce different  Prosocial  Brand  types,  and  for  each  type,  we’ll  explore  the  strengths and potential pitfalls, all made clear to us by the more  than  24,000  people  who  participated  in  the  research.  There  is  one  universal  pitfall  for  wannabe  Prosocial  Brands.  A  company  that fakes good intentions may be able to sell more without being  caught, because people are not able to immediately recognize fake 
10
intentions. Although consumers are not always able to differentiate between honest and fake intentions, they are suspicious. This  is why 74% state that it’s a good idea for an independent organization  to  watch  companies’  intentions  and  effectiveness.  Please  bear in mind that we are not talking about the next generation of  marketing tricks here, but about real impact on the lives of many  people. Never before have ceos, marketers and advertising professionals had such a clear and straightforward call to change the world.  There is a great deal of opportunity in answering this call through  truly meaningful branding.   It would be great if you joined me, and I would love to hear from  you via #letsheal or www.letsheal.org.  
11
Contents
 
Chapter one provides an in-depth insight into the need to live a meaningful life  and what people actually believe a meaningful life to be. Chapters two through  four seek to apply these concepts of meaning to your brand and explore how  doing so can create both positive change and success in your business. 
The book in 2.5 pages  Preface   Chapter 1: The meaning of life  1.1 The importance of meaning in life  1.2 What makes your life meaningful?  1.3 Our search for meaning  1.4 What is the meaning of life?   1.5 The top six interpretations   1.6 Why do we want to help others?  1.7 Empathy sparks prosocial behavior  1.8 Actual prosocial behavior  1.9 Prosocial for something in return?  1.10 Helping becomes more important  1.11 What do we care about?  1.12 Want to do more for others?  1.13 What keeps us from doing more?   1.14 Ways to give more?  1.15 What to give and how? 
9 14 20 23 24 26 30 34 38 50 53 55 60 61 71 72 75 77
Chapter 2: Companies, brands and meaning  2.1 Can and should brands help?  2.2 Will it help my business?  2.3 Prosocial Brand categories  2.4 Donating Prosocial Brands  2.5 Prosocial Service Brands  2.6 Meaningful Prosocial Brands  2.7 The Social Business Enterprise   2.8 24,000 warnings  2.9 Fake intentions  2.10 Great side effects for stakeholders  2.11 I don’t like this idea  Chapter 3: Building Meaningful Prosocial Brands  3.1 The model  Chapter 4: Let’s do this together  Chapter 5: Research design 5.1 Countries in the research  5.2 Research method   5.3 Research partners  5.4 Validated basis for Questionnaire   5.5 Overview questionnaires  5.6 Fieldwork   5.7 Weighting and significance levels  5.8 Research report table of contents  Notes and references  Acknowledgements  About the author 
81 83 86 88 92 93 95 98 102 106 112 116 119 121 134 137 139 140 141 144 145 146 147 149 153 158
Preface
A vacation is often the perfect time for self-reflection, and during  my  2009  summer  holiday,  I  found  myself  spending  more  time  in thought than in the pool. As founder and strategy director of  Lemz, an advertising agency that has achieved success beyond my  wildest expectations, I’ve felt very fortunate to have carved out a  place for myself. Still, when I began to contemplate my ultimate  goals in life, I realized they lay beyond even family, business, or  my budding career as an unknown jazz pianist. I began thinking,  at heart, I could achieve the greatest satisfaction by working toward making the world a better place. My  initial  instincts  pointed  me  toward  the  establishment  of my own NGO of some sort. After conceiving, reviewing and  eventually rejecting the first batch of ridiculous ideas I had, it  suddenly struck me: The most successful campaigns and brands  I’ve worked on (i.e. Sara Lee, IKEA and Unilever) were a success  because they put meaning over making money. As a result, these  brands did not only find success in monetary terms, but were  also able to improve lives, at various levels, often on a very large  scale. Brands can mean so much more than we used to think.  Brands and hence creativity or to put it simply, advertising, can  heal the world. I’d seen brands do remarkable things; from increasing the interaction  between  neighbours  at  a  national  level,  to  working  to  improve the self-esteem of women. What would happen if brands  all over the world were to actually use their tremendous power to  help people lead more meaningful lives? To provide a glimpse of that power, according to the London14
based global advertising research center Warc4 over US $450 billion will be spent this year on advertising. Only a fraction of that  would  be  needed  to  stave  off  global  starvation  or  prevent  the  spread of malaria. To put it in a bit more perspective, the entire  annual budget of UNICEF is around US $3 billion. As a first step in investigating the potential power of brands, I  began by looking in the mirror. I wondered whether my personal  desire to lead a more meaningful life by helping others was only  a by-product of having accomplished a certain level of financial  independence. Could the search for meaning be a luxury? Could  the success of the various campaigns have been flukes or one-offs?  From two sources, I got my first set of answers. I studied the work of various philosophers on this theme, and  found that ‘having meaning in life’ can, in many ways, be considered a basic need. And, helping others in our local communities  or in the world as a whole seems to be in the top two of what  people think makes for a meaningful life. Further confirmation  of these findings came in the form of two pilot studies I commissioned in October 2009 and June 2010 in the UK and US. I was  struck  by  the  results,  especially  people’s  belief  in  the  ability  of  brands to help others. With  these  results  in  hand,  I  interviewed  different  marketing executives responsible for an estimated advertising budget of  around us $1 billion annually. I noticed that they immediately became enthusiastic upon finding out that people are both wanting  and waiting for them to act and that they are allowed to put big  social issues at the heart of their commercial activities. The model  I developed proved and tested with them proved extremely useful  in generating new brand concepts.
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Then the question was how to really inspire businesses all over  the world to make their brands more meaningful. The research  we carried out to answer this question has been independently  verified by my accomplished advisory board. I’m  very  grateful  to  Professor  Dirk  Salomons,  the  director  of  the  Program  for  Humanitarian  Affairs  at  the  School  of  International Public Affairs Columbia University, for being part  of my advisory board. We had several inspiring meetings and I  can say that without Dirk the research would not be as solid as  it is now.  Robert  van  Ossenbruggen,  a  top  methodologist  and  statistical wizard, was a critical player in the advisory board as well. The  same goes for my dear friend Hans Lingeman, who provided me  with not only his never-ending optimism and research experience,  but also the international infrastructure of his research company  Winkle. There are many more people to thank, and I will do so at  the end of this book.  However  I  cannot  proceed  without  expressing  my  deepest  thanks  to  Matthias  Stausberg,  spokesperson  of  United  Nations  Global Compact. His knowledge, energy and enthusiasm proved  very  helpful  in  crafting  the  idea  of  the  research  and  book.  I’m  grateful for the opportunity to share my insights with un Global  Compact, an organization with over 5300 associated prominent  businesses  in  130  countries  committed  to  aligning  their  operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the  areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.   And, of course I’m very grateful to the over 24,000 research participants who donated 30 minutes of their time to help me find  the right answers.
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The goals of the publication are ambitious, but easily within  reach; for the first year, the goal is to see a shift in budgets of 0.5%  from  traditional  advertising  to  more  meaningful  activities.  The  results of this shift would hopefully create a snowball effect for the  subsequent years. This, in turn, could lead to the ultimate goal of  improving the lives of people in communities around the world,  close by or far away. Which brings me to you. No matter whether you are working  in  the  advertising  industry,  marketing  or  management  of  a  company or in the charity business, I’m extremely thankful that  you picked up this copy. I hope you will be inspired and I’m very  much looking forward to your feedback, ideas and action. Let us  know via twitter #letsheal and letsheal.org. Although  it  might  not  be  an  intrinsic  motivator  for  you,  I  checked  with  the  Nobel  Prize  organization  and  companies  and  brands are actually allowed to win a Nobel Prize.   Mark Woerde Amsterdam/Haarlem/New York   PS. I think it’s good to know that there was and will be no financial support from businesses for this book/the Letsheal initiative.
17
Chapter 1
The meaning of life
Chapter 1: The meaning of life
This book is about how brands can help people to help each other.  Additionally, it’s about how these altruistic brands will be more  successful.  But  more  than  anything,  this  book  is  about  the  opportunity brands have to fulfill our inherent need for meaning, by helping us help each other. I’d like to discuss the somewhat broad topic of ‘living a meaningful life’. What is a meaningful life and how important is it to  have one? After posing such questions in worldwide research, the  results were tallied from the study, and the data made it clear: very  important. The search for meaning, it appears, is more than something you start to look for once your other needs are fulfilled; it  is, in fact, a basic need. If you recall Maslow’s Hierarchy5, the pyramid many consider  to be the last word on human need, you will find things like air,  food, and water at the bottom, but not ‘meaning’. Was Maslow  wrong, then? I believe, partly, yes. Meaning can, and should, form  the solid foundation on which rest of the pyramid can be built. And here’s where the opportunity lies: research has found that  a large majority of people are looking for more ways to give their  lives meaning. But, what is meaning? How can we define ‘living a meaningful life’? In the research, ‘helping others’ was found to have a very  strong link with feelings of meaning and fulfillment. Again and  again, the data has shown, one of the easiest way to add meaning  is by helping others. And, likely related to the financial crisis, this  feeling has only been intensifying since 2008. To figure out why we might have this desire to help others, in 
20 Letsheal: Living a meaningful life is a basic need
the meaning of life
addition to the quantitative research in 16 countries, I’ve also gone  to a number of sources: old philosophers with modern thoughts,  leading  biologists  who  have  found  answers  in  our  genes,  mainstream religions and even popular music. You can find examples  just about everywhere. I learned, for example, that helping others  releases soothing, feel-good hormones. I also discovered that most  people would love to do more for others, but too often lack the  time, the money, or the right kind of motivation. This is where I  see a big opportunity for brands. Let’s  start  by  finding  out  how  important  it  is  to  experience  meaning in life.
Letsheal: The need to live a meaningful life has been  increasing since 2008
21
Table 1: Living a meaningful life is important to me (country)* ES 1.598 1% 1% 11% 44% 43% 11% 87% 2% 3% 7% 5% 2% 3% 4% 2% 3% 1% 1% 78% 77% 82% 86% 84% 85% 81% 83% 94% 96% 18% 16% 13% 12% 13% 11% 17% 15% 4% 3% 12% 87% 1% 30% 9% 25% 41% 36% 37% 22% 36% 68% 71% 36% 48% 68% 57% 45% 48% 48% 59% 47% 26% 25% 51% 23% 71% 4% 94% 2% 18% 16% 13% 12% 13% 11% 17% 15% 4% 3% 12% 4% 3% 37% 51% 3% 87% 9% 2% 5% 3% 2% 3% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 4% 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 1% 5% 2.016 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 GB FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
Strongly disagree
1%
2%
1%
Tend to disagree
2%
2%
1%
Neither agree nor disagree
11%
17%
9%
Tend to agree
45%
43%
42%
Strongly agree
41%
37%
47%
Top box other
11%
17%
9%
Top 2 box
85%
80%
89%
Bottom 2 box
3%
4%
2%
Table 2: Living a meaningful life is important to me (background)* Age up to 34 9.406 1% 2% 11% 43% 42% 11% 85% 3% 3% 86% 88% 3% 11% 10% 40% 42% 39% 12% 84% 3% 46% 46% 46% 44% 43% 10% 87% 3% 11% 10% 12% 10% 2% 1% 2% 2% 2% 17% 47% 33% 17% 79% 4% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% 2% 12% 47% 37% 12% 85% 3% 10.129 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 35-54 >54 no yes low middle high 10.034 1% 2% 11% 46% 40% 11% 86% 2% Has Child(ren) Education unknown 3.067 2% 3% 6% 34% 55% 6% 89% 5% rural 2.719 1% 2% 11% 52% 35% 11% 87% 2% Urbananisation level residential 2.623 1% 2% 10% 46% 42% 10% 88% 2% suburban 3.322 1% 2% 12% 50% 35% 12% 85% 3% city 4.241 1% 1% 10% 43% 45% 10% 88% 2% unknown 11.322 2% 3% 12% 42% 41% 12% 83% 4%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
Strongly disagree
1%
1%
1%
1%
Tend to disagree
2%
2%
2%
4%
Neither agree nor disagree
11%
14%
9%
19%
Tend to agree
45%
45%
44%
43%
Strongly agree
41%
37%
44%
33%
Top box other
11%
14%
9%
19%
Top 2 box
85%
83%
88%
76%
Bottom 2 box
3%
4%
3%
5%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
1.1 The importance of meaning in life
  Fortunately I’m not alone: 85.4% of the respondents believe that  ‘living a meaningful life’ is important. That’s 88% of women and  83% of men. Only 3.3% do not find it important at all, and 11.3%  are unsure. There was variance between countries, ranging from  the relatively low figures of 77% in France, up to 96% in Mexico. The  disparities  between  different  backgrounds  were  surprisingly low. Young people (16 and 17 year olds) and people with less  education tended to weigh meaning a bit lower (76% and 79% respectively). In contrast, though, with a group we refer to as ‘social  transformers’ (25% of the population), we found that 95% find  meaning important. We’ll discuss later on who these individuals  are and why they matter.  
Letsheal: Living a meaningful life is important: 85% agree
23
1.2 What makes your life meaningful?
One of the big challenges in a study of this nature is finding questions that both get to the heart of the issue while still being clear  and balanced. I’m incredibly grateful to Michael F. Steger PhD,  a leading researcher at Colorado State University’s Laboratory for  the Study of Meaning and Quality of Life. He was kind enough  to let us use his Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) Scale6 in  our research. The MLQ is a reliable way to measure the presence of  meaning and the search for meaning. Overall, 74% of respondents indicated having a good sense of  ‘what makes their lives meaningful’. On this topic, a few countries  stood out. In Japan, only 44% feel they have this understanding.  Compare this to countries like India, Brazil, and Mexico, where  the figures are at 90%. The country breakdown is available on the  next page, in table 3. We found a similar difference between young people and older  adults (see table 4). Young people tended to have a less clear sense  of what makes their lives meaningful. Only 60% of 16 and 17 year  olds claim to know what gives their lives meaning, compared to  people 54 years and older, who averaged at 77%. These differences  become smaller at higher income levels (from 68% to 74%).  
24
Letsheal: I know what makes my life meaningful: 74% agree
Table 3: I have a good sense of what makes my life meaningful (country)*
ES 2.016 1% 2% 7% 22% 35% 22% 10% 22% 67% 10% 14% 13% 7% 7% 11% 25% 8% 3% 63% 70% 76% 69% 71% 44% 74% 89% 92% 3% 23% 17% 17% 23% 18% 31% 18% 7% 5% 8% 9% 15% 10% 16% 4% 14% 36% 35% 15% 13% 83% 4% 24% 26% 26% 23% 23% 9% 26% 34% 38% 42% 31% 34% 35% 36% 31% 31% 35% 20% 18% 26% 28% 37% 26% 7% 90% 3% 23% 17% 17% 23% 18% 31% 18% 7% 5% 13% 7% 9% 9% 4% 5% 7% 17% 4% 1% 2% 2% 2% 5% 15% 18% 43% 16% 15% 77% 7% 3% 2% 2% 1% 2% 5% 2% 1% 1% 2% 0% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 GB FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
N 1% 1% 3% 18% 35% 28% 13% 18% 76% 6%
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Absolutely untrue
1%
2%
2%
Mostly untrue
2%
2%
2%
Somewhat untrue
6%
8%
6%
Can't say true or false
17%
19%
15%
Somewhat true
30%
36%
30%
Mostly true
28%
25%
28%
Absolutely true
16%
9%
19%
Top box other
17%
19%
15%
Top 3 box
74%
70%
76%
Bottom 3 box
9%
11%
9%
Table 4: I have a good sense what makes my life meaningful (subgroup)
Age up to 34 9.406 1% 2% 7% 17% 29% 28% 17% 17% 73% 10% 75% 9% 17% 15% 15% 16% 77% 7% 29% 29% 31% 33% 32% 27% 14% 18% 72% 10% 17% 16% 18% 5% 5% 6% 5% 16% 29% 30% 18% 16% 76% 8% 2% 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 2% 5% 23% 34% 20% 13% 23% 68% 9% 10.129 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 35-54 >54 no yes low middle 9.069 1% 2% 6% 18% 31% 25% 16% 18% 72% 10% Has Child(ren) Education high 10.034 1% 2% 6% 16% 30% 30% 15% 16% 74% 9% unknown 3.067 1% 1% 4% 13% 26% 36% 19% 13% 81% 6% rural 2.719 1% 2% 8% 19% 34% 25% 11% 19% 70% 11% residential 2.623 1% 2% 6% 16% 31% 28% 17% 16% 75% 9% Urbananisation level suburban 3.322 1% 2% 7% 19% 32% 25% 14% 19% 70% 10% city 4.241 1% 2% 5% 14% 28% 31% 20% 14% 78% 7% unknown 11.322 1% 2% 6% 17% 30% 28% 15% 17% 74% 9%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
Absolutely untrue
1%
2%
1%
3%
Mostly untrue
2%
2%
2%
3%
Somewhat untrue
6%
6%
6%
8%
Can't say true or false
17%
19%
15%
26%
Somewhat true
30%
31%
30%
26%
Mostly true
28%
26%
30%
18%
Absolutely true
16%
15%
16%
16%
Top box other
17%
19%
15%
26%
Top 3 box
74%
72%
76%
60%
Bottom 3 box
9%
10%
8%
13%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
1.3 Our search for meaning
What struck me from the research is that 66% indicated that they  are searching for something to make their life feel more significant  (table 5). Or, looking at it from the other side, only 16% say they  aren’t. A large group, 57%, even indicated that they are actively  searching for meaning, while only 23% indicate that they are not  (table 6). It should be noted, though, that these figures only include individuals who are self-aware enough to acknowledge their  own search for meaning. Those who believe their life to be meaningful are less depressed,  feel greater satisfaction with their lives, have greater self-esteem,  more optimism and a more positive attitude2.  As shown by the broad demographics represented in the study,  striving for a meaningful life is not simply for the elite or happy  few; something to look out at after climbing to the top of Maslow’s  pyramid. For so many surveyed, meaning is fundamental; it is the  groundwork. In  Man’s Search for Meaning7,  a  worldwide  best-seller  with  over  12  million  copies  sold, neurologist  and  psychiatrist  Viktor  E. Frankl pondered these same questions and came up with some  intriguing answers.  
26
Letsheal: Only 16% are NOT actively searching for a  significant life
Table 5: I’m always searching for something that makes my life feel significant (country)* GB 2.016 4% 5% 12% 26% 30% 15% 8% 26% 53% 21% 18% 18% 19% 11% 21% 14% 23% 15% 61% 65% 59% 71% 60% 61% 53% 79% 21% 18% 22% 19% 19% 25% 24% 6% 8% 76% 16% 9% 8% 9% 14% 10% 5% 8% 28% 27% 17% 20% 18% 23% 18% 13% 13% 30% 31% 41% 18% 13% 83% 4% 36% 37% 33% 34% 31% 43% 31% 21% 18% 24% 21% 18% 22% 19% 19% 25% 24% 6% 8% 13% 8% 27% 35% 24% 8% 86% 6% 9% 11% 10% 5% 13% 9% 11% 4% 6% 2% 3% 8% 14% 21% 36% 12% 14% 70% 16% 4% 4% 5% 3% 4% 4% 7% 3% 4% 2% 2% 5% 4% 4% 5% 2% 5% 1% 4% 7% 6% 1% 2% 3% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Absolutely untrue
4%
3%
5%
4%
Mostly untrue
4%
4%
6%
4%
Somewhat untrue
8%
13%
8%
10%
Can't say true or false
17%
16%
20%
19%
Somewhat true
31%
39%
30%
31%
Mostly true
23%
19%
19%
21%
Absolutely true
13%
7%
12%
12%
Top box other
17%
16%
20%
19%
Top 3 box
66%
65%
61%
63%
Bottom 3 box
16%
19%
18%
18%
Table 6: I’m searching for a meaning in my life (country)* GB 2.016 7% 7% 15% 30% 24% 10% 7% 30% 41% 29% 45% 32% 23% 19% 53% 28% 7% 6% 11% 15% 13% 8% 26% 50% 24% 28% 32% 29% 23% 19% 26% 25% 30% 16% 9% 25% 55% 19% 15% 16% 11% 10% 8% 6% 7% 5% 5% 17% 23% 27% 12% 9% 23% 48% 29% 9% 6% 6% 5% 7% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 2% 4% 9% 25% 42% 13% 5% 25% 60% 15% FR BE CA IT DE JP AU 1.927 7% 8% 14% 28% 26% 9% 7% 28% 43% 29% BR 1.092 13% 5% 7% 8% 25% 23% 19% 8% 67% 25% MX 1.179 6% 3% 5% 7% 18% 30% 31% 7% 79% 14% CH 1.071 2% 2% 2% 17% 28% 36% 13% 17% 76% 6% IN 1.109 4% 5% 8% 14% 26% 25% 18% 14% 68% 18% RU 982 3% 3% 8% 12% 18% 37% 19% 12% 75% 13%
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Absolutely untrue
6%
5%
7%
5%
Mostly untrue
6%
6%
8%
5%
Somewhat untrue
11%
20%
12%
8%
Can't say true or false
20%
18%
22%
17%
Somewhat true
28%
31%
27%
31%
Mostly true
18%
15%
13%
21%
Absolutely true
11%
6%
10%
14%
Top box other
20%
18%
22%
17%
Top 3 box
57%
52%
50%
66%
Bottom 3 box
23%
30%
27%
17%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
our search for meaning Writing in the introduction to Frankl’s book7 , the prominent  American Rabbi and author Harold S. Kushner offers a clear interpretation of Frankl’s work: Between 1942 and 1945 Viktor Frankl was cast into four different  concentration  and  extermination  camps.  Miraculously,  he  survived. In his book, first of all a book about survival, he describes those prisoners who gave up on life, who had lost all hope  for a future and were inevitably the first to die. They died less  from lack of food or medicine than from something to live for.  Frankl kept himself alive and kept hope alive by summoning up  thoughts of his wife and the prospect of seeing her again and by  dreaming at one point of lecturing after the war about the psychological lessons to be learned from the Auschwitz experience.  Clearly many prisoners who desperately wanted to live did die,  some from disease, some in the crematoria. But Frankl’s concern  is less with the question of why most died, than it is with the  question  of  why  anyone  at  all  survived. Terrible  as  it  was,  his  experience in Auschwitz reinforced what was already one of his  key ideas: Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, nor a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest  for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning  in his or her life. Or as Nietzsche wrote: “He who has a Why to  live for can bear almost any How.”  A meaningful life is not simply a form of self-actualization. In  fact, it can be a key condition for existence. As Frankl describes,  the  people  who  reach  out  to  others  in  some  way  (through  art,  sharing  food,  giving  comfort)  manage  to  go  beyond  their  own  deprivation and the camp’s social conditioning and find meaning  in life, thereby increasing their chances of survival.
28 Letsheal: Maslow was wrong. Experiencing meaning in life  is a more basic human need than having food or shelter
our search for meaning It might, therefore, not be a bad idea to revise Maslow’s Pyramid  a bit. Even Maslow showed some regret toward the over-simplification of his hierarchy and wondered whether his pyramid ought  to be turned upside down8. However, adding a layer to the bottom  of the pyramid is probably the most straightforward enhancement.  
Figure 1. A new basis for Maslow’s Pyramid Now  it’s  clear  that  having  a  meaningful  life  is  important,  let’s  move on to what people think is a meaningful life and see how  brands can help fulfill this need.
Letsheal: Living a meaningful life should be added to the  bottom of Maslow’s pyramid
29
1.4 What is the meaning of life?
We’ve  just  read  about  the  importance  of  living  a  meaningful  life and how 66% of people are searching for more significance.  Before we discuss the opportunities present in this information,  we should clarify the interpretation of ‘a meaningful life’.  ‘O Deep Thought Computer, the task we have designed you to  perform is this. We want you to tell us... the Answer’.  ‘The Answer?’ said Deep Thought. ‘The Answer to what?’ Life!, The Universe, Everything!’ Deep Thought pauses for a moment’s reflection. ‘Yes,’ said Deep Thought. ‘Life, the Universe and Everything.  There is an answer. But,’ he added, I’ll have to think about it.  The program will take me a little while to run. Return to this  place in seven and a half million years.’   Seven and a half million years later:   ‘All right,’ said Deep Thought.  ‘The Answer to the Great Question...’ ‘Yes...’ ‘Is...’ ‘Forty-two,’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm. From The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams9
 
Well,  that’s  a  good  question,  isn’t  it?  “What  is  the  meaning  of  life?”  It’s  a  question  that  comes  up  a  lot  in  adolescence  and  in  periods of reflection, or as a result of a personal crisis or a tragic  incident.
30 Letsheal: Tell me, what is the meaning of life?
what is the meaning of life? It’s an essential question because the answer will determine the  principles by which a person will live and, consequently, his or her  goals and priorities6.  What would you answer? It’s on the tip of your tongue, right?  Am I going to pretend to have the answer? Well, yes! But it’s not  just one answer. In our research, we asked well over 24,000 people the question:  What do you think is the meaning of life? Thanks to Professor  Richard  T.  Kinnier,  Professor  of  Counselling  Psychology  at  Arizona  State  University  (ASU)1,  we  could  provide  respondents  with clear answer categories. Kinnier and his team analysed 238  quotations from 195 eminent people regarding their beliefs about  the meaning of life. From these quotes, they created answer categories, and with those categories in hand, we were able to provide  validated answer categories to this difficult question. Close  your  eyes  for  a  moment  and  think  about  what  gives  meaning  to  your  life.  Below,  you’ll  find  six  descriptions  from  Kinnier’s publication What Eminent People Have Said About The Meaning of Life. Just for the record: we left out some categories  that proved less relevant in pilot studies.    Count to ten and turn the page…
Letsheal: Tell me, what is the meaning of your life?
31
what is the meaning of life? Question: What is the meaning of your life?
 To enjoy or experience life Enjoy the moment, the journey. Some well-known subscribers of  this  ideology  include  the  American  lecturer,  essayist,  and  poet,  Ralph Waldo Emerson, the millionaire and magazine publisher,  Malcolm Forbes, and singer-songwriter, Janis Joplin. Emerson encouraged his readers to “laugh often and much” and to appreciate  beauty. Forbes observed that life “is a very short trip; while alive,  live!” And one of the lyrics that Joplin is best known for is “you  gotta get it while you can.” 
 To love, help, or serve others Meaning stems from showing or experiencing compassion. This  theme was endorsed by Albert Einstein, Mohandas Gandhi, the  Dalai Lama, Albert Schweitzer, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. For  example, Einstein stated that “only a life lived for others” is a life  worthwhile. 
 Life is meaningless This  theme  was  endorsed  by  Sigmund  Freud,  Franz  Kafka,  Bertrand  Russell,  Jean  Paul  Sartre.  Sartre  proclaimed  that  it  is  meaningless that we are born; it is meaningless that we die.
32
Letsheal: Are you here to enjoy life?
what is the meaning of life?  To serve or worship God and/or prepare for the next (or after-) life Not  surprisingly,  this  theme  was  endorsed  by  spiritual  leaders  such  as  Martin  Luther  King,  Jr.,  Mother Teresa,  and  the  Dalai  Lama. Perhaps more surprisingly, the boxer, Muhammed Ali also  subscribed to this statement of purpose. Desmond Tutu said that  in life we should “give God glory by reflecting His beauty and His  love. That is why we are here and that is the purpose of our lives”.     To contribute to something that is greater than ourselves This theme was endorsed by Benjamin Franklin and the U.S. educational reformer Horace Mann. Mann said that “you should be  ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity”.
 To become self-actualized To develop or evolve as a person or as a species. To pursue truth(s),  wisdom, or a higher level of being. This theme was endorsed by  Frederick  Nietzsche  and  Plato.  For  psychologist  Erich  Fromm,  “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what  he potentially is”.   And the winner is …
Letsheal: Or are you here to help others, to worship God,  to contribute to something greater, to become self actualized, or is your life meaningless?
33
1.5 The top six interpretations
Here’s what more than 24,000 people said the meaning of life is:   1.  To enjoy life (81%) 2.  To help others (74%) 3.  To contribute to something that is greater than ourselves (73%) 4.  To become self-actualized (71%) 5.  To worship God (32%) 6.  Life is meaningless (12%)   While  there  were  some  differences  between  individual  countries, these top six were surprisingly consistent across the board.  Number five, “to worship God”, ranked low in Japan (10%), but  relatively high in Brazil and India (74 and 69%). And “to become  self-actualized” was the highest ranked in Russia.  See tables 8 and 9 on the next page for a glimpse of how these  interpretations vary per country.  What I find important to note, however, is that each category  is not created equal, some are more open to interpretation than  others. Also, between categories, there is a great deal of overlap10. Number one, “to enjoy life,” is no surprise. Who among us  does  not  want  an  enjoyable  life?  Enjoyment  is  something  we  inherently  seek  out.  But,  “enjoying  life”  is  incredibly  open  to  interpretation, taking on a unique definition for any one individual. Number two, “to help others,” is more clearly defined. There  are certainly millions of ways to help others, but all involve some  common characteristics. It strikes me as odd that so many people 
34 Letsheal: The top six interpretations are close to universal
the top six interpretations
(74%!) would characterize this as a motivating factor in their lives,  when at the same time, I can think of so few companies or brands  that  consider it a factor in their business. All too often, brands  focus on delivering individual enjoyment alone. There is a similar  void of concepts concerning “helping others” in marketing literature, which in many ways is where this book hopes to contribute. I  prefer  to  focus  on  this  “helping  others”  interpretation  because it not only ranks high among the top six, but is also more  clear cut than the other altruistic interpretations. Additionally, the  results showed a more intrinsic motivation over number three, “to  contribute to something that is greater than ourselves”, making  interpretation  number  two  “helping  others”  more  straight  forward.  Interpretations  five  and  six  are  certainly  worth  exploring  in advertising, but I found the results to be too small to focus on  here.  To better understand the amount of overlap between the six  interpretations, we conducted a correlation analysis10. We found a  correlation between numbers one and two (0.26), indicating that  a number of people who seek enjoyment find it in helping others.  There was also a strong correlation between “helping others” and  number  three,  “to  contribute  to  something  that  is  greater  than  ourselves,” (0.46). Similarly, “to worship God” showed a correlation with “helping others” (0.33).  To understand the relationships between interpretations even  further, we ran a factor analysis to categorize and characterize the  interpretations. We broke down the interpretations into the following factors: A pure altruistic factor (five, three and two), a selfactualization factor (two, three and five), a hedonistic or ego factor (one) and the life-is-meaningless-factor (six). All these factors 
Letsheal: 74% of people interpret “helping others” as  their meaning of life 35
the top six interpretations
are narrowly defined and offer food for thought. As you can see  in table 7, “helping others” for instance has connections to both  altruism and the ego, but more so to altruism. In the next part of  this chapter, we will try to find the causes behind these seemingly  opposite motivators.  
Table 7: Factor analysis “Altruistic” Factor 1. To enjoy life 2. To help others 3. To contribute to something that is greater than ourselves 4. To worship God 5. To become self-actualized 6. Life is meaningless 0.65 0.53 “Self-actualization” factor 0.31 0.58 “Hedonistic” factor 0.97 “Meaningless” factor
0.88 0.92 0.99
36
Letsheal: “Helping others” has connections to ego and  altruistic drivers
Table 8: Meaning is to help others (country)* GB 2.016 1% 5% 23% 49% 22% 23% 71% 6% 7% 9% 4% 6% 9% 7% 5% 5% 4% 68% 67% 76% 78% 73% 55% 74% 86% 86% 25% 24% 20% 16% 18% 38% 21% 9% 10% 14% 84% 2% 17% 18% 28% 28% 21% 7% 23% 36% 39% 26% 52% 48% 48% 50% 52% 48% 51% 50% 47% 58% 46% 44% 8% 90% 2% 25% 24% 20% 16% 18% 38% 21% 9% 10% 14% 8% 8% 60% 26% 8% 87% 5% 5% 7% 3% 5% 6% 5% 3% 4% 3% 2% 2% 4% 2% 2% 1% 1% 3% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
1%
2%
1%
2%
Disagree
5%
8%
3%
12%
Neutral
19%
26%
16%
27%
Agree
50%
49%
48%
42%
Agree completely
24%
14%
31%
17%
Top box other
19%
26%
16%
27%
Top 2 box
74%
63%
80%
59%
Bottom 2 box
6%
10%
4%
14%
Table 9: Meaning is to help others (background)* Age up to 34 9.406 1% 5% 20% 50% 23% 20% 73% 7% 6% 5% 75% 78% 18% 17% 20% 73% 7% 25% 27% 23% 51% 51% 50% 49% 26% 18% 76% 6% 18% 17% 20% 18% 5% 4% 5% 5% 6% 26% 45% 21% 26% 66% 9% 1% 1% 2% 1% 2% 10.129 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 2% 5% 20% 49% 23% 20% 73% 7% 35-54 >54 no yes low middle Has Child(ren) Education high 10.034 1% 5% 20% 50% 24% 20% 74% 6% unknown 3.067 1% 4% 12% 52% 32% 12% 84% 5% rural 2.719 1% 5% 21% 52% 21% 21% 73% 6% Urbananisation level residential 2.623 1% 5% 18% 50% 25% 18% 76% 6% suburban 3.322 1% 5% 21% 51% 21% 21% 72% 6% city 4.241 1% 4% 17% 50% 27% 17% 78% 5% unknown 11.322 2% 5% 20% 49% 25% 20% 73% 7%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
Disagree completely
1%
2%
1%
2%
Disagree
5%
5%
5%
6%
Neutral
19%
22%
17%
30%
Agree
50%
49%
51%
39%
Agree completely
24%
23%
27%
23%
Top box other
19%
22%
17%
30%
Top 2 box
74%
71%
78%
62%
Bottom 2 box
6%
7%
6%
9%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
1.6 Why do we want to help others?
The desire to help others may feel like second nature to you. For  many, there doesn’t have to be why behind helping someone in  need.  Empathy,  compassion  or  love  are  often  instinctive  emotions, just like hunger, joy, or pride. To me, that just about says it  all, but, understanding where these feelings come from is important if we seek to encourage them. As  I  investigated  these  topics,  I  added  a  new  word  to  my  vocabulary,  one  typically  in  use  among  psychologists  and  sociologists  to  describe  “helping  others”:  prosocial.  In  the  book  The Social Psychology of Prosocial Behavior11 authors  Dovidio,  Piliavin, Schroeder, and Penner, four leading researchers in the  field,  explain  that  the  word  can  be  used  for  a  broad  range  of  beneficial  actions.  Prosocial  behavior  includes:  helping, where  the wellbeing of one or more people is improved by the actions  of another; altruism, a specific type of help where the benefactor  provides aid without the anticipation of rewards from external  sources; and cooperation, where people come together to work  toward  a  common  goal  that  will  benefit  all  concerned.  In  the  same book, this well-articulated definition of prosocial behavior  is given:
38
Letsheal: ‘Prosocial’ comprises helping others, altruism  and cooperation
why do we want to help others?
Prosocial behavior is the label for a broad category of actions  that are defined by society as generally beneficial to other people and to the ongoing political system.  First,  prosocial  behavior  is  necessarily  an  interpersonal  act.  There must be a benefactor and one (or more) recipient(s) of  the benefits for a prosocial act to occur.  Second,  the  phrase  defined  by  society  implies  that  a  given  behavior  is  not  inherently  or  universally  prosocial  (or  antisocial for that matter). Rather, this is a social judgment that  could change dramatically as the result of changes in the circumstances  or  historical  and  political  context  in  which  the  behavior takes place.  For instance, taking something from a store without paying  for it would normally be considered an antisocial action, but  many people would view taking desperately needed medical  supplies from the wreckage of a neighborhood drugstore following some devastating natural disaster as a prosocial action  and the person who did this might be viewed as a hero.  So,  now  that  it’s  clear  what  prosocial  behavior  is,  the  question  remains: where does it come from? Is it nurture, nature, or both?
Letsheal: From now on I’m prosocial instead of someone  who helps
39
why do we want to help others?
It’s in our nature, the evolutionary perspective In  his  book  Good Natured, The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, biologist Frans de Waal3 writes that  friendliness  is  not  an  evolutionary  error.  He  proves  that  prosocial behavior is “as much a matter of evolution as any other trait,  in humans and animals alike”. The evolutionary conditions that  bring  about  altruism  and  group  interdependence  are  the  same  that motivate the finding of food, shelter and protection.  Animals  with  close  social  cohesion  have  the  ability  to  share  and help the weaker animals in the group. These animals, in turn,  identify with each other and are more sensitive to the emotions  of one another. The most impressive way of helping is sacrifice,  something surprisingly common in wildlife. With an example he  illustrates that this is not about self-interest: Take a mongoose standing on a termite mound to warn others  if  a  bird  of  prey  is  coming.  This  draws  attention  to  itself  and the mongoose risks his own life. It is inconceivable to the  biologist that the mongoose can somehow see what the benefits  for himself can be. The mongoose does something that entails  huge risks and he gives a favor to the other mongooses. 
  In other words, Darwin’s selfish gene has discovered that the  most successful approach is to behave unselfishly. This shines another light on the traditional evolutionary concept of “survival of  the fittest.” Modern research shows that altruism may be essential  to  the  survival  of  all  animals  (including  humans).  So,  perhaps,  Frans  de  Waal  is  right:  It’s  not  about  survival  of  the  fittest  but  survival of the kindest. 
40
Letsheal: It’s not survival of the fittest but survival  of the kindest
why do we want to help others?
Figure 2. First reconstruction of Neanderthal Man. Photo courtesy of the Neanderthal Fund via Wikipedia.   From  very  recent  research  published  in  October  2010  by  Dr.  P.  Spikins, H.E. Rutherford, and A.P. Needham from the University  of York, we now know that Neanderthals likely belied their primitive reputation and had a deep-seated sense of compassion. The  team was kind enough to share their findings. The text below is  their brief summary of the research12.
Letsheal: Even Neanderthals had a deep-seated sense  of compassion
41
why do we want to help others?
They examined archaeological evidence for the way emotions  began to emerge in our ancestors six million years ago and then  developed from earliest times to more recent humans such as  Neanderthals and modern people like ourselves. They used new  research developments, such as neuro-imaging, that have enabled archaeologists to attempt a scientific explanation of what  were once intangible feelings of ancient humans. It begins six  million years ago when the common ancestor of humans and  chimpanzees experienced the first awakenings of an empathy  for others and motivation to ‘help’ them, perhaps with a gesture of comfort or moving a branch to allow them to pass. The  second  stage  from  1.8  million  years  ago  sees  compassion  in Homo erectus beginning to be regulated as an emotion integrated with rational thought. Care of sick individuals represented an extensive compassionate investment while the emergence of special treatment of the dead suggested grief at the loss  of a loved one and a desire to soothe others feelings. In Europe between around 500,000 and 40,000 years ago, early  humans such as Homo Heidelbergensis and Neanderthals developed deep-seated commitments to the welfare of others illustrated by a long adolescence and a dependence on hunting  together.  There  is  also  archaeological  evidence  of  the  routine  care of the injured or infirm over extended periods. These include the remains of a child with a congenital brain abnormality  who  was  not  abandoned  but  lived  until  five  or  six  years  old and those of a Neanderthal with a withered arm, deformed  feet and blindness in one eye who must have been cared for,  perhaps for as long as twenty years. In modern humans starting 120,000 years ago, compassion was extended to strangers,  animals, objects and abstract concepts.
42
Letsheal: Prosocial - it’s in our nature
why do we want to help others?
It’s nature: the philosophy of man in relation to others Humans are social beings, dependent on each other for warmth,  food, shelter, safety, appreciation and self-esteem. With the exception of the turbulent years around puberty, most individuals have  a strong desire to be part of a social system.  We are naturally affectionate and dependent on others, from  the start of our lives until the end. And, even though we no longer  live in close social entities of around 150 people as was common  150,000 years ago, our brains may still be wired for social groups  of that scale. Most of us live in areas with hundreds of thousands  of people, but only regularly maintain close contact with 150 individuals at the maximum13.  While our social bonds have become increasingly more flexible,  they  have  not  disappeared.  Successes  like  Facebook  and  LinkedIn are striking examples. Today’s society is not a collection  of  disparate  individuals;  we  have  developed  different  structures  and patterns of cross-links and bonds between people. Our sense  of ‘we’ may have changed in the last few decades, but our need for  social contact hasn’t.14 The French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) suggests that our “sense of self ”, often thought of as an internal and  individual  sense,  is  dependent  on  others.  He  states;  “I  become  myself in the face of the other.” Levinas reflects that there can be  no  “I”  without  others,  and  even  more  specifically,  without  the  physical presence of other people.15  Levinas’s  concepts  are  well-illustrated  in  the  2000  film  ‘Cast  Away’.  Tom  Hanks  plays  a  character  who  washes  ashore  on  a  desert  island  and  is  forced  to  survive  in  solitude.  Seeking  companionship, he draws a face on a volleyball and begins to regularly 
Letsheal: I become myself in the face of the other 43
why do we want to help others?
converse with his new ‘friend’. As time passes on the island, the  character demands more and more from his volleyball-companion, but since the face remains impassive, eventually, the man becomes enraged16.  The push toward being prosocial is found in philosophy, physiology, and also in our arts and culture.   It’s nurture: folktales and parables as promoters of prosocial behavior In all cultures, prosocial behavior is promoted via stories. These stories stress the value of helping one another and warn of the trouble  that can result from being selfish and greedy. Today, the oral tradition may be garnering less influence, but the prosocial message has  found its way to other media, such as popular music and movies.  I asked musical expert Peter Marinus to do a scan on prosocial  messages  among  songs  in  the  recent  Top-100.  In  western  countries,  we  see  a  share  of  10-15%  of  songs  containing  prosocial themes on the list. Think, “We Are the World”, “Imagine”,  “Another Day in Paradise”, “Ebony and Ivory”, or more recently  “Wake-up!” by John Legend & The Roots or the “Hands in Hands  and Tomorrow Will be Better” lyrics from the Chinese version of  Popstars and known by almost all Chinese people.    It’s nurture: religion as promoter of prosocial-behavior Common  among  the  moral  values  promoted  by  all  major  religions  is  a  concern  for  others.  The  term  “Good  Samaritan”  has  become  short-hand  for  an  individual  who  demonstrates  prosocial behavior. This 2000-year old parable is still illustrative today.  From Luke 10:25-37 (New International Version):
44 Letsheal: Prosocial music ranks high in hitlists
why do we want to help others?
The Parable of the Good Samaritan   On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.  “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read  it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart  and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all  your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied “Do this and you  will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus,  “And who is my neighbour?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to  Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him  of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when  he  saw  the  man,  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side.    So  too,  a  Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on  the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the  man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went  to  him  and  bandaged  his  wounds,  pouring  on  oil  and  wine.  Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an  inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii  and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and  when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you  may have.’ “Which  of  these  three  do  you  think  was  a  neighbour  to  the  man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The  expert  in  the  law  replied,  “The  one  who  had  mercy  on  him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
 
Letsheal: Religions stimulate prosocial behavior
45
why do we want to help others?
In February 2010 I visited the United Nations for the first time  to discuss the outcome of the pilot studies for this book. Sitting  in the UN Headquarters, I was engaged in a discussion with my  contact Matthias, over the interpretation of “Do unto others as  you would have others do unto you.” Also known as “the Golden  Rule,”  this  simple  maxim  is  the  lesson  to  be  learned  from  the  Samaritan  story.  At  some  point  Matthias  started  smiling  and  said “Why don’t you take a look at the wall behind you?” Then  I found out that we were discussing “the Golden Rule” in front of “the Golden Rule,” a Norman Rockwell mosaic! As it turned  out, the ideals epitomized by “the Golden Rule” and embodied  by Rockwell’s artwork were exactly why my contact-person had  joined the UN in the first place.
Figure 3. Norman Rockwell; Golden Rule. Copyright © 2001 United Nations: un.org/cyberschoolbus/untour/subnor.htm
46
Letsheal: The Golden Rule: Brilliant
why do we want to help others?
While  the  “Good  Samaritan”  is  found  in  the  New  Testament,  all  mainstream  religions  have  similar  stories  and  dictums  that  promote  prosocial  behavior.  Dovidio  et  al’s  Social Psychology of Prosocial Behavior gives the following examples:   In  the  religion  of  Islam,  the  Qur’anic  word  Zakah  refers  to  charity and voluntary contributions as expressions of kindness  and  as  a  means  to  comfort  those  less  fortunate;  moreover,  it  reflects a balance of responsibilities between the individual and  society. The teachings of Lao-Tze, which serve as the basis for  Taoism, also advise that one should deal positively with others.  The  Jewish  version  of  the  prescription  for  prosocial  behavior  may be found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus: “You  should love your neighbour as yourself ). In the Buddhist tradition: Consider others as yourself and in Hinduism; Do naught  to others which if done to thee would cause the pain: this is the  sum of duty. 
 
Earlier in this chapter, I examined the strong correlation (0.33)10  between  helping  others  and  serving  or  worshipping  God.  For  years, religions have provided a great deal of motivation for individuals to engage in prosocial behavior. But, especially in western  parts  of  the  world,  religion’s  influence  is  declining,  making  it  a  declining force for the stimulation of prosocial behavior.  While in many countries with a Muslim majority, religion is  a consistent presence in culture, society and politics, in the 20th  century, the influence of Christianity began to take a lessened role  in public life in increasingly secular cultures in Western Europe.  To a lesser extent this also applies to North America and later in 
Letsheal: Will the declining influence of religions in  Western parts have impact on prosocial behavior? 47
why do we want to help others?
Eastern  Europe  under the communist governments of the 20th  century.  In  countries  like  Japan  and  China,  throughout  history,  religion  has  often  taken  a  smaller  role  in  public  life  than  in  Europe. What effect will less religion around the world have on  prosocial behavior?   It’s nurture: the role of the immediate surroundings Social behaviors can and must be learned. Interactions with parents  are  the  first  type  of  social  exchange  infants  experience,  so  the role of parents is extremely important in developing prosocial  skills. Later, teachers play a key role. But ultimately, at all ages,  friends are crucial in the development of prosocial behavior.  Sometimes, peer pressure is used to stimulate prosocial behavior.  Blood  donors,  for  example,  almost  never  donate  independently, but instead, are influenced and encouraged by group members17. It’s nature: physiological, the feeling of helping and being helped The act of assisting another person can have a strong physiological effect. When we are genuinely motivated to unselfishly help  someone, a flood of oxytocin, a soothing ‘feel- good’ hormone,  is  released  in  the  brain12.  This  means  compassion  and  empathy,  the emotional motivators to be altruistic, go deeper than morals  or social-norms. As humans, we have evolved a biological “caring  response” that actually feels good. Oxytocin is also the hormone  that is released before and after an orgasm.  Since this concept is all about encouraging brands to become  more prosocial and even facilitate prosocial behavior, this insight 
48 Letsheal: Family, friends and school extremely important in  developing prosocial skills
why do we want to help others?
could breathe new life into the old saying “sex sells”. What a great  feeling to attach to a brand! However,  although  the  giver  might  feel  great,  receiving  help  can potentially be damaging to the self-esteem of receivers. In section 1.15 we will further discuss the impact on those who receive  help.  
Letsheal: Helping feels orgasmic, receivers however might  fake their feelings
49
1.7 Empathy sparks prosocial behavior
On  October  13th  2010,  more  than  a  billion  people  around  the  world were transfixed by the dramatic rescue of 33 Chilean miners  who had spent 69 days trapped underground.  It seems clear that prosocial behavior has a number of genetic  and cultural roots, but what triggers us to actually act on these impulses? Prosocial action stems from empathy, the capacity to feel  emotional responses to another person’s misfortune or distress. It  is this same sense of empathy that led so many to watch and revel  in the successes of the Chilean rescue operation. We adapted the University of Chicago’s Davis Empathy Scale  (18) model to rate the human capacity to feel empathic emotions  along a simple range from zero (least empathic) to 15 (most empathic).
Figure 4. Empathy index. Letsheal.org 2010-2011
50
Letsheal: empathy is the driving force behind prosocial  behavior
empathy sparks prosocial behavior
With the exception of Japan and the Netherlands, this graph indicates a relatively small variance between countries. If you look  at the questions on which the Empathy Scale is based, I think the  majority of us could be described as empathic.   • I am often quite touched by things that I see happen (73%  agree) • I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me (69% agree) • When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of  protective towards them (75% agree) • I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person (68%  agree)   In general, women tended to show higher rates of empathy (between 6% and 12% higher than men on the items above). Another  disparity can be found between the results of young people and  adults. The findings show empathy comes with years. (If you want  a more in depth look at the figures, please download the research  report available at letsheal.org) But  why  would  the  results  be  lower  in  Japan  and  the  Netherlands? With regards to Japan, David Matsumoto, Professor  of Psychology and Director of the Culture and Emotion Research  Laboratory  at  San  Francisco  State  University  provides  some  insight19:  “[The  lower  rate  of  empathy]  probably  reflects  the  reliance in Japances culture on immediate personal relationships with  ‘ingroup’ members, and the distancing of empathy and emotion  with persons or events outside one’s primary group. Because things  that occur in the ‘world’ would not necessarily have immediate, 
Letsheal: Good news: the large majority has empathic  feelings 51
empathy sparks prosocial behavior
personal impact on one’s relationships with ingroup others, such  events would be much less likely to produce sadness. Americans  and Europeans, who make far fewer distinctions between ingroup  and  outgroup  others,  would  be  more  likely  to  feel  emotion  at  disturbing world news, however little it affected one in a personal  way.”  But, what about the Netherlands? Although its deviation from  other countries is smaller than that of Japan, as a Dutchman, I  found the results very surprising. Traditionally, The Netherlands  ranks among the highest in the world in volunteer-work and charitable donations. One would assume such activities would require  above-average  empathy.  After  the  initial  results  came  in,  we  repeated the research with another sample, but it yielded the same  results. We couldn’t find a clear explanation in the data.  My best guess is that these results reflect a radical change in  Dutch politics that coincided with the timing of the research. In  the fall of 2010, a subgroup of Dutch society, not typically represented by the political system, dominated mainstream media with  their “new” ideas. This group heavily promoted antisocial themes,  advocating  for  “ingroup”  support  at  the  expense  of  “outgroup”  members (immigrants and minorities). Their message received a  disproportionally large share of media attention during the election season which may have coloured the way Dutch citizens regarded empathy in the research. I’m curious to see future results  and whether or not national politics can play into feelings of empathy.
52
Letsheal: Japan and the Netherlands score slightly below  par on empathy
1.8 Actual prosocial behavior
  To better understand how people engage in prosocial behavior, we  constructed a scale based on the “Self-Report Altruism Scale,” a measure of the “altruistic” personality designed in 1981 by J.P . Rushton,  R.D. Chrisjohn, and G.C. Fekken20. Based on the scale, we asked respondents to indicate the frequency with which they have performed  prosocial behaviors (from “never” to “very often”) in the three previous months. The scale consists of the following items: • I have given someone directions (77% once or more) • I have given money to someone who needed it (or asked for  it) (68% once or more) • I have done volunteer work for charity (41% once or more) • I have allowed someone ahead of me in a line (in a supermarket, during registration, et cetera.) (81% once or more) • I  have  let  someone  borrow  an  item  of  some  value  to  me  (clothes, jewellery, stereo, et cetera.) (56% once or more) • I have offered my seat in a crowded room or on a train or bus  to someone who was standing (65% once or more)
Figure 5. Prosocial behavior index. Letsheal.org 2010-2011
Letsheal: Good news, the vast majority shows prosocial behavior Letsheal: People using social media are more social in real life 53
actual prosocial behavior
In  these  results,  three  countries  stand  out:  Mexico,  India  and  Brazil. The explanation can be found in cultural differences. These  cultures  are  textbook  collective  cultures  compared  to  the  more  individualistic cultures21. I would therefore prefer to take a look at the variations within countries rather than between them. Women, in general, and  people  with  children  have  been  found  to  show  more  prosocial  behavior. Young people, between 16 and 17, tend to be a little less  prosocial.  In taking a closer look at the data, I took a keen interest in the  results from the two groups: those savvy with social media and a  group I call Social Transformers.  Our research showed that people who are most connected and  on the cutting edge of social media tended to be more prosocial in  real life. They, on the whole, do more volunteer work, were more  likely to offer their seats in crowded spaces, lend possessions to  others, give directions, et cetera. The group I labeled “Social Transformers” make up almost one  quarter of the population. This group is extremely driven to help  others to make this world a better place which is reflected in their  above  average  empathetic  abilities  and  prosocial  behavior.  They  consist of 58% of women and are somewhat older than average  (>35 years). We will explore these two group in more detail Section 2.2. 
54
Letsheal: 25% of the population can be described as Social  Transformers with an above average drive to make this  world a better place
1.9 Prosocial for something in return?
  During public discussions of the ideas in this book, I often heard  the suggestion that individuals are only willing to help others because they want something in return. My response: what’s the big  deal? Does it really matter what the motivation is? If people want  a more meaningful life and being prosocial can help them achieve  it, does it matter if, ultimately, it’s ego-driven? It is especially interesting from a marketing standpoint to get  a grip on the ego-aspect of altruism. One could argue that true  altruism does not exist. Earlier, we discussed the feel-good hormones that are released upon helping others, which implies that  even for the most sincere altruists, there are still internal rewards.  Also, another person’s distress doesn’t take place in a bubble.  Witnessing someone in distress can easily create a domino effect  of distress among others. Reducing your own stress in the face of  someone else’s is as good a reason as any to help. To label something as “altruistic” doesn’t need to imply that it is entirely dominated by unselfish intentions. So what kind of factors determine different people’s empathic  or non-empathic responses? Here’s what we were told: 
Letsheal: 100% altruism doesn’t exist. So what!
55
Table 10: It is important to know them personally (country)*
 
Total 1.704 36% 40% 24% 27% 21% 20% 21% 24% 24% 21% 23% 17% 22% 18% 36% 59% 38% 44% 24% 54% 39% 47% 70% 38% 42% 38% 20% 42% 35% 53% 22% 40% 29% 13% 40% 40% 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982
NL
US
ES
GB
FR
BE
CA
IT
DE
JP
AU
BR
MX
CH
IN
RU
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
2.016
Yes
33%
40%
18%
42%
19%
No
44%
30%
61%
36%
53%
A little
23%
29%
21%
22%
28%
Table 11: It is important that I get something in return (country)* FR 1.704 9% 77% 14% 17% 10% 13% 25% 25% 14% 6% 6% 12% 75% 83% 78% 61% 65% 78% 90% 91% 81% 80% 7% 8% 7% 10% 15% 10% 8% 4% 3% 8% 12% 4% 81% 15% 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
GB
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
2.016
Yes
8%
9%
6%
7%
8%
No
78%
70%
86%
82%
79%
A little
14%
21%
8%
11%
13%
Table 12: I expect them to return the favor when I need it (country)* FR 1.704 24% 49% 27% 29% 23% 24% 28% 28% 24% 52% 63% 57% 32% 49% 62% 70% 16% 19% 14% 19% 40% 23% 14% 14% 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 9% 76% 14% BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH 1.071 30% 43% 27% IN 1.109 16% 68% 16% RU 982 34% 35% 32%
Total
NL
US
ES
GB
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
2.016
Yes
20%
18%
13%
18%
14%
No
56%
54%
67%
60%
63%
A little
24%
29%
20%
22%
23%
Table 13: I want others to know that I do so (country)* FR 1.704 18% 62% 20% 20% 21% 18% 59% 61% 65% 21% 18% 17% 16% 64% 20% 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 BE CA IT DE JP 2.358 20% 56% 24% AU 1.927 16% 61% 23% BR 1.092 14% 72% 14% MX 1.179 7% 79% 14% CH 1.071 28% 44% 27% IN 1.109 22% 62% 16% RU 982 17% 58% 24%
Total
NL
US
ES
GB
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
2.016
Yes
17%
21%
14%
14%
16%
No
62%
56%
65%
70%
63%
A little
20%
24%
21%
17%
20%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
Table 14: It is important to know them personally (background)* Age up to 34 10.129 31% 47% 22% 19% 23% 23% 21% 24% 22% 22% 23% 22% 25% 48% 45% 44% 42% 42% 49% 41% 44% 44% 45% 33% 33% 33% 37% 35% 29% 37% 33% 33% 30% 33% 46% 21% 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 10.034 3.067 2.719 2.623 3.322 4.241 35-54 >54 no yes low middle high unknown rural residential suburban city unknown 11.322 34% 43% 23% Has Child(ren) Education Urbananisation level
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
9.406
Yes
33%
35%
30%
39%
35%
No
44%
42%
47%
32%
41%
A little
23%
22%
23%
29%
24%
Table 15: It is important that I get something in return (background)* Age up to 34 10.129 6% 82% 12% 10% 14% 13% 13% 14% 14% 12% 86% 79% 78% 76% 78% 79% 80% 4% 7% 9% 10% 8% 7% 9% 5% 81% 14% 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 10.034 3.067 2.719 35-54 >54 no yes low middle high unknown rural Has Child(ren) Education residential 2.623 5% 81% 14% Urbananisation level suburban 3.322 7% 79% 14% city 4.241 6% 82% 12% unknown 11.322 10% 76% 14%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
9.406
Yes
8%
11%
5%
18%
10%
No
78%
75%
83%
57%
74%
A little
14%
15%
12%
25%
16%
Table 16: I expect them to return the favor when I need it (background)* Age up to 34 10.129 17% 60% 23% 21% 24% 23% 66% 57% 55% 13% 18% 22% 22% 53% 24% 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 20% 56% 24% 35-54 >54 no yes low middle Has Child(ren) Education high 10.034 18% 59% 24% unknown 3.067 24% 52% 24% rural 2.719 17% 56% 27% residential 2.623 17% 60% 23% Urbananisation level suburban 3.322 17% 59% 23% city 4.241 18% 59% 23% unknown 11.322 22% 53% 24%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
9.406
Yes
20%
23%
16%
36%
24%
No
56%
53%
60%
34%
49%
A little
24%
24%
24%
29%
26%
Table 17: I want others to know that I do so (background)* Age up to 34 10.129 14% 67% 18% 9% 76% 14% 3.927 35-54 >54 Has Child(ren) no 13.911 15% 65% 20% yes 10.316 20% 59% 21% low 2.057 21% 59% 21% Education middle 9.069 17% 63% 19% high 10.034 16% 63% 21% unknown 3.067 19% 61% 20% rural 2.719 12% 71% 18% residential 2.623 15% 66% 19% Urbananisation level suburban 3.322 14% 66% 20% city 4.241 16% 66% 19% unknown 11.322 21% 57% 22%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
9.406
Yes
17%
21%
14%
38%
22%
No
62%
58%
67%
31%
54%
A little
20%
21%
19%
31%
24%
prosocial for something in return?
A factor that determines an individual’s willingness to give assistance is whether or not the person in need is known personally.  In  the  study,  we  found  big  differences  between  countries.  Respondents  from  China  (70%),  the  United  States  (61%)  and  Canada  (59%)  put  less  weight  on  the  importance  of  personally  knowing those they decide to assist (please see table 10).  The type of help given to those with whom a previous relationship does not exist will often be more calculated. This means, for  instance, that the contribution tends to be smaller than the situation actually requires. It’s only logical to think that if your neighbour’s house is washed away, you will probably do more than if  there is a flood on the other side of the world. Your neighbour is  also more likely to be in a position to return the favor down the  road,  which  will  likely  influence  your  decision.  Proximity  matters. When it comes down to marketing, then, it would be wise to  focus on introducing the people in need and try to establish (the  feeling of ) proximity, or a relation between people in need and  the potential helper.  The  great  majority  don’t  expect  anything  in  return  directly  (78% no, 14% a little, see table 11). However a larger percentage expects the favour to be returned when needed (yes 20%, a  little 24%, see table 12). It is also desirable for some to receive  credit for their good deeds. 17% said that they want others to  know that they’ve helped and 20% want a little acknowledgement. China ranks first when comes down to “I want others to  know that I helped, at 28% agreeing and 27% agreeing a little  (see table 13). In our study, women tended to show significantly higher levels  of  altruism;  but  even  beyond  gender,  the  biggest  determiner  in 
58 Letsheal: 80% are not looking for something in return
prosocial for something in return?
these levels was age. The older people get, the more altruistic they  become (see tables 14-17). Not surprisingly, people who indicated  that their interpretation of a meaningful life is to help others score  significantly higher on altruistic values.
Letsheal: The older people get, the more altruistic. Younger  people like others to know that they’ve helped
59
1.10 Helping becomes more important
When asked if the desire to help others has “become stronger or  more pronounced during the last 3 years,” 37% of the people indicate that it has. For a number of reasons, we have seen increases in  the wish to live a meaningful life and to help others in particular.  A  reason  for  this  shift  may  be  the  gradual  deterioration  of  neoliberalism as faith. Key to neoliberal doctrine is the concept  that free markets are better equipped to realize societal goals than  organizations controlled or led by government. This free market  ideology has also led to the propagation of profit maximization as  an ideal. For many, capitalism and neoliberalism have encouraged  people to seek money as a primary goal in life. The financial crisis  of the last few years has led many to revaluate this thinking. The  realization  that  this  “greatest”  source  of  happiness,  money,  can  suddenly disappear can be deeply troubling. The financial crisis  seemed to have been a wake-up call to many to realize that there is  much more to life than just money14. This appears to be reflected  in the increased search for meaning via helping others. This sharp increase over the last three years echoes the heightening of the financial crisis and its effects on the mainstream (see  table 18 on the next page). For people older than 54 years, there has been a more gradual  increase in these feelings. The same goes for people without children, people with less education and those residing in rural areas  (see table 19).
60
Letsheal: Strong increases in the desire to help others: A big  opportunity for humanity
1.11 What do we care about?
  If we translate this question into monetary giving, we can take a  look at the good causes people donate to. Table  20  on  the  next  page  offers  a  good  first  impression  on  what we think is important. Health is the number one, followed  by nature/environment (China 74%!) and children’s rights 36%.  Children’s rights appear to be extremely important in India and  China, scoring 60 and 57% respectively.  There is a huge variation in the amount given towards education between countries, ranging from 12% in Italy and Germany,  up to 74% in India. These differences must be seen in the light of  the local system. The school system in Germany is accessible to  every German, something you cannot say of India. It is logical,  then, that the sense of urgency would be greater in India.  Those who indicate that helping others gives them the most  meaning in life score significantly higher on all types of charitable giving. Women tend to give more. Having children leads to  higher gifts toward education, sports and children’s rights (42%  against 30%). People in urban areas tend to give more than those  in rural areas. With age comes greater generosity in the fields of  health, international solidarity, and nature/environment.  Younger people tend to give more to animal rights and sports/ recreation. 
Letsheal: Top 3 topics: health, environment and children’s  rights
61
Table 18: Has this feeling become stronger or more pronounced during the last 3 years (country)* ES 1.598 5% 65% 30% 30% 30% 30% 32% 36% 30% 23% 33% 50% 52% 52% 64% 44% 68% 64% 65% 66% 60% 66% 74% 65% 46% 45% 46% 34% 52% 2% 5% 5% 2% 5% 4% 3% 2% 3% 4% 3% 2% 4% 2.016 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 GB FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
much less stronger
3%
4%
2%
the same
60%
72%
63%
much stronger
37%
24%
35%
Table 19: Has this feeling become stronger or more pronounced during the last 3 years (background)* Age 16-17 764 5% 54% 40% 40% 36% 31% 33% 41% 31% 33% 36% 49% 56% 61% 67% 64% 55% 64% 63% 61% 47% 4% 3% 2% 3% 4% 5% 4% 3% 3% 4% 68% 28% 9.406 10.129 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 10.034 3.067 2.719 up to 34 35-54 >54 no yes low middle high unknown rural residential 2.623 3% 61% 36% Has Child(ren) Education Urbananisation level suburban 3.322 3% 65% 32% city 4.241 3% 57% 40% unknown 11.322 4% 58% 38%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
much less stronger
3%
4%
3%
the same
60%
61%
59%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
Age 16-17 764 13% 30% 19% 30% 29% 31% 32% 17% 32% 10% 22% 19% 7% 8% 19% 20% 15% 17% 12% 13% 11% 10% 17% 36% 29% 22% 30% 27% 25% 28% 25% 14% 14% 9% 20% 37% 37% 32% 30% 37% 36% 36% 35% 37% 42% 27% 37% 14% 20% 8% 17% 23% 24% 26% 24% 24% 38% 39% 40% 37% 39% 17% 17% 19% 16% 18% 11% 32% 18% 24% 29% 27% 18% 9% 17% 9% 27% 9.406 10.129 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 15% 35% 22% 31% 34% 28% 24% 11% 17% 8% 22% up to 34 35-54 >54 no yes low middle Has Child(ren) Education high 10.034 18% 42% 29% 42% 38% 28% 36% 18% 17% 8% 15% unknown 3.067 25% 37% 17% 39% 39% 26% 41% 15% 17% 9% 16% rural 2.719 11% 35% 27% 35% 31% 26% 21% 10% 12% 6% 21% Urbananisation level residential 2.623 17% 39% 27% 41% 38% 27% 29% 15% 15% 8% 19% suburban 3.322 13% 37% 26% 35% 34% 25% 26% 12% 14% 8% 21% city 4.241 19% 44% 33% 45% 41% 28% 38% 19% 17% 7% 15% unknown 11.322 19% 37% 18% 32% 35% 29% 31% 14% 19% 10% 19%
much stronger
37%
35%
38%
Table 20: What subjects do you support? Either by giving money or by doing volunteer work (background)*
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
Religion
17%
17%
17%
Health
38%
36%
41%
International solidarity
24%
23%
24%
Nature/environment
36%
35%
36%
Children’s Rights
36%
32%
40%
Animal Rights
28%
24%
32%
Education
30%
30%
30%
Arts and Culture
14%
15%
13%
Sports and recreation
17%
21%
12%
Other
8%
8%
8%
None
19%
20%
18%
what do we care about?
