We First. The book.
A struggling economy, a world in crisis, and changing technology has left brands scrambling for profits and consumers desperate for change. What if we could achieve both? What if brands and consumers could partner using social media to create a sustainable pillar of change that builds communities, profits and a better world? That’s the promise of a We First world.
3. We First Capitalism Prosperity is not the wealth of a few but the well being of many. #wefirst wefirstbook.com @simonmainwaring
4. We First Capitalism Technology is teaching us to be human again. Brands must become day traders in social emotion. The evolution of revolution is contribution. The best hope for business is the business of hope. #wefirst wefirstbook.com @simonmainwaring
5. We First Capitalism Private Sector Pillar of Social Change: Brand / Consumer partnerships Contributory Consumption: Retail, Online, Virtual, Gaming Cross-Sector Collaboration: Global Brand Initiative #wefirst wefirstbook.com @simonmainwaring
6. