The Power of the People or Not?

Today's full page ad from JP Morgan Chase promoting the "Chase Community Giving" program on Facebook says that over two million Facebook users voted on the distribution of $5 million in grants. We also learn that an "Advisory Board" helped determine the winning charities.

So what first sounds like a bold move of using democratic process to give away a chunk of cash is then nulled by the control of this Advisory Board. We have to assume the Advisory Board gets the final say. Or does it? Maybe Chase executives get the final say as to which charities received donations. We are left needing to dig a little deeper to see how transparent this supposed cause marketing/corporate citizen/corporate social responsibility program really is. In the meantime, we applaud Chase for promoting philanthropy and for even being willing to include the public some way, some how.

Corporate Sponsorships and the New Consumer

A recent webcast titled “How Sponsorships Add True Purpose to Marketing Efforts” delved into the future of Cause/Non-Profit Marketing and its implications for traditional business models. The webcast, hosted by Dan Kowitz of IEG Sponsorship Consulting provided an interesting look at developing consumer trends and opinions.

For instance, 90% of Americans surveyed want companies to increase sponsorship for cause-sensitive campaigns or organizations. Furthermore, more than two-thirds of those surveyed globally said they would switch brands if the makers of a similar product supported social causes or nonprofit organizations.

What does this mean for businesses?

• Consumers are becoming more market-savvy and, consequently, independent. We now have an abundance of resources at our fingertips – message boards, blogs and watchdog sites, to name a few – and consumers use these to learn about the companies, share opinions and develop their brand recognition independent of traditional advertising.

• Consumers are socially aware. They support – and applaud – corporations who take an active interest in social change and cause-related marketing. Conversely, the new consumer can sniff out insincere marketing tactics or less than authentic concern from corporate social marketing efforts

Businesses that are authentic in their corporate sponsorship of and participation in cause marketing campaigns receive a generous bump in brand recognition and sales. As an example, in the five years since YoPlait began its ‘Save Lids to Save Lives' partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the company’s sales have steadily increased and even developed previously nonexistent seasonal sales spikes. Yoplait embraced the cause and, in turn, consumers embraced Yoplait.

Pepsi is hitting the ground running with this new aspect of the marketing mix. By declining to participate in the annual Super Bowl ad wars, and instead instituting its 'Pepsi Refresh Project' to fund cause-related, community-building campaigns and organizations, Pepsi has recognized that it may have more to gain in today’s consumer-savvy, cause-aware world by building a socially responsible brand.

Contributed by Kevin Barbeau

What Did We Learn in 2009?

It’s really important to take our learns from a really challenging year and go forward wiser into the New Year – 2010. Here are some of our lessons:


We are All in this Together
Is there anyone or any organization that was not affected by the economic challenges that started in 2008 and created tougher times in 2009? With a little inspiration from Ben Lee’s High School Musical song "We're All In This Together" it’s really important to share our situations and get support for working through them. It’s also important to take solace in knowing, while we each have our lessons to learn and changes to make, we were all affected one way or another.


Flat is the New Up
It’s a popular catch phrase and enough of us experienced it to have some truth. Still we must be careful to not use the phrase again in 2010 to explain, rationalize or justify negative trends in key performance metrics.


Run Harder to Stay in Place
There is no question that most of us are having to do more to sustain our base income: such as working more than one job or juggling more responsibilities with the same resources. In our sales coaching and, even in our own firm, we’ve encouraged people to increase weekly business development activity. I increased my own touch points with prospects from 50 to 75 per week in the back half of last year and it made a big difference. So I upped my outbound dials and e-mails for 2010 to 100 each week.


Social Media Networking is for Everyone
2009 was definitely the year I started taking Facebook and LinkedIn more seriously. It’s helped our firm get to hard-to-reach people for both our client projects and ourselves. We have been getting coached by social media network guru Dean DeLisle this past year as part of the curriculum offered by the Wright Business Institute. Now, in addition to my daily exercising and meditation discipline, I do my 20 minutes of networking online. Let’s connect at on my Facebook page or on my LinkedIn page.


Cause Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility
are On the Rise
Close to home for our firm’s interest in Mission-Driven Marketing (TM), we are encouraged to see more companies and social causes turning to corporate/not-for-profit partnerships to collaborate on ways to create a better world. We appreciated Mike Swenson's Advertising Age column this past week which speaks to this.


Fly Southwest
We are “nuts” about Southwest. We’ve been able to build our business because of Southwest’s Chicago hub at Midway airport, its low airfares and its continually expanding the list of cities it flies to. (They added Boston, Minneapolis and LaGuardia this year!) While even this stellar brand took it on the chin financially in 2009, our money is still on Southwest.


Here’s to learning more lessons in 2010.


--John Davidoff, Founder and Managing Director

Jerry Davidoff profiled as "Drum Major for Social Justice" in Hartford Courant

(Jerry Davidoff, 1926-2009)



















John's dad, Jerry Davidoff - who passed away November 7, 2009 - was profiled this past weekend in the Hartford Courant's "Extraordinary Life" column. Click here to read the story: "Drum Major for Social Justice"

(See below to read John's tribute to his Dad...an obviously great influence on John's life and the mission of Davidoff Communications.)