Besides the topics found directly in the research, there are other  themes  we,  as  a  global  community,  care  about.  These  priorities were given voice in the inspiring and challenging Millennium  Development Goals.  In  September  2000,  world  leaders  came  together  at  the  UN  Headquarters  in  New  York  to  adopt  the  United  Nations  Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets – with a deadline of 2015 – that have  become known as the Millennium Development Goals (mdgs).  The  mgds  are  the  most  broadly  supported,  comprehensive  and  specific  development  goals  the  world  has  ever  agreed  upon.  Secretary-General of United Nations, Ban Ki-moon wrote in The  Millennium Development Goals Report 201022: The goals represent human needs and basic rights that every  individual around the world should be able to enjoy – freedom  from  extreme  poverty  and  hunger;  quality  education,  productive and decent employment, good health and shelter;  the right of women to give birth without risking their lives;  and a world where environmental sustainability is a priority,  and women and men live in equality. Leaders also pledged to  forge  a  wide-ranging  global  partnership  for  development  to  achieve these universal objectives. This report shows how much progress has been made. Perhaps  most important, it shows that the Goals are achievable when  nationally  owned  development  strategies,  policies  and  programmes  are  supported  by  international  development  partners. At the same time, it is clear that improvements in the 
Letsheal: Millennium Development Goals are a source of  inspiration for brands
63
what do we care about?
lives of the poor have been unacceptably slow, and some hardwon  gains  are  being  eroded  by  the  climate,  food  and  economic crises.  The  world  possesses  the  resources  and  knowledge  to  ensure  that even the poorest countries, and others held back by disease, geographic isolation or civil strife, can be empowered to  achieve  the  mdgs.  Meeting  the  goals  is  everyone’s  business.  Falling short would multiply the dangers of our world – from  instability  to  epidemic  diseases  to  environmental  degradation. But achieving the goals will put us on a fast track to a  world that is more stable, more just, and more secure. Billions  of people are looking to the international community to realize the great vision embodied in the Millennium Declaration.  Let us keep that promise. Sha  Zukang,  Under-Secretary-General  for  Economic  and  Social  Affairs  writes,  “The  Millennium  Development  Goals  are  still attainable. The critical question today is how to transform the  pace of change from what we have seen over the last decade into  dramatically faster progress.”  There are eight different goals and you are more than invited  to help achieve them. In chapter two, I will present a model with  which you can see whether it makes sense to go for one of the millennium goals (http://www.un.org/ millenniumgoals).  The summary below gives a quick overview of the world’s biggest challenges, as identified by the un. These goals should serve  as an inspiration for how brands and companies might contribute  to  tackling  the  world’s  biggest  problems.  Needless  to  say,  there  would be no objections for aiming beyond these goals. It could all seem daunting, but let’s not feel overwhelmed. I 
64 Letsheal: Meeting the goals is everyone’s business. Falling  short would multiply the dangers of our world
what do we care about?
see these broad issues as opportunities for us to begin the work of  facilitating people to help others.   goal 1 eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose  income  is  less  than  US$1  a  day.  This  translates  into  around  920  million people living under the international poverty line by 2015.  Achieve, full and productive employment and decent work for  all, including women and young people. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who  suffer  from  hunger.  In  2005-2007,  the  last  period  assessed,  830  million  people  were  still  undernourished,  an  increase  from  817  million in 1990-1992.   goal 2 achieve universal primary education Ensure  that,  by  2015,  children  everywhere,  boys  and  girls  alike,  will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. goal 3 promote gender eQuality and empower women Eliminate  gender  disparity  in  primary  and  secondary  education,  preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. goal 4 reduce child mortality Reduce  by  two  thirds,  between  1990  and  2015,  the  under-five  mortality rate. The mortality rate for children under age five in 
Letsheal: Let’s ensure that ‘only’ 920 million people have  to live on US$1.25. Let’s try to halve the proportion of 830  million people who suffer from hunger 65
what do we care about?
developing countries is 72 per 1,000 live births in 2008 leading to  8.8 million under-five deaths in total.  goal 5 improve maternal health Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal  mortality ratio. Achieving good maternal health requires quality  reproductive health services and a series of well-timed interventions to ensure a women’s safe passage to motherhood. Failure to  provide these results in hundreds of thousands of needless deaths  each year – a sad reminder of the low status accorded to women  in many societies. Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health. Only  one in three rural women in developing regions receive the recommended care during pregnancy.  Satisfying  women’s  unmet  need  for  family  planning,  that  is,  facilitating access to modern contraceptives by women who desire to delay or avoid pregnancy but who are currently not using  contraception—could  also  improve  maternal  health  and  reduce  the  number  of  maternal  deaths.  Recent  estimates  indicate  that  meeting that need could result in a 27 percent drop in maternal  deaths each year by reducing the annual number of unintended  pregnancies from 75 million to 22 million. goal 6 combat hiv/aids, malaria & other diseases Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.  The latest epidemiological data indicate that, globally, the spread  of  HIV  appears  to  have  peaked  in  1996,  when  3.5  million  peo66 Letsheal: Let’s reduce child mortality and facilitate access to  modern contraceptives
what do we care about?
ple were newly infected. By 2008, that number had dropped to  an estimated 2.7 million. AIDS-related mortality peaked in 2004,  with 2.2 million deaths. By 2008, that toll had dropped to 2 million,  although  HIV  remains  the  world’s  leading  infectious  killer.  The epidemic appears to have stabilized in most regions, although  prevalence continues to rise in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and  other parts of Asia due to a high rate of new HIV infections. SubSaharan Africa remains the most heavily affected region, accounting for 72 per cent of all new HIV infections in 2008. An estimated  33.4 million people were living with HIV in 2008, of whom 22.4  million are in sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding how to prevent  transmission of HIV is the first step to avoiding infection. This is  especially  important  for  young  people  (aged  15  to  24),  who,  in  2008,  accounted  for  40  per  cent  of  new  HIV  infections  among  adults worldwide.  An  estimated  17.5  million  children  (under  age  18)  lost  one  or  both  parents  to  AIDS  in  2008.  Children  orphaned  by  AIDS  are  at  greater risk of poor health, education and protection than children  who have lost parents for other reasons. They are also more likely to  be malnourished, sick, or subject to child labor, abuse and neglect,  or sexual exploitation – all of which increase their vulnerability to  HIV infection. Such children frequently suffer from stigma and discrimination and may be denied access to basic services such as education and shelter as well as opportunities for play. Achieve,  by  2010,  universal  access  to  treatment  for  HIV/AIDS  for all those who need it. This target has not been achieved because of the rate of new HIV infections continues. For every two  individuals who start treatment each year, five people are newly  infected with HIV.
Letsheal: In 2008 alone 17.5 million kids lost one or both  parents to aids. Let’s give these kids a future. 67
what do we care about?
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases. Half the world’s population is at  risk of malaria, and an estimated 243 million cases led to nearly  863,000 deaths in 2008. Of these, 767,000 (89 per cent) occurred  in Africa. Sustained malaria control is central to achieving many  of the mdgs. Total funding for malaria still falls far short of the  estimated  US  $6  billion  needed  in  2010  alone  for  global  implementation of malaria-control interventions. Tuberculosis  remains  the  second  leading  killer  after  HIV.  Although more and more tuberculosis patients are being cured,  millions  will  remain  ill  because  they  lack  access  to  high-quality  care. Tuberculosis remains second only to HIV in the number of  people it kills. In 2008, 1.8 million people died from the disease,  half of whom were living with HIV. Many of these deaths resulted  from the lack of antiretroviral therapy. goal 7 ensure environmental sustainability Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country  policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources. The rate of deforestation is still alarmingly high. A decisive response to climate change is urgently needed. Reduce  biodiversity  loss,  achieving,  by  2010,  a  significant  reduction  in  the  rate  of  loss.  The  world  has  missed  the  2010  target for biodiversity conservation, with potentially grave consequences. Key habitats for threatened species are not being adequately protected. The number of species facing extinction is  growing by the day, especially in developing countries the negative  impact  of  fisheries  is  increasing.  Only  about  20%  of  fish 
68 Letsheal: Let’s combat hiv/aids, malaria and other diseases
what do we care about?
stocks  were  moderately  exploited  or  underexploited,  with  the  possibility of producing more. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Rural  drinking water coverage has risen to 76% in 2008. Globally, eight  out of 10 people who are still without access to an improved (safe)  drinking water source live in rural areas. At the current rate of progress, the world will miss the target  of halving the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation. In 2008, an estimated 2.6 billion people around the world  lacked access to an improved sanitation facility. If the trend continues, that number will grow to 2.7 billion by 2015. The practice of open defecation by 1.1 billion people is an affront  to  human  dignity.  Moreover,  indiscriminate  defecation  is  the root cause of fecal-oral transmission of disease, which can have  lethal consequences for the most vulnerable members of society –  young children. If open defecation rates continue to decline, the  impact on reducing child deaths could be enormous, primarily by  preventing diarrheal diseases and the stunting and undernutrition  that tend to follow. By  2020,  to  have  achieved  a  significant  improvement  in  the  lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.   goal 8 develop A global partnership for development In  2009,  net  disbursements  of  official  development  assistance  (ODA) amounted to US$119.6 billion, or 0.31% of the combined  national income of developed countries. Address  the  special  needs  of  the  least  developed  countries, 
Letsheal: Can the environment still be saved? Um... 69
what do we care about?
landlocked countries and small island developing states. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system. Deal comprehensively with  developing countries’ debt. In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications. Though these goals are clearly admirable, I would like to share  my own observation here that ‘peace’ and peace movements are  far too often off the radar. Maybe this is because we have accepted  armed conflicts as a sad fact of life, but their impact cannot be  understated.  In  2010  alone,  there  was  a  total  of  363  conflicts  observed.  Among these, there were six wars and 22 severe crises, amounting  to 28 highly-violent altercations, i.e. conflicts fought out with the  use of massive violence23.  Peace can be a very interesting and extremely positive new territory for brands, yet somehow it has gone unexploited.  I, for one, would love to see brands make a real and concerted  push toward creating a more peaceful world. And, I don’t think  I’m alone. 
70
Letsheal: 2.6 billion people lack access to proper sanitation Letsheal: Peace!
1.12 Want to do more for others?
The  study  makes  it  clear  that  people  around  the  globe  have  a  strong desire to live a meaningful life and that helping others is  one of the best ways to achieve this. But, does this translate into  an eagerness to do more than simply giving money? 59% of the respondents said they’d like to do more for others  beyond  donating  to  charitable  causes.  For  people  who  felt  that  meaning is helping others, this impulse was even stronger: 68%.  There  are  strong  differences  between  countries.  In  India,  China, Brazil and Mexico the percentage goes well beyond 80%.  In the Netherlands and Germany, where there are already high  rates of volunteerism, 30 to 35% of the population indicated a  willingness to do even more than donating. See tables 21-23 on  the next pages.
Letsheal: 60% of us want to do more than we do now
71
1.13 What keeps us from doing more?
  First  let’s  take  a  look  at  the  practical  reasons.  Not  surprisingly,  the two biggest obstacles preventing people from doing more are:  money and time. Similarly, people tend to commit less to donating or volunteering due to their hectic lives. See table 24.  What also may serve as a limiting factor is the perception that  people are less concerned about each other nowadays (74%), a belief that can become something of a feedback loop. People believe  that society is growing less supportive and as a result become less  willing to engage in helping others, leading society to, in fact, be  less supportive. See table 25. The  optimist  in  me  believes  that  if  such  a  large  percentage  think that society is in danger because of egoism, it might not be  so bad. It’s likely only the way it’s perceived, not reality.  In earlier research I conducted in the Netherlands, I discovered  a  perfect  opportunity  to  encourage  prosocial  behavior  by  piggybacking  on  people’s  misconceptions  about  each  other.  I  found that people were under the impression that others were  not  interested  in  them,  so  they  therefore  remained  somewhat  isolated.  At the same time, our research showed that a vast majority  would  have  loved  to  have  had  more  contact  with  others.  All  people needed was a challenge to their preconceived notions in  order to make new and positive connections within their communities. 
72
Letsheal: A majority of people care for society, but believe  that others don’t. Let’s cut this feedback loop
Table 21: Would you like to do more for others? Or for society in general? Other than giving money (for example giving blood, volunteering). (country)*
 
Total 1.704 47% 17% 36% 32% 27% 27% 40% 32% 34% 13% 15% 11% 9% 33% 21% 14% 7% 26% 15% 17% 3% 3% 3% 4% 7% 47% 59% 66% 35% 53% 49% 84% 82% 86% 87% 60% 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982
NL
US
ES
GB
FR
BE
CA
IT
DE
JP
AU
BR
MX
CH
IN
RU
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
2.016
Yes
59%
30%
61%
61%
44%
No
15%
43%
15%
10%
25%
Don't know
27%
27%
25%
29%
31%
Table 22: Would you like to do more for others? Or for society in general? Other than giving money (for example giving blood, volunteering). (background)* Age 35-54 10.129 58% 15% 27% 29% 28% 26% 34% 30% 23% 23% 20% 17% 12% 21% 17% 14% 8% 52% 56% 62% 45% 53% 63% 69% 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 10.034 3.067 2.719 52% 16% 32% >54 no yes low middle high unknown rural Has Child(ren) Education Urbananisation level residential 2.623 61% 15% 24% suburban 3.322 58% 15% 27% city 4.241 70% 9% 21% unknown 11.322 55% 16% 28%
Total
Gender
Man
Woman
16-17
up to 34
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
9.406
Yes
59%
56%
61%
49%
65%
No
15%
17%
13%
15%
12%
Don't know
27%
27%
26%
35%
23%
Table 23: Would you like to do more for others? Or for society in general? Other than giving money (for example giving blood, volunteering). (subgroups)* Current mood enjoyment 2.829 61% 15% 23% 27% 29% 15% 17% 58% 53% 73% 7% 19% 21.398 18.211 6.016 other no yes no 20.944 55% 16% 29% Social transformer SocialMediaSavvy yes 3.283 80% 7% 13% Prosocial behaviour scale low 9.073 44% 22% 35% middle 7.076 62% 13% 25% high 8.078 71% 9% 19% low 8.595 40% 25% 34% Empathy scale middle 8.555 61% 12% 27% high 7.077 76% 6% 18%
Total
Meaning is to help others (& life is not meaningless)
no
yes
N
24.227
10.727
13.500
Yes
59%
46%
68%
No
15%
21%
10%
Don't know
27%
32%
22%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
Table 24: Why are you unable to do more for others? (subgroups)* Current mood enjoyment 2.829 37% 14% 45% 20% 5% 7% 5% 21% 6% 7% 6% 10% 7% 5% 8% 16% 17% 16% 17% 16% 16% 5% 5% 4% 5% 6% 6% 5% 17% 7% 8% 9% 5% 7% 10% 7% 8% 8% 5% 18% 6% 5% 6% 1% 5% 6% 7% 4% 4% 18% 18% 20% 17% 25% 16% 19% 20% 50% 48% 53% 48% 54% 47% 49% 51% 42% 15% 9% 9% 6% 19% 7% 18% 18% 16% 17% 20% 20% 18% 15% 19% 18% 51% 19% 4% 8% 5% 17% 6% 37% 37% 36% 36% 42% 37% 37% 37% 36% 38% 21.398 18.211 6.016 20.944 3.283 9.073 7.076 8.078 8.595 8.555 other no yes no yes low middle high low middle high 7.077 37% 16% 55% 21% 2% 7% 4% 16% 8% Social transformer SocialMediaSavvy Prosocial behaviour scale Empathy scale
Total yes 13.500 38% 16% 51% 19% 2% 7% 4% 17% 7%
Meaning is to help others (& life is not meaningless)
no
N
24.227
10.727
No time
37%
36%
No energy
18%
19%
No money
49%
47%
Do not know how
18%
17%
Doesn’t make any difference
5%
8%
I am not asked
8%
9%
I simply forget
5%
6%
I’m doing enough for others
17%
17%
Other
7%
7%
Table 25: Society is in danger because people are less concerned about each other nowadays (country)* ES 1.598 2% 8% 17% 47% 26% 17% 73% 10% 6% 9% 75% 71% 70% 10% 19% 21% 20% 26% 24% 22% 26% 19% 73% 9% 49% 47% 47% 47% 19% 21% 20% 19% 17% 47% 29% 17% 75% 7% 5% 7% 8% 7% 6% 1% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 8% 20% 46% 24% 20% 70% 10% 2.016 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 GB FR BE CA IT DE JP 2.358 1% 8% 29% 49% 12% 29% 61% 10% AU 1.927 2% 6% 19% 49% 25% 19% 74% 7% BR 1.092 2% 3% 6% 42% 47% 6% 89% 5% MX 1.179 1% 5% 10% 44% 40% 10% 84% 6% CH 1.071 1% 6% 18% 55% 19% 18% 75% 8% IN 1.109 2% 6% 13% 47% 33% 13% 80% 7% RU 982 1% 10% 10% 59% 20% 10% 79% 11%
Total
NL
US
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
Disagree completely
2%
2%
1%
Disagree
7%
11%
7%
Neutral
18%
24%
16%
Agree
48%
49%
43%
Agree completely
26%
14%
32%
Top box other
18%
24%
16%
Top 2 box
74%
63%
75%
Bottom 2 box
9%
13%
9%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
1.14 Ways to give more?
There are many ways to support others beyond donating money  to  charity.  Volunteering  one’s  time  or  donating  blood  are  wellknown examples, but the field is much wider.  With so many ways of offering support, the opportunities for  brands to take on a rewarding role are vast. Robert S. Weiss explored these further means of support in his  article, The Provisions of Social Relationships24: Emotional Support: This type of support often involves physical comfort such as hugs or pats on the back, as well as listening  and  empathizing.  With  emotional  support,  a  friend  or  spouse might give you a big hug and listen to your problems,  letting you know that they’ve felt the same way. • Esteem Support:  This  type  of  social  support  is  expressed  through expressions of confidence or encouragement. Someone  offering esteem support might point out the strengths you’ve  forgotten you have, or just let you know that they believe in  you.  • Informational Support: Those offering informational support  do so in the form of advice-giving, or in gathering and sharing  information. • Tangible Support: Tangible  support  includes  taking  on  responsibilities for someone else so they can deal with a problem or in other ways taking an active stance to help someone  manage a problem they’re experiencing. Someone who offers  you tangible support may bring you dinner when you’re sick,  help you brainstorm solutions (rather than telling you what 
• Letsheal: There are many ways to support others beyond  donating money to charity 75
ways to give more?
you  should  do,  as  with  informational  support),  or  in  other  ways help you actively deal with the issue at hand.   Weiss’s23 examination of the basic social needs that people try to  fulfill via relationships are also very inspirational to tap into:   • Attachment: A sense of emotional closeness and security, usually provided by a spouse or lover. • Social integration: A sense of belonging to a group of people  who share common interests and recreational activities, usually obtained from friends. • Reassurance of worth: Acknowledgment of one’s competence  and skill, usually obtained by coworkers. • Reliable alliance: The assurance that one can count on others  for assistance under any circumstances, usually obtained from  family members. • Guidance: Advice  and  information,  usually  obtained  from  teachers, mentors or parent figures.  • Opportunity for nurturance: A sense of responsibility for the  wellbeing of another, usually obtained from one’s children. 
76
Letsheal: There are a number of basic social needs that can  be tapped into to help others
1.15 What to give and how?
  At  first,  this  might  sound  like  a  silly  question.  You  may  think,  “I decide how and what to give, it’s as simple as that.” But there  is more to it. After analyzing thousands of answers on the open  questions  from  the  survey,  it  appears  that  we  all  seem  to  share  some universal rules that apply to giving, especially when we look  at how others give. When we apply this to brands in chapter two  we can give clear guidelines especially on what not to do.  With  some  liberties  taken,  today’s  ethics  of  giving  shows  a  great correlation with the Golden Ladder of Charity. The Golden  Ladder was developed by Moses Maimonides, a 12th century philosopher, doctor and academic who influenced both the western  and Arabic world. The ladder will help us to categorize different  types of helping and, in chapter two, will even help us to identify  different types of Prosocial Brands. It’s amazing to see that the work of Maimonides from over 800  years  ago  still  holds  true  today.  The  Golden  Ladder  of  Charity  not only specifies the types of help that one should give but also  shines a light on how help can effect the self-image and esteem of  the beneficiary. 
Letsheal: the 12th century “Golden Ladder” about the  moral aspects of giving are still valid and inspirational to  brands that want to heal the world
77
what to give and how?
In 1826 Hyman Hurwitz described Maimonides’ Golden Ladder25  as follows: There are eight degrees or steps, says Maimonides in the duty  of charity. The first and lowest degree is to give, but with reluctance or regret. This is the gift of the hand, but not of the heart.  The second is, to give cheerfully, but not proportionately to the  distress of the sufferer. The third is, to give cheerfully and proportionally, but not until  we are solicited.  The fourth is, to give cheerfully, proportionally, and even unsolicited; but to put it in the poor man’s hand: thereby exciting in  him the painful emotion of shame.  The fifth is, to give charity in such a way that the distressed may  receive  the  bounty,  and  know  their  benefactor,  without  their  being known to him. Such was the conduct of some of our ancestors, who used to tie up money in the hind-corners of their  cloaks, so that the poor might take it unperceived.  The sixth, which rises still higher, is to know the objects of our  bounty, but remain unknown to them. Such was the conduct  of those of our ancestors, who used to convey their charitable  gifts  into  poor  people’s  dwellings:  taking  care  that  their  own  persons and names should remain unknown.  The seventh is still more meritorious; namely, to bestow charity  in such a way, that the benefactor may not know the relieved  objects,  nor  they  know  the  name  of  their  benefactor.  As  was  done by our charitable forefathers during the existence of the  Temple. For there was in that holy building a place called the  Chamber of Silence or Inostentation; wherein the good deposited secretly whatever their generous hearts suggested; and from  which the most respectable poor families were maintained with  equal secrecy. 
78 Letsheal: There are 8 steps on the ladder of charity, but it’s  more important to take it one step at a time, than try to  jump to the highest step at once
what to give and how?
Lastly the eighth and the most meritorious of all, is to anticipate  charity,  by  preventing  poverty;  namely,  to  assist  the  reduced  brother, either by a considerable gift, or a loan of money, or by  teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the way of business,  so that he may earn an honest livelihood; and not be forced to  the dreadful alternative of holding up his hand for charity. This  is highest step and the summit of charity’s Golden Ladder.   So, how can brands use these insights to grow their business while  healing the world?  
Letsheal: If 12th century philosopher Maimonides was a  21th century marketeer, he would hope that one day his  Meaningful Prosocial Brand was no longer needed
79
Chapter 2
Companies, brands and meaning
Chapter 2: Companies, brands and meaning
To recap the findings in chapter one:   • People have a desire to find meaning in their lives. • Helping  others  has  been  proven  as  an  effective  source  of  meaning. • People are empathic and recognize the needs of others.  • People want to do more for others than simply giving money.   This presents a tremendous opportunity for businesses and has a  real potential to improve the world. Can you imagine what the positive effects would be if, say, the marketing budgets (an estimated  US $450 billion for 2010 alone4) would be applied more prosocially?  Global problems like poverty and hunger could be tackled, while,  on the local level, real social improvements could be made.
Figure 6. Global Adspend. Source Warc.com 2010
Letsheal: we spend US$450 billion on advertising a year.  Imagine what would happen if it went toward healing  the world
81
companies, brands and meaning
What I like most about brands leading this charge is that their  power goes beyond their financial capacities. Brands already operate as a hybrid of creative and marketing forces. If applied to  societal needs, their influence could be even greater, as fulfilling  unmet needs leads to growth in business.  This  year  I  spoke  with  several  ceos  of  both  big  and  smaller  companies, in total responsible for around us $1 billion of advertising spending. What struck me was their immediate enthusiasm  for increasing the prosocial footprint of brands.  At  the  moment  prosocial  activities  are  a  side  dish  for  most  companies. What my research shows is that prosocial causes can  be made the main course of your brand or even of your company.  Of course there will be some new rules of the game if you were  to follow my advice. But if applied carefully, your impact on the  world and your business’s growth could be significant.
82
Letsheal: Brands that lead this charge have power that goes  beyond their financial capacities 
2.1 Can and should brands help?
  More  than  three-quarters  (76%)  of  our  respondents  indicated  that brands should support good causes, and if certain preconditions are met, the number of supporters jumps to 93% (table 27).  Only 11% of the respondents indicate that brands are not allowed  to support good causes. Again, if certain preconditons are met,  this  percentage  drops  to  a  tiny  minority.  See  table  26.  We  will  examine these preconditons later in the chapter. The majority, 61% of respondents, stated that brands should be  able to use good causes in their marketing. Again, with preconditions there is a shift among the group that disagrees or is neutral  so this percentage could be as high as 90%. In general, women are more receptive to brands that embrace  good causes. There is also a correlation between higher levels of  education and the willingness of an individual to react positively to Prosocial Brands. Regional differences were also present in  these results; with 79% of people living in cities indicating that  brands  should  support  good  causes  compared  to  67%  in  rural  areas (again, these percentages will be higher when all preconditions are met).
Letsheal: People are enthusiastic about Prosocial Brands,  even more so if certain preconditions are met
83
Table 26: Companies and brands are not allowed to support good causes (country)* GB 2.016 25% 42% 25% 6% 2% 25% 8% 67% 67% 68% 74% 64% 70% 69% 72% 76% 64% 66% 60% 12% 10% 9% 16% 13% 6% 8% 11% 10% 20% 20% 21% 22% 17% 19% 17% 25% 20% 13% 26% 14% 21% 10% 6% 84% 4% 3% 3% 4% 5% 1% 2% 3% 4% 3% 5% 2% 8% 7% 6% 12% 8% 5% 6% 8% 7% 17% 14% 4% 21% 22% 17% 19% 17% 25% 20% 13% 26% 14% 21% 10% 39% 40% 41% 38% 33% 47% 45% 44% 46% 41% 43% 58% 28% 28% 32% 26% 38% 22% 27% 33% 18% 25% 17% 26% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
26%
20%
39%
16%
Disagree
42%
44%
40%
40%
Neutral
20%
26%
15%
32%
Agree
8%
7%
4%
9%
Agree completely
3%
4%
2%
4%
Top box other
20%
26%
15%
32%
Top 2 box
11%
11%
6%
13%
Bottom 2 box
69%
64%
79%
56%
Table 27: Companies and brands should support good causes (country)* GB 2.016 1% 2% 20% 53% 24% 20% 77% 3% 14% 10% 2% 4% 65% 64% 81% 77% 21% 26% 17% 20% 15% 80% 5% 27% 19% 29% 25% 28% 38% 45% 52% 52% 52% 50% 11% 34% 61% 5% 21% 26% 17% 20% 15% 34% 9% 8% 1% 3% 3% 4% 2% 19% 55% 24% 19% 79% 3% 5% 2% 1% 1% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 4% 43% 50% 4% 94% 2% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX 1.179 0% 1% 8% 48% 43% 8% 91% 1% CH 1.071 0% 1% 11% 60% 28% 11% 88% 1% IN 1.109 0% 2% 8% 51% 39% 8% 90% 2% RU 982 1% 1% 5% 62% 31% 5% 93% 2%
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
2%
4%
1%
1%
Disagree
4%
11%
2%
1%
Neutral
17%
34%
15%
18%
Agree
49%
42%
52%
49%
Agree completely
27%
10%
31%
31%
Top box other
17%
34%
15%
18%
Top 2 box
76%
51%
83%
80%
Bottom 2 box
6%
14%
2%
2%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
Table 28: Companies and brands are allowed to use good causes in their marketing (country)* GB 2.016 2% 5% 32% 50% 11% 32% 61% 7% 9% 20% 8% 11% 10% 15% 7% 9% 8% 5% 53% 45% 64% 57% 66% 40% 61% 75% 69% 73% 78% 5% 39% 35% 28% 32% 23% 45% 32% 17% 23% 22% 17% 13% 8% 13% 11% 15% 4% 11% 22% 18% 13% 21% 11% 15% 71% 14% 40% 37% 52% 45% 51% 35% 51% 53% 52% 60% 57% 60% 39% 35% 28% 32% 23% 45% 32% 17% 23% 22% 17% 15% 6% 15% 5% 9% 8% 12% 6% 7% 7% 5% 5% 13% 3% 5% 2% 2% 3% 3% 1% 2% 1% 0% 1% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
2%
9%
0%
1%
Disagree
8%
23%
4%
5%
Neutral
29%
32%
24%
36%
Agree
48%
32%
53%
45%
Agree completely
13%
5%
19%
12%
Top box other
29%
32%
24%
36%
Top 2 box
61%
36%
71%
58%
Bottom 2 box
11%
31%
4%
6%
Table 29: It would make sense to buy a brand that supports good causes instead of brands that don’t (country)* GB 2.016 2% 5% 28% 49% 16% 28% 65% 7% 10% 14% 5% 58% 46% 69% 68% 5% 32% 39% 26% 26% 13% 11% 19% 19% 17% 28% 63% 9% 45% 35% 50% 49% 47% 32% 39% 26% 26% 28% 43% 41% 5% 43% 47% 10% 7% 11% 4% 4% 6% 8% 4% 24% 54% 16% 24% 70% 5% 3% 3% 1% 1% 3% 2% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1% 3% 11% 49% 36% 11% 85% 4% FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX 1.179 1% 3% 16% 47% 33% 16% 80% 4% CH 1.071 1% 8% 37% 45% 9% 37% 54% 9% IN 1.109 0% 4% 17% 54% 24% 17% 78% 5% RU 982 1% 12% 14% 58% 16% 14% 73% 13%
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
2%
5%
1%
2%
Disagree
7%
16%
4%
5%
Neutral
27%
44%
24%
23%
Agree
47%
30%
50%
49%
Agree completely
17%
5%
20%
21%
Top box other
27%
44%
24%
23%
Top 2 box
64%
35%
71%
70%
Bottom 2 box
8%
21%
5%
7%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
2.2 Will it help my business?
In general we could say yes! Close to two-thirds (64% of those  surveyed) stated that it makes sense to buy Prosocial Brands over  brands that are not. In countries where there was less enthusiasm,  but from the open answers, it appears that this has less to do with  brands being prosocial but more with a fear of being misled. Later  in this chapter we will take a closer look at the subject of trust. For  people  who  chose  “helping  others”  as  their  main  meaning in life, we see an even greater support for Prosocial Brands:  around  72%.  Women  tended  to  be  more  responsive  than  men  (68% versus 61%) and the same goes for people living in urban  areas (68%) versus people in rural areas (61%). Earlier, we mentioned that individuals savvy with social media  tended to be more prosocial in real life. They do more volunteer  work, offer seats in crowded places, lend stuff to others, give directions et cetera. It is also the case that people active on social  networks are more likely to buy Prosocial Brands than people who  are not. Almost three out of four (72%) of the social media savvy  prefer to buy Prosocial Brands instead of the 61% of people less  engaged in social media.  Those savvy with social media also tend to prefer working for a  Prosocial company (81%) more than most (61%). The social media savvy also indicate that they are more willing to do more for  others  (80%  versus  55%).They  are  also  a  group  that  cannot  be  fooled  with  fake  ‘good’  intentions.  64%  think  they  can  “recognize companies and brands faking good intentions when it comes  down to supporting good causes, whilst they only try to sell more  products.” 
86 Letsheal: People active on social media prefer buying  Prosocial Brands. Interesting also from a communication  perspective
will it help my business?
It  may  feel  like  it  makes  sense  to  promote  Prosocial  Brands  via social media, but please keep in mind only 13% of the population can be labelled as social media savvy. It is clear, however,  that Prosocial Brands can benefit more from social networks than  ordinary brands. A second and larger group that I find interesting is one that  we labeled earlier as Social Transformers, making up 25% of the  population.  These  are  the  hardcore  altruists,  those  who  showed  themselves to be intrinsically motivated to help others no matter  who and where they are, asking nothing in return for themselves.  Their extreme drive to help others is also reflected in their above  average empathic abilities and prosocial behavior. The vast majority (78%) of this group states that it makes sense  to buy Prosocial Brands over ordinary brands. This groups consists  of 58% women and is mostly middle aged (>35 years). Their enthusiasm is above average when it comes to Prosocial Brands and  companies, but they also tend to be more cautious and, I suspect,  a bit more critical. For instance, 86% believe that when brands  use good causes in their marketing, it’s important that an independent  organization  monitors  the  brand’s  true  intentions  and  effectiveness  in  supporting  the  cause.  Since  Social Transformers  have highest standards, it would be wise to use them as a reference  group. 
Letsheal: Social Transformers, the most altruistic people  on earth, set high standards for brands that support good  causes
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2.3 Prosocial Brand categories
  A meaningful brand is prosocial by definition, but a Prosocial Brand  isn’t necessarily meaningful. A cow is an animal, but an animal isn’t  necessarily a cow. Brands (or the company behind the brand) can  be prosocial in many ways; almost all brands do something prosocially. After making the connection between living a meaningful life  and helping others, it makes sense to interpret Meaningful Prosocial  Brands as brands that facilitate consumers to help others, ideally  with more than simply money. Developing these brands can be a  huge challenge, but can also be very rewarding. Confusing? Probably, but from the open-answer questions of  the research study, I was able to categorize and label the different types of Prosocial Brands. Each category has its own merits,  do’s and dont’s, as well as a number of real-world examples. Here,  however,  I’ve  tried  to  keep  the  number  of  examples  to  a  minimum.  This  may  sound  a  bit  strange,  but  while  presenting  this  information  at  advertising  festivals  in  Cannes  and  Amsterdam,  I  found  that  people  can  potentially  get  hung  up  on  examples,  missing the larger point. I therefore decided to skip most of the  examples and, instead, focus on the building blocks that can go  into creating your own Prosocial Brand.  An excellent resource for assessing brands and judging the impact of their prosocial activities is an initiative called Brandkarma,  the world’s first brand-centric social media platform. Brandkarma  was founded and personally funded by Craig Davis (chief creative  officer at Publicis Mojo Australia). Its mission is straightforward, “to help everyone make better  brand choices and influence brand behavior for good.” 
88 Letsheal: Prosocial Brands: brands that do good.  Meaningful Prosocial Brands: brands that also facilitate  others to do good.
Prosocial Brand categories
It’s designed to bring together important information about how  brands  behave,  so  that  people  can  easily  evaluate  and  rate  them.  The  goal  is  to  make  brand  owners  more  accountable  to  all  their  stakeholders – Customers, Employees, Suppliers, Investors and the  Planet. Please go to Brandkarma.com and find out for yourself.
Figure 7. Brandkarma.com   Broadly,  I  see  two  main  categorizations  of  brands  that  embrace  good causes:  Prosocial Brands,  brands  that  do  good  without  active  target  group  participation  and  Meaningful Prosocial Brands where  the  target group is active and engaged with the prosocial activities. It’s no  secret that I’m especially interested in Meaningful Prosocial Brands 
Letsheal: Want to know the perceived level of your brand’s  meaning? Or get inspired by other brands? Take a look at  Brandkarma.com 89
Prosocial Brand categories
in particular, because rather than just helping others, they facilitate  their consumers to help others and in doing this, they can mobilize a  large force for good. These brands can, in turn, help their customers  fulfill an important need: our need to live a meaningful life. Below I have broken down the different Prosocial Brandtypes.  Before we continue, I would like to point out that this categorization is somewhat arbitrary, with a great deal of overlap and hybrid  forms possible. But, since respondents from the study were quite  clear  when  giving  their  opinion  on  brands,  I  based  this  breakdown on their input.    Prosocial Brands: • Responsible Prosocial Brands • Donating Prosocial Brands • Prosocial Service Brands   Meaningful Prosocial Brands (mpbs): • Aimed at fund raising • Beyond fund raising Let’s start with the Prosocial Brands.   Responsible Prosocial Brands These brands try to limit their footprint on all fronts, from the  production process to product usage. From the open answers I’m  under the impression that most of us expect brands and companies to act responsibly. Unfortunately with low industry standards  and profit as a singular goal, our expectations often go unmet. For  certain industries, a simple move toward greater responsibility is a 
90 Letsheal: Responsibility is the bare minimum for a brand to  be prosocial
Prosocial Brand categories
logical first step (think the auto industry and their investment in  hybrid technology). This category, however, is not the main focus  of this publication. Donating Prosocial Brands These brands donate money or offer voluntary activity to aid the  needy  or  for general social betterment. Most brands participate  in this type of prosocial activity, but, as we will discuss later, it’s a  best bet to avoid using this information for marketing or promotional purposes.    Prosocial Service Brands In this case, the brand offers a free service closely related to their  business for free to the community (not only to their clients).   And the second category:   Meaningful Prosocial Brands (mpbs) This type comes in two forms.   • Aimed at fund raising • Beyond fund raising   In this category of Prosocial Brands, marketing power is used to  solve social issues together with their target group. There are two  types  of  meaningful  Prosocial  Brands.  The  ones  that  use  their  marketing power to raise funds for good causes, and the brands  that go beyond fund raising, enabling their target group to participate with more than money.
Letsheal: Meaningful Prosocial Brands can use their  marketing power to raise funds for good causes or enable  their target group to participate with more than money 91
2.4 Donating Prosocial Brands
  Every year brands donate billions to charity, in money and products. It’s the traditional way of doing good.
Figure 8. Ad in Wallpaper Magazine December 2010   In most cases, these types of charitable contributions are not featured in a brand’s marketing and advertising, causing these efforts  to go largely unnoticed by consumers. For a number of reasons,  I  consider  that  a  good  thing  (please  see  the  ‘warnings’  later  in  this chapter). I regularly see causes supported due to the personal  interests  of  the  management/ownership  than  anything  else.  In  these situations, it usually makes more sense to start a ‘personal’  foundation. A good model of this is the Bill and Melinda Gates  Foundation (gatesfoundation.org).  Bill  and  Melinda  Gates’  reputation  as  effective  fundraisers  reached  such  legendary  proportions  that,  last  September,  there  were reports of billionaires avoiding dinners hosted by the Gates  for fear of being buttonholed for donations to charity!
92 Letsheal: Donating is good; featuring it in advertising is not
2.5 Prosocial Service Brands
  Here, a free service is offered to the community. Once a brand is  serving more people outside of their target market, the initiative  has gone beyond the ‘ordinary’ service marketing. A mobile phone  manufacturer, for instance, who offers a recharging service for any  brand for free at airports is a good example of service marketing. However this does not make it a prosocial company, because the  benefit will still be mainly for the sales target demographic. The  example  below  comes  from  an  initiative  led  by Toyota  to  place  traffic signs in rural Africa, where otherwise no signs would be.  This constituted a service to the whole community, not limited to  Toyota drivers.   
Figure 9. Road sign in Ghana. Photograph by Bas Vlugt
Letsheal: Prosocial Service Brands offer free services to  community
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prosocial service brands
The good thing about these prosocial examples is that you can  relate  to  the  feeling  of  doing  good  by  using  these  brands.  But  there is a type of category that offers a bigger level of participation. Since we saw in the prior chapter how critical our collective  need to live a meaningful life is, this category deserves particular  attention. 
94
Letsheal: Toyota placing traffic signs in Ghana: a good  example of a Prosocial Service Brand
2.6 Meaningful Prosocial Brands
  After studying a number of examples, I’ve split this category into  two types of Meaningful Prosocial Brands: brands that fund raise  by donating a percentage of the sales of a product or service and  brands that go beyond and offer a greater level of participation,  enabling people to do more than give money.  Typically in these cases, the cause will be used in marketing,  which  is  usually  a  positive  thing  as  it  raises  awareness  for  the  cause. Where the brands vary is at the level of commitment. There  are examples where cause-related targets are linked to the brands’  marketing for the long-term. For example, Pampers (diapers) has  committed itself to ridding the world of tetanus by the year 2013  and  has  made  the  issue  key  to  its  brand.  This  has  required  an  enormous effort on both the marketing front and in engagement  with the cause. 
Figure 10. Pampers and unicef Campaign   On  the  other  hand  there  are  numerous  short-term  or  one-off   campaigns, which may prove effective as sales promotions, but in  the end, neither build real brand equity nor benefit the cause in  the long-term. While of course there’s nothing wrong with making  money  from  a  successful  campaign,  a  brand  attempting  to  exploit a cause for financial gain could be putting their integrity  into question. This is best avoided.
Letsheal: Good illustration of a Meaningful Prosocial  Brand: Pampers cooperating with unicef to eradicate  tetanus by the year 2013 95
meaningful Prosocial Brands
mpbs beyond fund raising  These brands offer a level of participation that goes further than  donating money associated with purchasing. These brands, in the  most fundamental ways, try to solve a social issue together with  their target group. The marketing facilitates the group to do more  than  simply  transfer  money.  These  brands  fulfill  an  important  need within both the target group and the community as a whole.  The number of brands doing this is still fairly small, mainly due to  the amount of creativity needed to engage a target group in such  a way. With the right balance, however, there can be enormous  positive outcomes for both causes and brands. The magic really  happens  when  a  brand’s  marketing  is  able  to  leverage  an  individual’s contribution to meaningful action. If the brand’s effort is  core to its operations, it should also satisfy any questions over the  brand’s motivation. Pampers, for example, added a level of participation to their “1  Pack = 1 Vaccine” campaign. Through the Pampers Big Kiss campaign, anyone can be part of the global movement to help eliminate maternal and newborn tetanus, simply by sending a “virtual  goodnight  kiss”  with  the  click  of  a  mouse.  For  every  kiss  sent,  Pampers will make an additional donation to UNICEF. In Chapter  three I will show how to build Meaningful Prosocial Brands and  illustrate in more detail with another example.  Another very recent example is Google’s People Finder, an initiative from Google Crisis Response. The goal of People Finder is  to make critical information more accessible in the aftermath of  natural disasters and humanitarian crises such as hurricanes and  earthquakes. This service became an invaluable tool to the many  displaced in the wake of the Japanese Tsunami. Google also rou96 Letsheal: Meaningful Prosocial Brands that enable target  groups to do more can really take off
meaningful Prosocial Brands
tinely posts critical information on its main search page, as it did  with tsunami warnings as the disaster was taking place. Of course  these applications only work if people participate.  
Figure 11. Google Crisis Response: Person Finder  
Letsheal: Google Crisis Response makes Google a  Meaningful Prosocial Brand
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2.7 The Social Business Enterprise
  For most companies, attempts to make their brands more prosocial or even meaningful are regularly part of marketing operations.  One could, however, take it a step further and either transform  entirely or start a new company that has a core social purpose in  mind right from the outset.  The Nobel Prize-winning Bangladeshi economist Muhammad  Yunus  (founder  of  the  Grameen  Bank,  an  institution  that  provides  microcredit  to  the  poor)  named  this  category:  Social  Business Enterprise (SBE). The basic factor determining whether  a company can be considered a SBE depends on whether its social  goals remain primary to its business objectives, and if these goals  are clearly reflected in its decisions. I personally believe that these  types of businesses have a great future ahead of them. In many  ways, an SBE combines the best of both worlds; the social power  of ngos with a clear and focused business mindset. Dr.  Philip  Kotler,  Hermawan  Kartajaya  and  Iwan  Setiawan  share  a  few  excellent  examples  and  clear  assessments  of  sbes  in  their book, Marketing 3.026. Kotler et al. have created a framework  for measuring the success of an SBE in relation to strengthening  the economic foundation of their communities. Below are three examples that Kotler et al. shared in their book.  A standout example is Unilever’s Annapurna affordable iodized salt.  Before  the  product  was  widely  available,  30%  of  children  under  five in Africa had iodine deficiency disorder due to the consumption of cheaper non-iodized salt. In Bangladesh, telecoms company  Grameenphone used us $812 million of its profits to create around  250,000  new  income-generating  opportunities  which  primarily 
98 Letsheal: Social Business Enterprises have a core social  purpose
the social business enterprise
benefited women living in rural areas.” One of the interesting outcomes was that the success of their technological growth led to rural farmers having better access to information on prices, allowing  them be more competitive, thus further reducing poverty. Another  great example is the One Laptop per Child initiative (laptop.org).  They estimate up to two million elementary school children in 31  countries including Peru, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Ethiopia are  using laptops provided by the project.  While sbes are not new, they’ve garnered a great deal of attention lately, especially as a driving economic force in less developed  countries.  But,  this  type  of  business  can  also  succeed  in  western  countries.  Take,  for  example,  the  famous  Spanish  lottery,  ONCE.  Spain’s  National  Organisation  for  the  Blind  was  founded  in  the  1930s and focuses its activities on improving the quality of life for  people  with  blindness  or  severe  visual  impairment.  ONCE  and  its  Foundation employs over 125,000 workers, and in 2009, it reached  the milestone of helping 100,000 disabled individuals. ONCE and its  Foundation have invested almost €1 billion in social action, largely  in  the  fields  of  education,  employment,  rehabilitation,  accessible  technology, removing barriers and solidarity with other disabilities. I  can  imagine  business  leaders  thinking,  “Thanks  for  the  information, but my company has no presence in developing countries,  and  I  can’t  see  how  my  company  could  become  a  Social  Business Enterprise.” Of course, a company cannot instantly become an SBE overnight, but change starts when a company finds  ways to make its brands more prosocial. Aspects of the Social Business Enterprise can be added as modules to just about any business.