Tribute to Jerry Davidoff, July 1, 1926 - November 7, 2009

(John Davidoff, left, with his father Jerry in 2006)











Note: This is the eulogy John delivered at his Dad's memorial service on November 28, 2009.

Hi Dad. It’s John. “Big John!” as you bellowed out my whole life.

It’s been three weeks since your last breath, and I am moved by the hundreds of e-mails and notes paying tribute to the ways you invested in people…as a friend, mentor, elder, counselor and champion of civil liberties

Since your passing three weeks ago Dad, in the very hospital, where almost fifty years earlier I was born…I have been taking stock of my own life, in relationship to yours, and reflecting on where I go from here…in carrying out the part of your legacy that is mine now to move forward.

Dad, I thank you. You were a warrior of the heart and an amazing romantic and dreamer. I will never forget when, just ten years old, you led our family all the way to Paris, to the Louvre, to stand below one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world -- the Winged Victory – that all powerful feminine tribute to a sea battle…where you, Dad, told Doug and me of your wish that we would see “her…the Victoire” every morning on our way to school such that we would grow up to be strong and confident men. What an impression that has made on my life…still, here and now, almost forty years later.

And, Dad, there was the evening when I was about fourteen and you took me, just me, into New York City to a performance of the celebrated Spanish classical guitarist Andres Segovia. We sat in the last row of the very top balcony at Avery Fisher Hall. We shared your binoculars. You taught me, that evening, how to sit still and witness the expressiveness of a gifted artist…revealing one man’s deep insight and commitments to life through each pluck of a string.

Dad, there were endless lessons like these. My IPod is full of your teachings: from Paul Robeson and Wynton Marsalis, to the Canadian Brass, to organ works, choral pieces, the great classics and more. But, nothing was more moving to you than the annual holiday Candlelight concert at Staples High School when choir members would process through the aisles, in blue robes, candles in hand, the lights low and the sung words to “Sing We Noel.” “Dost now we remember the prophets of old…that whose most wondrous stories told.” Every year Dad, you watched in tears for you were so very moved by the innocence of the moment…the innocence of life.

At age 19, in 1979, when I was a sophomore at Ithaca College, you introduced me to the writing of Kahlil Gibran. Here’s the copy of The Prophet you bought for me…inscribed in your own handwriting: For John. Because this book, like you, has beauty, reality and strength.

Gibran wrote: “Your children come through you, but not from you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies, but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”

Dad, you nailed your job as a parent…in your own way and in partnership with Mom. You did so despite the many challenges you faced personally, especially during my early and formative childhood years. Many know that being Jerry Davidoff’s kid was no easy life. But, life was not easy for you. You seemed to have spent your entire life wrestling with your sense of self worth…never completely finding that affirming parental voice inside you, no matter how much or how well you did. And, perhaps, Dad, I and others failed you by not pushing back in the early years, the years when you were most intimidating. How well I and others could have served you if we had known how to push back and help you find another way. Perhaps it was generational. Perhaps it was a lack of the teachings about personal development we have today. No matter what, you were so alone, yet you cared so much.

Dad, in one of my final visits with you at your hospital bed side, I thanked you for all you have done to parent me. You did your best, and your best was better than most. You were your own man. You were an unusual and exceptional man in so many ways, as beautifully shared and witnessed here this evening. I also told you that I believed that each of us must take responsibility for developing ourselves to our fullest potential, to uncover our own gifts and share them far and wide. I also thanked you Dad for the lifelong fights you fought. And, I told you I had my own fights and I would continue fighting them, holding your spirit close.

I close with these words from Paul Coehlo’s “The Pilgrimage”…an anthem of sorts I use in my own development as the son and warrior of Jerry Davidoff…picking up where you left off. Coehlo wrote:
We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body. Many times in our lives we see our dreams shattered and our desires frustrated, but we have to continue dreaming. If we don’t, our soul dies and agape (love) cannot reach it (because we have ceased to fight the good fight). The good fight is the one we fight because our heart asks it of us. The good fight is the one that’s fought in the name of our dreams.

Dad, thank you for the dreamer you have been. Thank you for the warrior you were. Thank you for the lover of life you have been. Thank you for the fights you fought. I promise you, Dad, to continue the legacy of Jerry Davidoff’s love of life, rooted in faith and lived in celebration of all that is good and just.

Blessings on you my dear Dad,
Big John

Please Touch Museum

I attended the Association of Children's Museums' annual conference in Philadelphia this past April. The theme was "Declare Your Impact/Interactivity 2009." Here I am at one of the evening receptions hosted by the just recently opened Please Touch Museum. Davidoff Communications has consulted with the National Children's Museum on its fund-raising, marketing and corporation partnership planning. We also work for the world's largest children's museum, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

Wright Foundation for Transformational Leadership

On April 17, 2009 Davidoff Communiations sponsored the first annual Wright Foundation For Transformational Leadership Award gala. The 2009 award was presented to Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy. It was an exciting night for me and a phenomenal team of people I worked with in my capacity as President of the Foundation and Producer and Emcee of the Gala. Stay tuned for information on a symposium we're planning for this fall with cutting edge human development and transformational leadership thought leaders. As you might imagine, we've also begun planning the 2010 Transformational Leadership Award Gala. Hope to see you there.