Letsheal: Social Business Enterprises are not only found in  developing countries but also in western countries. Take  once, the lottery, investing €1 billion in social action
99
the social business enterprise
Figure 12. Lady Selling once Tickets by Christophe Dune   The Social Business Enterprise Module When I received my first results from preliminary studies in 2009,  I wondered how companies would react. I went on a brief tour  and spoke with a number of ceos of small and large businesses.  For them, the concept of Prosocial Brands was a no-brainer. Let’s  face  it,  who  would not want to embrace the idea of more sales  and a better world? It did, however, become a bit more challenging for these ceos to actually imagine their companies as a Social  Business  Enterprise.  Many  could  not  look  past  the  number  of  radical changes that would need to take place in order to thoroughly transform their business entirely into an SBE. But, moving in a prosocial direction can be relatively easy, by  creating meaningful individual Prosocial Brands. After that, implementing elements of an SBE into the core company can be introduced in smaller, logical steps. On  tour,  I  visited  executives  at  a  large  European  bank.  The  bank has quietly become one of the most influential microfinancing organizations in the world. The bank had no intention to turn 
100 Letsheal: Converting an existing company into a Social  Business Enterprise is possible
the social business enterprise
its microfinance division into a profitable one, but, rather, they  see it as their responsibility to help people build businesses, especially in emerging economies. It was decided that their involvement in third world microfinance should not be included in their  advertising,  keeping  their  good  deeds  and  public  face  separate.  But, in doing so, they’ve also kept their customers out of the equation, missing an excellent opportunity for engagement. Factoring in our collective search for meaning unlocks a great  deal of potential. Looking back at the example, with the knowledge that an individual bank customer likely has the desire to help  others, why not link their checking/savings accounts with the microfinance investments? Why not give the customers the ability to  participate in and interact with the brand’s good work? Now,  consider  the  business  you’re  in:  How  could  you  make  your  products  and/or  service  more  prosocial?  There  is  clearly  a  need. How to transform an existing company into a SBE, step by  step, is an interesting field for new research. Anyone?
Letsheal: Converting an existing company into a Social  Business Enterprises unlocks new potential
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2.8 24,000 warnings
In  section  1.15  we  discussed  Maimonides’  wonderful  Ladder  of  Charity. He described a continuum of charity, which ranged from:   1. To give, but with reluctance of regret. This  is  the  gift  of  the  hand, but not of the heart. 2. To give cheerfully, but not proportionately to the distress of the sufferer.    and skipping ahead…   8. To anticipate charity by preventing poverty; namely, to assist a  reduced brother/sister so that he/she may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding  up his/her hand for charity.   It’s amazing to see here that his thoughts on giving from so long  ago can still offer insight on today’s morality. Equally amazing, as  the results from the study began to trickle in, it became clear that  individuals from 16 countries surveyed are still offering the same  advice to Prosocial Brands.  So, please, take their advice and heed their warning: don’t act  prosocially as a marketing trick. In the end, brands that act prosocially  out  of  opportunism or greed will only make action more  difficult for the honest players. Before we zoom in on the different types of Prosocial Brands  and specific warnings, let’s consider the common denominator for  success: take your prosocial role seriously and do it from the heart. 
102 Letsheal: The warnings given to Prosocial Brands by  24,000 people today are almost identical to those from  eight centuries back
24,000 warnings
If this still seems too vague, it means that the effects of a Prosocial  Brand should be: • Measurable • Big (cannot be achieved without considerable effort) • Transparent • Fundamental to business goals (the prosocial goals should not  only be in a marketing plan, but also part of the company’s  annual report)  Matthias  Stausberg,  un  Global  Compact,  Head  of  Public  Affairs  &  Media  Relations  and  Spokesperson  added  an  important  precondition for success: “It’s important to understand that any value  this brings to the brand can be easily undermined by questionable  business practices. Being prosocial not only means to be generous in  spending your money, but also to be responsible in how you make it.” Now  let’s  take  a  look  at  some  specific  warnings  for  “wannabe”  Prosocial Brands: Warning to: Responsible Prosocial Brands Building a Responsible Prosocial Brand is difficult. Responsibility  should be standard practice and fully transparent. Bragging about  responsibility in advertising evokes reactions like: “Yes of course you’re responsible otherwise you would be criminals!” Only in cases where industry standards are particularly low, could this be a viable option.  Even then, I would advise businesses to attach a major, long-term  goal to its “responsibility”; a dream not only for the business, but  also for the industry as a whole. Otherwise, it’s best to avoid using  such claims in marketing activities other than in disclaimers.
Letsheal: Warning to Responsible Prosocial Brands: Don’t  brag about responsibility. It should be standard practice 103
24,000 warnings
Warning to: Donating Prosocial Brands Building a brand that donates money, products or people to a good  cause without actively involving the brand’s target group will likely earn the reaction: “good for you.” If you’re trying to be prosocial  solely via charitable donations, it is best to avoid patting yourself  on the back with advertising your donation; but rather, to make  the  contribution  so  significant  that  the  overwhelmed  recipient  will publicize their gratitude. With luck, this could become a big  story with a greater impact than any marketing campaign. This,  too,  would  represent  the  higher  rung  on  Maimonides’  Ladder.  Would you dare to give something, even with the possibility of  getting nothing back in return?    Warning to: Prosocial Service Brands Brands that offer free services to the community must make an effort to ensure their services are as accessible as possible. Marketeers  and advertisers are specialists in making small things appear larger-than-life in the media. But, if the goal is honest prosocial action and building brand equity, the services must be available to  as many as possible.   Warning to: Meaningful Prosocial Brands One of the easiest ways to make a brand both prosocial and meaningful is by utilizing the simple mechanism of associating the purchase of a product with a prosocial end. This is something con-
104
Letsheal: Warning to Donating Prosocial Brands: Avoid  patting yourself on the back for it. Rather make the contribution so significant, that it’s news
24,000 warnings
sumers instantly recognize and it’s a very easy way of satisfying the  desire for meaning. In the end it’s a beautiful mechanism; it can be a quick way to collect money for a good cause, whilst the marketing activities also  help to promote it. But in all its simplicity, this method also runs  the risk of exploiting the cause for sales. Since it will almost always  lead to higher sales, it can be easily misused. I personally begin to  doubt the intentions of a brand if they’re supporting an unknown  cause or if the amount donated is fairly small. 
Figure 13. Fundraising with small amount and unclear goal.
Letsheal: Warning to Prosocial Service Brands: Make service  available to everyone, don’t just do it for show
105
2.9 Fake intentions
One might expect people to instantly be able to recognize a brand  that tries to exploit good causes for financial gain, but the research  showed this isn’t really the case. A clear indicator to me would be  if a brand touted its work towards the advance of a good cause  while, in reality, only donating a small sum of money. But even  this obvious sign of fake intentions tended to go unreported with  the frequency I expected.  Only  35%  (40%  of  the  men  and  30%  of  the  women)  of  respondents had faith in their own ability to instantly tell if a brand  or company is attempting to misuse a good cause simply to sell  products.  Regarding  age,  the  younger  they  are,  the  better  they  claim  to  be  able  to  know  when  brands  and  companies  misuse  good causes in marketing. At the same time, 56% of people believe they’ve seen companies faking good intentions. My conclusion  here  is  that  people  can’t  really  put  their  finger  on  how  to  judge a brand’s intentions, but somehow, they can sense it when  they aren’t sincere. Please see tables 30 and 31 on the next page.
106
Letsheal: Beware of fake intentions
Table 30: I know instantly when brands and companies misuse good causes to sell products (country)*
 
Total 2.016 4% 24% 46% 22% 5% 46% 27% 28% 20% 20% 29% 20% 26% 27% 29% 25% 12% 8% 34% 30% 26% 32% 27% 17% 25% 50% 57% 55% 52% 15% 46% 50% 45% 48% 47% 56% 45% 24% 31% 37% 33% 7% 6% 6% 6% 8% 3% 5% 11% 14% 7% 11% 9% 27% 53% 19% 27% 24% 20% 26% 19% 14% 20% 40% 43% 48% 41% 45% 46% 50% 45% 48% 47% 56% 45% 24% 31% 37% 33% 27% 17% 17% 24% 16% 22% 23% 26% 22% 10% 6% 14% 19% 3% 2% 4% 4% 5% 4% 4% 4% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982
NL
US
ES
GB
FR
BE
CA
IT
DE
JP
AU
BR
MX
CH
IN
RU
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
3%
3%
6%
3%
Disagree
19%
20%
29%
15%
Neutral
42%
50%
42%
44%
Agree
28%
21%
18%
29%
Agree completely
7%
5%
5%
10%
Top box other
42%
50%
42%
44%
Top 2 box
35%
26%
23%
39%
Bottom 2 box
22%
23%
35%
18%
Table 31: I see many companies and brands faking good intentions when comes down to supporting good causes, whilst they only try to sell more products (country)* GB 2.016 2% 9% 44% 35% 11% 44% 46% 10% 6% 7% 12% 60% 55% 49% 62% 8% 33% 38% 40% 31% 19% 14% 12% 17% 16% 35% 55% 10% 42% 42% 37% 45% 39% 33% 38% 40% 31% 35% 55% 26% 5% 55% 31% 14% 5% 6% 10% 6% 8% 13% 10% 41% 38% 11% 41% 48% 11% 2% 1% 2% 1% 2% 2% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1% 10% 16% 49% 24% 16% 73% 11% FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX 1.179 1% 8% 23% 46% 22% 23% 69% 9% CH 1.071 0% 5% 25% 54% 15% 25% 69% 5% IN 1.109 1% 6% 29% 48% 16% 29% 64% 7% RU 982 0% 19% 25% 44% 11% 25% 55% 19%
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
1%
1%
3%
2%
Disagree
9%
6%
13%
6%
Neutral
35%
40%
41%
32%
Agree
41%
41%
33%
43%
Agree completely
14%
11%
11%
18%
Top box other
35%
40%
41%
32%
Top 2 box
56%
52%
43%
61%
Bottom 2 box
10%
8%
15%
7%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
fake intentions
Rules of thumb for success A fundraising Meaningful Prosocial Brand can be built successfully when respecting the following rules of thumb to avoid being  accused of fake intentions:   • Set  and  share  an  ambitious  goal.  Not  only  the  amount  of  money to be raised but also how the money contributes to the  solution. (Think Pampers: We can get rid of tetanus by the  year 2013. Every pack of diapers you buy equals one vaccination). It would make sense for these goals to also be a part of  the business plan. • Make the contribution significant per package. At least 10%  of the price should be donated. • Link the brand in a fundamental way to good causes. • Your brand should establish a mutually beneficial relationship  with good causes. • Advertising  should  go  beyond  trying  to  sell  products.  Advertising should also give room to the cause. • All aspects of the promotions and donations should be transparent and measurable. And, please, don’t forget to share the  positive results!   Another good idea from the respondents We are living in an era where interpersonal trust is at an all time  low. Governments, ngos, and companies all receive low marks on  perceived trust. Trust must be taken seriously, as the concept of  ‘meaning’ in many ways requires an intrinsic trust in humanity.  This  being  the  case,  honesty,  integrity  and  transparency  require  more emphasis than what we see in normal marketing.
108 Letsheal: Make the brand’s contribution significant
fake intentions
I tend not to believe people who say, “just trust me,” and start  immediately looking for the catch. Or, as Jeffrey Gitomer in his  Little Teal Book of Trust27 put it, “The reason you have to say ‘Trust  me!’ is that you haven’t earned it and are forced to ask for it – bad  move.” This thinking was also reflected in the outcome of the research.  74% of the respondents (81% of respondents whose meaning in  life is helping others) stated that they’d like to see an independent  organization  established  to  monitor  companies’  intentions  and  effectiveness.  Only  35%  of  the  respondents  think  they  can  recognize  fake  intentions,  but  56%  think  they  are  being  misled  by companies faking good intentions. Trust is at stake here, especially for those companies who are actually sincere. That being  said, it might not be a bad idea to safeguard people’s trust with  the  help  of  an  independent  organization. To  achieve  trust,  it  is  critical that businesses be transparent with their objectives regarding  a  cause  they  support. To  help  maintain  this  transparency,  a  business  could  work  with  an  independent  advisory  board  consisting  of  high-profile,  trustworthy  people  or  involve  a  national  consumer group. For ambitious worldwide initiatives, I can even  imagine the United Nations Global Compact division playing a  rewarding role. (Table 32).
Letsheal: 74%: it’s important that an independent organization watches brands’ intentions and effectiveness
109
Table 32: When brands support good causes and use it in their marketing, it’s important for me that an independent organization watches their real intentions and effectiveness in supporting the cause.* GB 2.016 1% 2% 26% 48% 23% 26% 71% 3% 4% 4% 4% 4% 5% 8% 4% 4% 2% 1% 2% 72% 72% 69% 79% 76% 44% 70% 86% 85% 85% 84% 24% 24% 26% 18% 19% 48% 25% 11% 13% 13% 14% 11% 82% 7% 24% 25% 20% 34% 28% 6% 22% 33% 37% 25% 31% 27% 48% 47% 49% 45% 48% 38% 48% 53% 47% 60% 53% 55% 24% 24% 26% 18% 19% 48% 25% 11% 13% 13% 14% 11% 3% 3% 3% 3% 4% 7% 3% 3% 2% 1% 2% 6% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 1% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
1%
2%
1%
1%
Disagree
3%
4%
4%
2%
Neutral
22%
27%
26%
22%
Agree
49%
49%
51%
49%
Agree completely
25%
19%
18%
26%
Top box other
22%
27%
26%
22%
Top 2 box
74%
67%
69%
75%
Bottom 2 box
4%
6%
5%
3%
Total up to 34 9.406 1% 3% 24% 46% 26% 24% 72% 4% 4% 4% 4% 76% 77% 74% 20% 19% 22% 22% 74% 4% 25% 23% 25% 25% 51% 54% 49% 48% 45% 21% 28% 66% 6% 20% 19% 22% 22% 28% 3% 3% 3% 3% 5% 3% 24% 48% 24% 24% 72% 4% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% 1% 3% 21% 50% 25% 21% 75% 4% 10.129 3.927 13.911 10.316 2.057 9.069 10.034 35-54 >54 no yes low middle high
Gender
Age
Has Child(ren)
Education unknown 3.067 1% 3% 15% 53% 28% 15% 80% 4% rural 2.719 1% 3% 22% 49% 26% 22% 75% 4%
Urbananisation level residential 2.623 1% 3% 20% 50% 26% 20% 76% 4% suburban 3.322 1% 3% 23% 49% 24% 23% 73% 4% city 4.241 1% 2% 18% 51% 28% 18% 79% 3% unknown 11.322 1% 4% 24% 48% 23% 24% 71% 5%
Man
Woman
16-17
N
24.227
12.370
11.854
764
Disagree completely
1%
1%
1%
3%
Disagree
3%
4%
3%
6%
Neutral
22%
23%
21%
35%
Agree
49%
47%
51%
35%
Agree completely
25%
25%
25%
21%
Top box other
22%
23%
21%
35%
Top 2 box
74%
72%
76%
56%
Bottom 2 box
4%
5%
3%
9%
Total enjoyment 2.829 1% 3% 20% 50% 26% 20% 76% 4% 4% 5% 2% 4% 3% 5% 74% 69% 86% 73% 81% 67% 76% 4% 22% 26% 11% 23% 16% 28% 19% 25% 22% 32% 24% 31% 20% 25% 30% 18% 79% 3% 49% 47% 54% 49% 50% 47% 51% 49% 22% 26% 11% 23% 16% 28% 19% 18% 37% 43% 12% 37% 55% 7% 3% 4% 2% 3% 2% 4% 3% 3% 5% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 0% 2% 18% 60% 20% 18% 79% 3% 21.398 18.211 6.016 20.944 3.283 9.073 7.076 8.078 8.595 8.555 1% 2% 10% 43% 44% 10% 87% 3% other no yes no yes low middle high low middle high 7.077
Meaning is to help others (& life is not meaningless)
Current mood
Social transformer
SocialMediaSavvy
Prosocial behaviour scale
Empathy scale
no
yes
N
24.227
10.727
13.500
Disagree completely
1%
2%
1%
Disagree
3%
4%
3%
Neutral
22%
30%
16%
Agree
49%
43%
53%
Agree completely
25%
21%
28%
Top box other
22%
30%
16%
Top 2 box
74%
64%
81%
Bottom 2 box
4%
6%
3%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
2.10 Great side effects for stakeholders
  Besides  the  positive  effects  on  society  and  business,  a  Prosocial  Brand is one that people are more enthusiastic to work for and  with. In the summer of 2009, I was overwhelmed by a performance by John Zorn, the American composer, alto saxophonist and  conceptualist, at the North Sea Jazz Festival.  
Figure 14. John Zorn Cobra by William Veerbeek   I  have  never  seen  so  much  joy,  concentration,  companionship,  freedom  and  inspiration at the same moment. Take a look at a  video of John Zorn Cobra28 and note the way the orchestra interacts with each other; the way this particular combo is being led 
112 Letsheal: Prosocial Brands and companies not only affect  sales and society positively, but employees and other  stakeholders as well
great side effects for stakeholders
is  very  special.  After  the  concert,  I  asked  John  whether  he  had  any  thoughts  on  how  his  way  of  conducting  could  be  applied  to  the  management  of  businesses.  Many  workplaces  are  full  of  vibrant energy, with team-members playing off of each other, but  can people in business interact with the same dynamic as these  musicians? John Zorn was quite clear on this: Accomplishing such things in the world outside of artistic creativity is hard... even within it! Because we share a deep and abiding respect for the eternal spirit of creativity, as experienced in  art, we are part of, and believe in, a continuum much bigger  than ourselves… this binds us in a common quest... also, dedication to an instrument is a helpful and humbling discipline for  the individual... In business, it’s always seemed to me that money gets confused  as an end in itself (think Bernie Madoff), rather than a tool to  achieve a personal vision... one that ultimately (if not immediately) makes the world a better place... And, we are not talking entertainment here... no pandering to  the masses... but education and spiritual uplift ... transcendence. That may sound crazy considering the sound of the music we  make... but music is not about sound, it is about people... and  ultimately it is about love and respect...
 
Zorn believes the same energy present in music can be released  in business, that is, if a company is willing to set its goals beyond  making money. These higher goals not only offer marketing and  world-healing prospects, but could also have a positive effect on  employees and internal relations as well. Current staff-members  will enjoy renewed energy while, at the same time, it will become 
Letsheal: New energy levels can be reached by worldhealing goals 113
great side effects for stakeholders
easier to attract better, more highly motivated candidates. The research  shows  that  Meaningful  Prosocial  Brands  can  count  on  a  higher-than-average interest in recruitment. Almost 70% of the people surveyed would prefer to work for  a prosocial company (in the questionnaire such a company is described  as  “a  company  that  embraces  good  causes”).  People  with  higher income, and a stunning 81% of the social-media savvy, would  prefer to work for a company that embraces good causes. Those on  the cutting edge of social-media are a particularly appealing group  to have on-board, as they function as a PR-machine, without the  need to run a campaign. Please see table 33 on the next page. A big advantage of making meaning primary to your organization is the ability to turn “chronos” into “kairos.” Let me explain:  the ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos, referring to  simple  chronological  time,  and  kairos,  the  less  quantitative  time  in which something special happens. Kairos is the time where life  is  truly  experienced,  time  that  doesn’t  slip  through  your  fingers.  If your organization can offer kairos as working-hours, employees  won’t feel like working is only to make a living, but instead, to live a  significant life. And kairos-time is exactly what meaningful organizations offer, because each job is part of larger, meaningful goals. For the organization as a whole, an honest push to make the  world a better place will improve relations with other stakeholders in the chain. Created due to investor demand, the Dow Jones  Sustainability Index, is a measure of sustainability initiatives (including social). As of November 2010, Dow Jones Sustainability  World Enlarged Index has tracked the performance of 20% of the  most sustainable companies of the 2,500 largest companies in the  Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index. 
114 Letsheal:  70% of people would prefer to work for a  meaningful prosocial company
Table 33: I would prefer to work for a company that embraces good causes* GB 2.016 2% 3% 30% 47% 18% 30% 65% 5% Current mood enjoyment 2.829 1% 4% 23% 49% 22% 23% 71% 5% 6% 68% 62% 7% 27% 31% 21% 17% 30% 13% 84% 2% 47% 45% 54% 27% 31% 13% 28% 47% 19% 28% 66% 6% 4% 5% 2% 4% 2% 2% 0% 2% 1% 2% 16% 48% 33% 16% 81% 4% 21.398 18.211 6.016 20.944 3.283 other no yes no yes low 9.073 2% 5% 36% 43% 14% 36% 57% 7% Social transformer SocialMediaSavvy 9% 10% 2% 3% 6% 12% 4% 2% 4% 1% 59% 48% 76% 74% 65% 33% 71% 90% 81% 82% 84% 4% 32% 43% 22% 23% 29% 55% 25% 8% 15% 17% 13% 15% 11% 23% 22% 19% 3% 18% 42% 34% 18% 33% 23% 12% 85% 3% Empathy scale middle 7.076 1% 4% 24% 51% 20% 24% 71% 5% high 8.078 1% 3% 19% 48% 29% 19% 77% 4% low 8.595 3% 7% 46% 37% 7% 46% 43% 11% middle 8.555 1% 3% 21% 61% 14% 21% 75% 4% high 7.077 1% 2% 11% 43% 44% 11% 86% 2% 44% 37% 52% 52% 46% 29% 53% 48% 47% 63% 51% 62% 32% 43% 22% 23% 29% 55% 25% 8% 15% 17% 13% 12% 6% 7% 1% 2% 4% 9% 2% 1% 3% 1% 3% 3% 3% 2% 1% 1% 2% 3% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 1.704 1.599 1.741 1.088 1.698 2.358 1.927 1.092 1.179 1.071 1.109 982 FR BE CA IT DE JP AU BR MX CH IN RU
Total
NL
US
ES
N
24.227
1.738
1.327
1.598
Disagree completely
2%
5%
1%
1%
Disagree
4%
12%
1%
4%
Neutral
26%
46%
19%
24%
Agree
47%
30%
50%
48%
Agree completely
21%
7%
28%
24%
Top box other
26%
46%
19%
24%
Top 2 box
68%
37%
78%
71%
Bottom 2 box
6%
17%
3%
5%
Total
Meaning is to help others (& life is not meaningless)
Prosocial behaviour scale
no
yes
N
24.227
10.727
13.500
Disagree completely
2%
3%
1%
Disagree
4%
6%
3%
Neutral
26%
36%
19%
Agree
47%
40%
53%
Agree completely
21%
16%
25%
Top box other
26%
36%
19%
Top 2 box
68%
55%
77%
Bottom 2 box
6%
8%
4%
* Please see chapter 5 for the research design.
2.11 I don’t like this idea
During my try-outs and conversations along the way while drafting this book, I found that some people, especially amongst the  baby boomers, were somewhat resistant and apprehensive to the  idea  of  companies  and  brands  becoming  more  prosocial.  For  them, companies are nothing but big organisations aiming only  for  profit.  Some  even  fear  that  prosocial  marketing  is  no  more  than  a  trick  for  corporations  to  gain  even  more  control.  And,  looking at recent history, it isn’t easy to offer a good argument in  response to these notions. However not everyone is as sceptical as some that I’ve I met,  and this healthy scepticism can, in part, explain the large numbers  that indicated support for the idea of an independent watchdog  organisation that can help verify a company’s intentions. Personally, possibly naively, I believe that goodness always prevails and, since corporations ultimately consist of people, many  of whom find meaning in helping others. I think all will be all  right. The recent financial crisis only strengthened my belief that  the old corporate goal of profit maximization is giving way to a  better, more prosocial future. Another  concern  I’d  hear  is  that  prosocial  marketing  may  threaten the work of ngos. It’s true that for some ngos, robust  Meaningful Prosocial Brands may prove to be fierce competition,  given their size, scope and ability to focus. For the vast majority of  ngos, though, Prosocial Brands represent a unique opportunity  to not only attract new funds but also to work in close cooperation with new partners. ngos can focus on the actual work in the  field while brands work to raise money and awareness. This could 
116 Letsheal:  Don’t let sceptism prevail
i don’t like this idea
be especially important as international governments continue to  tighten their belts. I know from experience that ngos are often hesitant to partner  with  commercial  interests.  The  culture  of  a  typical  NGO  is  certainly quite different from that of a business. But, as long as both  sides  offer  a  clear  commitment  to  a  prosocial  goal,  this  shared  value can work as a perfect bridge, allowing both sides to benefit  from the best of each.
Letsheal: The concept of Meaningful Prosocial Brands offers  a great opportunity for ngos
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Chapter 3
Building Meaningful Prosocial Brands
Chapter 3: Building Meaningful Prosocial Brands
  I often find myself a bit embarrassed when telling people that I’m  in  advertising.  Although  I’m  hooked  on  the  power  of  creativity,  I  know  our  industry  is  still  dominated  by  advertising  that  hasn’t  evolved much from the early days of town criers and street-corner  salesmen:  the  louder  the  message,  the  better.  Fortunately,  I  see  a  strong  force  emerging  with  the  power  to  quiet  the  shouting  and  take advertising a level further, beyond simple messaging; advertising so strong, that attention for the brand isn’t bought, but earned.  It’s not difficult to add an extra dimension to the way brands  come  to  life  and  in  doing  so,  end  the  outmoded  and  shallow  means of brand building. Our job as marketeers and creatives is  to  find  this  extra  dimension  based  on  real  and  sincere  passions  that can resonate with the brand. In every brand, there are social  convictions waiting to be put forward; while they’re not always  obvious in the brand itself, they can most certainly be found in  people behind the brand. What I like about these convictions is  that  they  give  the  brand  a  story;  one  that  will  allow  the  brand  to campaign even without advertising. Then it’s just a matter of  creativity  to  build  on  these  convictions  by  inventing  a  series  of  easily  accessible  and  desired  experiences  for  the  target  group  of  the business. Brands that pull this off can achieve incredible rewards. Their success can be explained by an old saying attributed  to Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) (and  slightly updated for the marketing world): 
Letsheal: Meaningful Prosocial Brands are better equipped  to earn attention instead of buying it
119
building meaningful Prosocial Brands
Brands you hear, you forget   Brands you see, you remember   Brands you experience, you buy   My main focus as a brand strategist is to find the compelling insights in consumers’ lives that can be translated into these wanted  experiences. The search for a more meaningful life and the desire  to help others combined with the brand’s conviction can become  a very powerful force.  The most important things in life cannot be bought or sold.  Though there are millions of ways to help others that are unrelated to money, few brands tend to explore these avenues. It’s certainly worth considering given the findings in section 1.12: people  like to do more than giving money. While this type of prosocial  activity will require more creativity and inventiveness, there are  plenty of options available.  A brand could make a unique impact by facilitating emotional  support  (offering  a  listening  ear,  empathizing),  esteem  support  (expressions of confidence or encouragement), informational support (advice) or, of course, tangible support. The way the brand  enables their target group to participate here should be accessible,  simple and positive. Interactive media could play a crucial role in  facilitating prosocial activities. New media can allow brands to do something as opposed to simply saying something, as was the case  with  traditional  media.  Let’s  take  a  look  at  the  strategic  model  that leads to Meaningful Prosocial Brands:
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Letsheal:  Brands you hear, you forget. Brand you see,  you remember. Brands you experience, you buy, especially  Meaningful Prosocial Brands
3.1 The model
So how do we build brands that lead to meaningful actions? Well  first we have to develop what I call the Activated Brand Essence, a  short  phrase  that  brings  together  societal  values  and  business  insights that strike at the heart of the brand. This essence is not picked  at  random  but  mixed  from  three  important  ingredients:  the  key  driver for business, a real brand value and societal insight. In the past few years I’ve been able to develop a solid, surprisingly straight-forward and easy-to-use model. I applied it to many  brands from regional insurance companies to large multinationals. 
Figure 15. The model to create mpbs A  case  study  on  the  implementation  of  this  model  can  be  seen  with  the  campaign  of  the  SaraLee  coffee  brand  Douwe  Egberts.  The Netherlands’s largest coffee brand, Douwe Egberts boasts an 
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estimated annual revenue of over €300 million. In 2005 one of the  most award-winning cases of Meaningful Prosocial Brand activation was: Neighbourday. Although Neighbourday is a good example that illustrates how brands can take on a more meaningful role,  it’s far more interesting to see how to develop a brand essence that is  the basis for spot on meaningful prosocial action. Let’s zoom in on  the different ingredients and use Douwe Egberts as an illustration. Ingredient 1: The key driver for business Does profit mean bad karma? As I see it, there’s nothing wrong  with being profitable; focusing on revenue is healthy and necessary as it leads to sustainability. Also, the more money you make,  the  more  there  is  to  invest  in  making  the  world  a  better  place.  So maximizing business potential (which doesn’t equal excessive  bonuses) is of paramount importance.  The key drivers for business are not about things like: selling  more, increasing market share, building trust, raising awareness,  etc.  A  key  driver  for  business  describes  what makes  a  business  grow.  Let’s  go  back  to  the  coffee  brand  Douwe  Egberts.  What  could their key driver for business be?  Our surveys showed that coffee, especially in the Netherlands,  is a very social drink, but that opportunities for people to enjoy  coffee together were decreasing. In short, it would make sense for  the  brand  to  try  to  bring  people  together  again;  because  when  people get together, coffee is on the table. So, Douwe Egberts’s  key driver for business is: bring people together. Sounds  simple? Good, that’s exactly  how it should be. If it’s  not possible to catch your key driver for business in a few words,  it’s probably not right. 
122 Letsheal: mpb Ingredient #1: What’s the key driver for your  business?
the model
Where can one find the best key driver for business? Of course,  it will work differently for every marketeer. It’s good to start by  making a few common sense deductions and a few outside-thebox assumptions based on value canvassing. “Value Canvassing”  is a technique where the possible drivers of a business are compared to those of its competitors.  The assumptions are then challenged in sessions with salespeople, marketeers and consumers. With the first set of assumptions  in  hand,  some  quantitative  checking  is  done.  Then  it’s  time  to  imagine how these drivers can be linked to a social issue. I bet you’ll find two or three very valuable and distinctive key  drivers. Most of the times these drivers are sequential, allowing  them to be expanded on in the future.   Ingredient 2: The real brand value The real brand value is the authentic emotion your target group  should feel when encountering the brand. This value should originate straight from the heart of the brand and the people behind  it. It has to be real; this cannot be something you invent. Adding  meaning allows for the widening of the emotional palate, since  the marketing is no longer limited to the standard emotional responses sought by advertisers. With more ways to make an emotional connection, more nuance can be achieved. Focusing on a  social  value  has  another  advantage:  it  makes  your  brand’s  story  stand out. All other brand values in your brand house, brand pyramid and brandkey still hold their merits, but are overshadowed  by the real brand value.   But, how can you find this unique brand value?
Letsheal: mpb Ingredient #2: What’s your brand’s real value? 123
the model
  Organize a brand biographical session   The famous Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard,  (1813-1855), said that: “Life can only be understood backwards; but  it must be lived forwards.” Invite a cross section of the company for this session, ranging  from management to production and from every age group; with  ten people max. The goal of this session is not to invent a value,  but  to  unify  and  define  a  brand’s  values. What  are  these  values  and  why  are  they  so  important  for  the  brand?  Gaining  insight  into a brand’s authenticity and giving meaning to previously unexplained choices leads to the real brand value. The session leader begins by asking everyone in the group to  answer a series of questions. It’s important that speaking time is  secured  for  everyone  without  allowing  too  much  thinking time;  the  answers  should  come  straight  from  the  heart.  The  setting  should be open and comfortable, allowing individuals to answer  without fear of “giving an incorrect answer.” The discussion following each answer-session should also prove valuable. • What is the most extraordinary thing your company or brand  has ever done? And why is this extraordinary? In every one of these sessions I’ve conducted, not once has someone offered an advertising campaign as an answer to this question.  You will be astonished to find out how often these answers point  some way the company or brand participated in delivering a contribution to the greater good!  
124 Letsheal: Life can only be understood backwards, but it  must be lived forwards. Time to organize a brand  biographical session
the model
• Who do you consider to be your heroes? Who do you consider to be your company’s heroes? Why?   This is an important question to identify if the company has courage and commitment in its genes. This will help gauge the direction  and  the  type  of  emotion  attached to the brand.  Will  it  be  performance, caring, transforming, or what?   • When  has  the  company  been  the  best  it  can  be,  and  why?  What was something the company did that now seems completely off the mark?   It’s very important to hear what emotions are really encapsulated  by the brand. It’s not about evaluating company activities or effectiveness, but more about that small gesture in a commercial,  or a feeling you got from a twenty year old print ad, it could be  anything.    • When  you  think  of  your  brand/company,  what  makes  you  particularly proud?   This question will put the answers from the other questions into  perspective.   Once all answers are given, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a  common denominator. It’s critical to narrow it down as much as  possible. I’ve done dozens of these sessions and my report always  comes down to just one word. Because of the collaborative nature  of the process, I’ve never encountered any disagreement regarding 
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the outcome. At the end of the process, the group has decided on  one or two words that can sum up the heart of the brand. These  words  tend  not  to  be  found  in  the  brand’s  existing  marketing,  which is often deliberately ambiguous or unclear to achieve some  sense of “universality.” But, in my opinion, an honest assessment  of the brand is far more potent.  In the case of Douwe Egberts the real brand value was: “gezelligheid,” a unique Dutch word that means cozy and comfortable,  a word associated with familiar places, friends and family. If these  are the core values of the company, why isn’t the brand working to  create more of these cozy, comfortable situations? With the key driver for the business decided on, the next step is  to bring in a societal insight that relates to the heart of the brand.   Ingredient 3: The societal insight Although the model is pretty straightforward, this part requires  a level of strategic creativity. The art here is to have a good sense  for current trends and the ability to predict ones that have yet  to surface. A societal insight, or how a brand can interact with  the community to add prosocial meaning, ensures the brand essence a more profound character. The societal insight amplifies  the key driver and brings real brand value. It provides the brand  its societal role. But where can one find this insight? In chapter one, you can find various themes that can be explored (1.11)  and more detailed data can be found in the free research report  (www.letsheal.org). It’s  also  worth  noting  that  prosocial  insights  can  vary  from  an  insight that’s purely altruistic up to contributing, where the target 
126 Letsheal: mpb Ingredient #3: The societal insight, the driving force for your brand
the model
group actually is part of the group being helped. Next to this there  are many ways to help (see chapter 1.14). Although  finding  the  societal  insight  is  the  biggest  creative  challenge, the three steps below can help you brainstorm and isolate it out:   1.  Choose a theme based on a combination of the key driver and  real brand value. 2.  Make  it  more  specific  and  try  to  find  the  shared  undercurrents. Expand from there. 3.  Determine what to facilitate based on the target groups’ specific need for meaning (purely altruistic, contributing, et cetera.)   Let’s go back to our Douwe Egberts example. If the key driver is  bringing people together and our real brand value is “gezelligheid”  or feelings of coziness and comfort, what then could be a relevant  societal insight?  The social issue found was that inhabitants of the Netherlands,  for various reasons, began to believe that they were less close with  their neighbours and interacted less with people in general. They  believed  that  people  were  growing  less  interested  in  each  other  and less attached. The fact that this was a shared feeling indicated  a strong need for greater social cohesion. So the societal insight  was: people think that the country is becoming more atomised.  Douwe Egberts, whose real brand value involved bringing people  together, was able to play an essential and rewarding role. Now it’s  time to bring it all together.
Letsheal: Finding the societal insight for your brand is one  of the biggest creative challenges
127
the model
The activated brand essence  The  activated  brand  essence  brings  all  ingredients  together  into  one sentence that points out what the brand will do. It’s based on  an instantly recognizable yet remarkable insight that strengthens  the core feeling of the brand and gives you the reason to buy it.  For Douwe Egberts it came down to: We let you experience that  your community can be much closer, more comfortable and welcoming than you thought. One  of  the  meaningful  actions  to  bring  the  activated  brand  essence to life was “Neighbourday”. This unique national party is  a celebration of our neighbours and neighbourhoods. Neighbours  were encouraged to get together, have a cup of coffee and think  about ways to make our neighbourhoods even nicer. After four  Neighbourdays, each September, it became the second largest national celebration in the Netherlands, right after Queen’s day. With  more than 1,000,000 neighbours celebrating and over 15,000 local  activities throughout the entire country, Neighbourday became a  success story, both for Douwe Egberts and the Netherlands as a  whole. After three years, Neighbourday even earned the participation of the Dutch Royal Family. Neighbourday led to a stronger  feeling of social cohesion with participants engaging in real, unscripted positive interactions. It also had a strong impact on brand  values, and more than 10 million extra cups of coffee were sold.  Thanks, in part, to Neighbourday, Douwe Egberts was named the  2008  Fast  Mover  A-Brand  by  the  global  market  research  group  GfK. 
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Letsheal: The Activated Brand Essence: the sentence that  brings societal insights, business insights and true values  together in a wanted and actionable manner
the model
Figure 16. One of the 15,000 local activities on Neighbourday   Personally, the greatest result of Neighbourday was receiving five  Christmas cards from neighbours I hadn’t previously known!  Some thoughts on activated brand essences   1) It may shift your competitive arena   Even if you develop your meaningful prosocial ideas from a solid  key driver and a real brand value, the societal insight may already  be claimed or could be taken over in the future by other brands.  The insight will probably remain unique among direct competitors,  but  in  society  as  a  whole,  the  insight  could  have  already  reached its saturation point. It helps to be as specific as possible.  If other players pop up hoping to achieve similar prosocial goals, 
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the model
they should not be seen as competition. Don’t hesitate to work  together.    2) Mileage   It is important that the ideas have long term relevancy. This period should be a minimum of three years. It would be wise to be  sure of the creativity of an activated brand essence before advancing with it.    3) Positive & full of hope   It’s  important  that  Prosocial  Brands  provide  hope  for  a  better  future.  With  the  exception  of  occasional  press  releases,  where  a  negative  headline  can  be  an  attention-getter,  communication  should be positive. Ideally, brands should focus on casting social  challenges in a positive and uplifting light, encouraging its target  group to take meaningful, constructive action.  4) Accessible   As mentioned before, a brand’s experience must be easily accessible for the total target group. If it is socially relevant, it will be  attractive, but the concept must ensure that everyone can participate without barriers.   5) Campaigning instead of advertising   Campaign  like  activists.  If  your  marketing  department  believes 
130 Letsheal: Be careful: mpbs might shift your competitive  arena
the model
in the mission, it will create a bigger, more passionate campaign  than ever before. But, your work isn’t done when the TV ads are  running. PR will be more important than ever. The second you  start sharing your convictions with the outside world, there will  be cynicism that will need combating. If you and the members  of  your  organization  are  determined,  your  intentions  will  shine  through. And, as always, if you are and can stay sincere, any pressure shouldn’t be a problem.   6) Brand memory   Facilitating  meaningful  prosocial  behavior  means  greater  consumer interaction. For most brands, it is most logical to facilitate  these experiences through interactive media. It would be great if  these  experiences  became  more  personal  with  each  interaction.  Although it may be a little beyond the scope of this book, I would  add some memory to the brand and see how the different interactions could sharpen the brand essence on a more individual level  over time. This brand memory has the nice side effect of helping  to  stimulate  vertical  integration,  and  thus  synergy,  by  developing relations between different disciplines over time (from insight  generating research, interaction facilitating organizations, creative  companies, media agencies and of course the marketing manager).  
Letsheal: mpbs love campaigning instead of advertising
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the model
Figure 17. Vertical integration, a little off-topic, but interesting.   I really hope that you are inspired and decide to join and rise to  the challenge. But you’re not alone, let’s do this together… 
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Letsheal: mpbs with brand memory can realize huge  synergetic effects
Chapter 4
Let’s do this together
Chapter 4: Let’s do this together
The goal of this research and publication is not just to promote  prosocial marketing, but also to encourage people like you to become advocates for the cause. Certainly, prosocial marketing can  be of great use to your company, but what I find even more exciting is the potential impact we, the ceos, marketeers and advertising professionals of the world, can have in spreading the message  and motivating change. There aren’t very many meaningful Prosocial Brands out there  yet,  so  if  you  and  your  business  take  up  the  challenge,  I’d  be  thrilled if you’d share your experience on the letsheal.org site. I really hope the research (available on the site) can help you find the  right  angle  to  approach  incorporating  prosocial  ideas  into  your  work. Please feel free to contact me (via the website, or @letsheal)  if you need a little help. It would also be great if you could help spread the word so the  concepts contained in the book reach as many business leaders as  possible. For my part, I plan on publishing the ideas in as many  channels as possible. But, if you agree that brands and business  should work to better society, your words and actions within your  company,  school,  or  among  your  professional  peers  will  speak  louder than mine can any day. I’ve tried to make it easy to not only download the book and  research,  but  also  to  help  spread  the  word.  On  letsheal.org,  we  offer a seven-slide SlideShare presentation that can be embedded  on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. And of course, we’d be very  thankful if you were to promote the book with a banner on your  site (available at letsheal.org), or if you could donate a tweet or 
134  Letsheal: Together we can make a huge contribution
let’s do this together
become a fan on Facebook. At letsheal.org, we’re even encouraging supporters to become ‘official’ speakers on the book’s behalf. And, since we’re all consumers, it wouldn’t be bad to encourage  your favorite brands to be more prosocial.  
www.letsheal.org   Coming soon to letsheal.org:   •  New updated versions on the book based on your input •  New countries added to the research •  New cases •  Local events to promote the idea   Thanks for helping!
Letsheal: Please join in via letsheal.org
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Chapter 5
Research design
5.1 Countries in the research
While  this  publication  is  intended  to  be  globally  relevant,  the  research  took  place  in  October-November  2010  in  a  selected  number of countries. The countries chosen for the research were  those with the highest Gross Domestic Product in 20092. These  countries statistically show the highest level of spending on advertising.  Brands  operating  within  the  sample  countries  will  by  estimate  account  for  around  80%  of  the  us  $450  billion  spent  annually on advertising4.  
nr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15
Country United States Japan China Germany France United Kingdom Italy Brazil Spain Canada India Russia Mexico Australia
South Korea
gdp
2009 millions of USD $ 14,256,300 $ 5,067,526 $ 4,984,731 $ 3,346,702 $ 2,649,390 $ 2,174,530 $ 2,112,780 $ 1,571,979 $ 1,460,250 $ 1,336,067 $ 1,310,171 $ 1,230,726 $ 874,902 $ 924,843
$ 832,512
Internet penetration 74% 76% 27% 66% 69% 76% 52% 34% 72% 75% 7% 32% 25% 80%
77%
16 20
(South Korea is excluded from research) Netherlands $ 792,128 Belgium $ 468,552 (Belgium is added to research) Letsheal: 16 richest countries are in the research
86% 70%
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countries in the research
  South Korea (number 15 on the list) was excluded from the research because of budget reasons. Since Belgium is closely linked  to Germany, France and the Netherlands it was logical to include  it in the study.
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5.2 Research method
  In order to exclude differences rooted in the so-called modality effects of using varied methods, the research was done via online surveys solely. The Internet penetration of the population is an important determinant when considering online research29. In countries  with Internet penetration levels of 70% or higher, access panels are  available that have existed for over a decade, guaranteeing balanced  samples. In countries with lower penetration rates (30-70%) these  panels are also available, but have a possible overrepresentation by  respondents  with  higher  incomes  and  education.  This  potential  skew can be corrected by weighting. In countries such as China,  India and Mexico, with low Internet penetration (<30%), fully representative research via online surveys is likely unattainable.  For these countries, a general overview of need, relating to meaning and brands, can be considered acceptable for representing the total population. The degree of distortion originating from the skew of  samples would be chiefly due to the level of technological adoption.  In countries with low Internet penetration, so-called innovators and  early adopters will be overrepresented, however, these groups are also  often early adopters regarding new brands. Given that, the results  from these countries can therefore be inferred as future indicators of  the total population29. Global survey research is still a difficult task.  In most countries the willingness to participate has decreased which  is  a  threat  to  the  representativeness  of  the  sample29.  Additionally,  there are indications that online research using access panels suffers  from data quality issues30. This implies that fieldwork from this research can only be granted and executed by a partner abiding by the  ESOMAR codes of conduct, guaranteeing data quality31. 
Letsheal: Research conducted online following esomar  codes of conduct 139
5.3 Research partners
  The partner for developing, programming and hosting the interactive questionnaires is Winkle (www.winklingworld.eu). Winkle  has  offices  in  the  Netherlands,  United  Kingdom,  Australia  and  Canada and delivers cutting edge market research technology and  advice in the fields of product- and services innovation and marketing communication.  The partner chosen for the sample set is SSI, Survey Sampling  International.  SSI  has  an  international  team  of  more  than  400  employees  representing  50  nationalities  and  35  languages.  The  company offers access to research respondents in 54 countries SSI  serves more than 1,800 clients, including nearly three-quarters of  the top marketing research firms worldwide. 
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Letsheal: Winkle and SSI are our research partners
5.4 Validated basis for Questionnaire
Having Dirk Salomons from Columbia University on the advisory board was crucial to the design of a thorough and unbiased  questionnaire,  largely  due  to  his  wish  to  use  as  many  validated  questions and scales as possible. The implication of this of course  was that we had to find already validated questions. I’m so grateful  to the very warm and kind cooperation of the owners and founders of the following different scales and questions:    1.  The  MQL  question.  Developed  by  Michael  F.  Steger,  PhD,  Assistant  Professor,  Counselling  Psychology/Applied  Social  Psychology,  Director,  Laboratory  for  the  Study  of  Meaning  and  Quality  of  Life.  Colorado  State  University.  The  MQL  question is validated in 8 different languages. Th   e MQL is used to develop understanding of level of actual  feeling of leading a meaningful life.  2.  What is the meaning of life? This question is to measure aided recognition of the meaning of life. Developed by Richard  Kinnier,  College  of  Education,  Arizona  State  University.  Published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 43  No. 1, Winter 2003. The categories are based on a total of 238  quotations. These published quotes were either publicly stated or written by 195 eminent people (144 men and 51 women).  Nine people were identified as having an African heritage, the  rest were White. Most had lived during the 20th century, but  27 lived mostly during the 19th century and 23 had lived prior  to the 19th century. Many of the eminent people had more  than one professional identification (e.g., spiritual leader and 
Letsheal: Research used validated questions and scales 141
validated basis for questionnaire
writer). The most frequently identified profession was writer  and/or  philosopher  (n  =  126).  Other  professional  identities  included artist/musician/actor (n = 23), scientist/inventor (n  = 20), political or business leader (n = 17), and spiritual leader  (n = 11). Two were prominent in the sports world. This question is used to measure aided recognition of the meaning of  life. After pilot testing, we left three interpretations out of the  formal  study  for  reasons  of  comparability  and  clarity.  They  were “Life is a struggle to create your own meaning,” “Life is  absurd,” and “Life is a mystery”.  To measure empathy, we adapted Davis’s Empathic Concern  (ec)  scale  11.  This  index  was  used  in  the  2002  and  2004  General Social Surveys (gss’s) run by the National Opinion  Research Center (norc) at the University of Chicago.  To  measure  our  respondents’  level  of  motivation  to  help  others,  we  used  the  social  responsibility  scale  developed  by  Theo  Schuyt,  Professor  of  Philanthropy  at  VU  University,  Amsterdam. To measure the different causes supported we used validated  categories  devised  by  us  market  analysts  Mediad  Research.  These  are  geared  towards  macro-level  research,  such  as  the    Giving  usa  reports  (www.givingusareports.org)  into  annual  philanthropy  in  the  us  by  the  Association  of  Fundraising  Counsel (aafrc).  To measure actual prosocial behavior, we used modified aspects  from “The Altruistic Personality and the Self-Report Altruism  Scale.”  This  scale  was  devised  by  social  psychologists  J.P.  Rushton, R.D. Chrisjohn, and G.C. Fekken in 1981, and used  in the GSSs by the National Data Program for Social Sciences.
Letsheal: Academic world was very cooperative
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
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validated basis for questionnaire
  In addition to these validated questions we developed and tested  questions to measure attitudes and intentions towards brands in  relation to their prosocial behavior based on questions as used in  Yu-Shan Chen’s 2010 article “The Drivers of Green Brand Equity:  Green Brand Image, Green Satisfaction and Green Trust.” We measured “why and how people give” based on Maimonides’  Golden Ladder of Charity. All the other questions we employed  are commonly used in socio-economic and demographic research.
Letsheal: A big thank you to all contributing academics
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5.5 Overview Questionnaires
On www.letsheal.org you will find the links to the questionnaires  in the different languages – just download “research report” and  click sheet tab “questionnaires”.  The questionnaire was translated by Todo Linquistic Services,  a  member  of  ATA  (Association  of  Translation  Agencies),  into  the  following  languages:  Dutch,  French,  Brazilian-Portuguese,  Chinese,  German,  Italian,  Japanese,  Spanish  (Mexico  &  Spain)  and Russian.
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Letsheal: On letsheal.org you will find links to questionnaires in 10 languages
5.6 Fieldwork
The fieldwork was conducted in October - November 2010. A total of 24,224 respondents completed the research. An extra 1,200  Dutch people were questioned through the Ruigrok Netpanel to  verify the Dutch outcome. This verification however yielded the  same results so we decided to base all our conclusions on the initial  SSI data. Prior to the actual fieldwork in October different  pilot studies were conducted. With a total sample size of N=4000  the questionnaires were tested during various test periods in 2010.   
Completes per country final research
Letsheal: Almost 30,000 people participated in the various  studies
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5.7 Weighting and significance levels
The first step was to weigh the data by country. Responses varied between countries, but we wanted to make sure all countries  were given equal weight on the total scores. Second, the data was  weighted by gender and age to conform to the population statistics  per  country.  In  some  countries,  however,  the  low  response  rate of younger people resulted in slight imbalances in the data.  In order to prevent having too few respondents having too much  impact on the country scores, weighting factors above 3 were cut  off (to 3.0). The result of this procedure was that for the United  States,  Italy,  Japan,  Brazil,  Mexico,  China,  India  and  Russia,  younger  individuals  are  still  underrepresented  in  the  weighted  samples. However, as the youngest cohort (16-24 yrs.) is less then  10% of the total population, the possible bias caused by this underrepresented  group  is  marginal.  All  differences  mentioned  in  the book are significant. 
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Letsheal: Results were carefully weighted by country, gender  and age
5.8 Research report table of contents
On  letsheal.org  you  can  download  the  entire  research  for  free.  Results are shown:   • Per country • By  background  variables  (gender,  age,  children,  education,  urbanisation level) • By subgroups (meaning is to help others, current mood, social  transformer,  social  media  savviness,  prosocial  behavior  and  empathy) • Per country (meaning is to help others, gender, age, children,  education, urbanisation level) • The prosocial behavior and empathy index per country   The various subgroup definitions can also be found in the research  report.   The research outcomes are split in the following categories:  A.  Demographics, media consumption and mood B.  The meaning of life C.  Empathy D.  Why and how do we give? E.  Prosocial behavior F.  Brands and companies The research report can be viewed in Microsoft Excel and Google  Docs. Navigating between the various topics is made easy via hyperlinks. 
Letsheal: On letsheal.org you can download the research for  free 147
Notes and references
Along the way I got inspiration and answers from many sources. I  did my best to contact all copyright holders. If something is missing, please contact me through www.letsheal.org.    1.  Kinnier, R.T., Kernes, J.L., Tribbensee, N., Van Puymbroeck,  C.M.,  What Eminent People Have Said About The Meaning of Life. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology Vol. 43, nr. 1  winter 2003.  2.  World  Bank.  gdp World Development Indicators database. World Bank, 27 September 2010. 3.  De  Waal,  Frans.  Good Natured, The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.  Harvard  University  Press 1997. 4.  Warc,  previously  known  as  the World  Advertising  Research  Center, Total Global Adspend, Warc.com, 2008. 5.  Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. Harper, 1954. 6.  Steger, M.F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2006,  p.  53, p. 80-93. 7.  Frankl,  Viktor  E.,  Man’s Search For Meaning,  Beacon  Press,  2006. 8.  Zohar,  D.,  Marshall,  I.,  Spiritual Capital. Bloomsbury  Publishing, 2004. 9.  Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Pan  Macmillan, 2002. 10.  Woerde,  M.,  The Meaning of Life, Empathy and Prosocial
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Behavior, Prosocial Brands and Companies, Let’s  Heal  2011,  Free download on letsheal.org 11.  Dovidio, J.F., Piliavin, J.A., Schroeder, D.A., Penner, L.A. The Social Psychology of Prosocial Behavior. Psychology Press, 2006.  12.  Spikins, P., Rutherford, H.E., Needham, A.P., The Prehistory of Compassion. http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1628917,  2010. All proceeds go to the charity World Vision.  13.  Dunbar’s  number  is  a  theoretical  cognitive  limit  to  the  number of people with whom one can maintain stable social  relationships. These are relationships in which an individual  knows  who  each  person  is,  and  how  each  person  relates  to  every  other  person.  Proponents  assert  that  numbers  larger  than  this  generally  require  more  restrictive  rules,  laws,  and  enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar’s number. It has been  proposed to lie between 100 and 230, with a commonly used  value of 150 (source Wikipedia). 14.  Inspired  by  a  meeting  by  the  end  of  2010  with  René  Gude  (Director The International School of Philosophy).  15.  Inspired by a meeting by the end of 2010 with Marcel Poorthuis  (University of Tilburg) and the book Levinas by Duynham J.,  Poorthuis, M., Lemniscaat 2003. 16.  Nieuwenbroek, A.Q., De wijze les van Levinas, thesis 2006. 17.  McCombie R.P., Blood donation patterns of undergraduate students: family and friendship correlates. Journal of Community  Psychology, 1991 April; 19(2):161-5. 18.  Davis,  M.  Empathy scale,  used  in  the  2002/2004  gsss,  The  National  Data  Program  for  the  Sciences,  NORC  at  the  University of Chicago.
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19.  Matsumoto, D., Unmasking Japan Myths and Realities About the Emotions of the Japanese. Stanford University Press, 1996. 20. Rushton,  J.P.,  Chrisjohn,  R.D.,  Fekken,  G.C.,  (1981),  The Altruistic Personality and the Self-Report Altruism Scale, Personality & Individual Differences, Vol. 2, pp. 293-302. 21.  Hofstede,  G.  Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Sage  Publications,2003. 22.  http://www.un.org/ millenniumgoals 23.  Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, the  Department  of  Political  Science,  University  of  Heidelberg,  Conflict Barometer 2010, www.hiik.de, 2011.  24. Weiss, R.S., The Provisions of Social Relationships. In Rubin,  Z., Doing Unto Others: Joining, Molding, Conforming, Helping, Loving. Prentice-Hall Spectrum Books, 1974. 25.  Hurwitz, H. The Ancient Herbrew Sages, Morrison and Watt,  1826. 26. Kotler,  P.,  Kartajaya,  H.,  Setiawan,  I.,  Marketing 3.0.  John  Wiley & Sons, 2010 27. Gitomer, J., Little Teal Book of Trust, Pearson Education, 2008. 28.  Take  a  look  at  this  video  of  John  Zorn  Cobra  http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=xWrxIggOCsM)  at  the  Rotterdam  North Sea Jazz Festival 2009 29.  Dillman,  D.  A.,  Mail and Internet Surveys: 2nd Edition.  2007.  Wiley. Dolnicar, S. & Grun, B., Cross-cultural differences in survey response patterns. Journal of International Marketing Review.  2007.  Stoop,  I.,  The Hunt for the Last Respondent: Nonresponse in Sample Surveys.  Social  Cultural  and  Planning  Office  of  the  Netherlands, 2005.
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30.  Schonlau, Fricker & Elliott, Conducting Research Surveys via E-mail and the Web. RAND, 2005.  31.  Willems,  P.,  Ossenbruggen,  R.  van,  Vonk, T.,  The Effects of Panel Recruitment and Management on Research Results.  A  study  across  19  online  panels.  Paper  presented  at  ESOMAR  Panel Research Conference, Barcelona, 2006.
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Acknowledgements
The  process  of  writing  this  book  has,  in  many  ways,  proven  its  point: we love to help each other. I’m very grateful for all the help I  received from so many people. I’m also glad my research indicated  that most acts of altruism are given unconditionally. Otherwise I  don’t think I could live long enough to repay all the people who  helped me along the way.  When I started writing this book, I thought I had found a universal and perfect explanation in language to illustrate the importance of helping others. In my mother tongue, Dutch, we define  two  somewhat  differing  concepts  with  two  very  similar  words:  ‘bestaan’  (to  exist)  and  ‘bijstaan’  (being  there  for  others).  I  began interpreting the two as fundamentally connected: “Je bestaat  pas als je anderen bijstaat,” or “You exist only in helping others.”  Unfortunately, a round-trip among a number of leading linguists  proved  that  the  words  had  different  origins,  revealing  no  secret  message embedded in language. Regardless, the linguists I spoke  to were also a bit disappointed that this was the case, as they too  wished the sentiment was true. But, truth be told, it was not language that led me to explore  the  importance  of  helping  others.  More  than  anything,  the  basis for the research and this book was inspired by the life of my  grandmother, oma Van der Sluis, who unfortunately passed away  a year ago. She gave her life meaning by helping others and inspired many to follow her footsteps, myself included. I’m also very  grateful to my parents who motivated me at an early age to make  my  dreams  come  true  by  encouraging  me  with  what  is  now  a  popular slogan of a well-known sneaker brand.
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I’d like to thank all respondents in the research and pilot studies. Thank you for your candour. All together, almost 30,000 people donated a total of 15,000 hours, giving us insight into their  lives and our world in general. And before I proceed to thank the many other special people  who made this project possible, I feel I must acknowledge Vint Cerf  and Bob Kahn, the “fathers of the Internet.” Their impact on the  world surpasses imagination: from conducting 16-country research  in just a matter of weeks to facilitating a revolution in Tunisia.  I’m very grateful to the members of my research advisory board,  Professor  Dirk  Salomons,  Robert  van  Ossenbruggen,  and  Hans  Lingeman. I had several very good and inspiring meetings with  Professor Salomons, Director of the Program for Humanitarian  Affairs  at  the  School  of  International  Public  Affairs,  Columbia  University,  and  I  can  wholeheartedly  say,  without  Dirk,  the  research would not be as solid as it is now. Dirk insisted on using  scientific and validated research methods, leading to a far more  credible research design. The research also would have ended up  nowhere without the help of Robert van Ossenbruggen. I would  like to thank my dear friend Hans Lingeman, who provided me  with not only his never-ending optimism and research experience,  but also with the international infrastructure of his research company, Winkle.  I  also  feel  incredibly  honoured  by  the  opportunity  I  got  to  discuss this publication with Nobel Prize winner and economist  Prof. Edmund Phelps, of Columbia University. In this unforgettable  session  he  made  the  link  between  macro  economics  and  the universal search for meaningful lives even more clear and robust. I’m also humbled by the kindness and generosity expressed 
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in the cover quotes of Craig Davis, Kate Roberts and Prof. Dirk  Salomons. A  very  special  thanks  to  Dr.  Spikins,  Prof.  Richard  Kinnier,  Jibum Kim PhD, Michael F. Steger PhD, Prof. Theo Schuyt and  Peter Marinus allowing me to use their work in this publication.  During the process of writing I had numerous encounters with  very inspiring and very kind people. I would like to thank Piet  Hein  Merckens,  CEO  Royal Wessanen  NV,  for  finding  the  right  perspective for this publication, and of course, thanks a million  for introducing me to Dirk Salomons. I’d like to thank John Zorn,  Alfred  Levi  (3MO),  Nils  Gade  (PSI-Europe),  Joost  Augusteijn  (Rabobank)  and  the  off  the  record  contributions  of  marketing  executives for being there to bounce ideas off of as I conceptualized the book. I would also like to thank philosophers René Gude  (Director of The International School of Philosophy) and Marcel  Poorthuis (University of Tilburg) for the inspiring contribution of  their explanation on why people want to help others.  Thank  you  Dick  Leurdijk  and  Christine  Snoeks  from  the  Clingendaal  Institute  for  introducing  me  to  Mr.  Steegh,  Head  of Section of the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the  United Nations. And Mr. Steegh, thank you for introducing me  to the Georg Kell and Matthias Stausberg, the Executive Director  and Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations at the un Global  Compact  repectively.  I  would  also  like  to  thank  Professor  Geir  Lundestad, the Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute for his  positive feedback on the question: Can a brand win a Nobel Prize? Thank  you  Craig  Davis  for  your  wonderful  initiative  Brandkarma.com, your positive feedback and the invitation to do  a try-out at the Cannes Advertising Festival. Also, special thanks 
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are in order to Frans Blanchard, Director of the VEA, for a rewarding try-out at the ‘Amsterdam 24 Hours of Advertising’ Festival.  Thank you, Kees de Jong at SSI for your help finding the best  samples for the research. And, thanks to Jamie Clohesy at Warc. com  and  Bas  Vlugt  (Africa  Business  Communities)  for  sharing  your data and graphics. Thank you Martijn Blom (Winkle) your  endless help is very much appreciated and Klaas van Eijkern and  Floor  Boissevain  at  Free  Musketeers  for  the  flawless  distribution and printing process. Thank you Martijn van der Veen and  Marja  Ruigrok  from  Ruigrok  Netpanel  for  their  generous  support in double checking the Dutch outcomes. I would also like to  thank Judith Jockel for her photographs and Nik, Hanne, Jeroen,  Priscilla  and  Rick  at  the  wonderful  Code  D’azur  for  the  cover,  website design and programming, the incredible corrector, Gillian  Murdoch and Bob Mulder and Emma Robson at Mediawise for  their help on spreading the word. A big hug for all my dear clients (nothing would be possible without you!) and collegues at  Lemz.  Special  thanks  to  the  Lemzers:  Peter  de  Lange,  Remco  Marinus, Willem van der Schoot, Joost van de Loo, Tim Claassen,  Wendeline Sassen, Luiz Risi and Bram Tervoort for your support  on every level.  And, to my dear friend Mikey Casalaina for helping me find the  right wording and structure for the text. A huge thanks for helping me go beyond simply making this publication readable. And  thank  you  my  dear  friends  Wessel  Stroober,  Marieke  Haverlag,  Mark  van  der  Werff,  Erik  Falentijn,  Brian  van  Rosmalen  and  Robert Mollee for your support along the way.  Of course, a project of this size could not have been realized  without full support on the home front. I wish I could adequately 
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describe my love for my wonderful wife Milja, my son Levi and  daughter Sara. I find myself grateful for, inspired by, proud of and  more in love with you each and every day. This  brings  me  to  you,  the  reader.  Thank  you  for  picking  up and sharing this book! I would love to hear your comments  via letsheal.org or #letsheal on Twitter. And finally, on behalf of  the world, a very big thank you to all (new) Prosocial Brands.  Together, we really can change lives and our world for the better.
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About the author
  Mark Woerde (1973) is the cofounder and strategy director  of the award-winning Dutch  advertising agency Lemz. He  has worked as a consultant to  many  notable  organizations,  including  IKEA,  Doctors  without  Borders,  Unilever  and Sara Lee. After receiving  a  degree  in  economics  from  the University of Amsterdam,  Woerde quickly earned a reputation  for  creating  successMark Woerde (picture Judith Jockel) ful and rewarding campaigns  that realize both business and social goals. Mark continually ranks  high in various Dutch ‘Who is the Best Strategist?’ polls.  He  is  a  renowned  national  and  international  speaker,  as  well  as a contributing author to various marketing trade publications.  His greatest energy and passion currently goes toward promoting  prosocial, meaningful and interactive marketing. For Mark, achieving commercial success and helping others is no trick; it is, in fact,  in his very nature. Mark first demonstrated this penchant early on  when, aged six, he gathered crowds, working to rack up the highest  sales among his peers at his village’s annual garage sale fair. That day,  the tiny salesman earned heaps of praise emptying the jar of money  he’d made at the fair’s Amnesty International stand. His  competitive  drive  and  desire  to  help  others  lives  on  to158
day as Mark has devoted his time to researching and writing on  Prosocial Brands as well as his work at Lemz. He’s launched letsheal.org, an initiative that is intended to be a launching off point  for promoting prosocial and meaningful marketing. Additionally,  he is working on an ambitious international prosocial business  initiative being prepped for a launch in 2013. And although he  sometimes dreams of a career as a jazz piano player, Mark also  devotes his time to his lovely wife Milja, and two children, Levi  and Sara. See Mark’s LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/6xexy2d 
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The time has come for a radical paradigm shift in branding as we know it. Where, in the past, branding has seemed mainly focused on fulfilling hedonistic individual needs, it’s gradually becoming clear: people are waiting for brands to help them help others. And, in doing so, these so-called “Meaningful Prosocial Brands” help fulfill a basic, strong and growing need: the need to live a meaningful life. This book, based on extensive research in the world’s 16 biggest economies, unveils new insights and practical knowledge that can make your brand grow and bring about a huge positive impact on our world.
Just imagine what would happen if even a fraction of the US $450 billion spent annually on advertising, instead, went into prosocial marketing?
“Soon, kindness will be a gobal brand, bridging the chasm between compassion and commerce, and prosocialism will carry the day. Mark Woerde and his 24,000 friendly people have brought a new ethical dimension to the world of advertising!” – Professor Dirk Salomons, Director of the Program for Humanitarian Affairs at the School of International Public Affairs, Columbia University. “Mark Woerde shows how to use power of brands to make the world a better place - one of the most inspiring books I know!” – Kate Roberts, Founder of YouthAIDS and Five & Alive, Vice President PSI.org and “Young Global Leader of the World 2007” by The World Economic Forum. “Here’s a book that might help you look your children in the eye. People are looking for brands to positively contribute to society and they’ll vote for them with their money. It turns out you can make money and make a difference at the same time.” – Craig Davis, Chief Creative Officer Publicis Mojo Australia and New Zealand, Ex-CCO JWT worldwide, Founder of Brandkarma.com
1 of the 24,000 warnings in this book: “It’s important to understand that any value this brings to the brand can be easily undermined by questionable business practices. Being prosocial not only means to be generous in spending your money, but also to be responsible in how you make it.” – Matthias Stausberg, Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations and Spokesperson United Nations Global Compact
This book is sold at cost price. This cost price can vary per country. Let’s save paper! Please download the e-book and research for free via letsheal.org
ISBN 978-90-484-1927-2
Thank you for picking up this book! It would also be great if you could help spread the word so the concepts contained in the book reach as many business leaders as possible. Please visit letsheal.org, an Amsterdam based independent non-profit organization aimed at providing insights in how to transform brands into Meaningful Prosocial Brands.
Free download on Letsheal.org
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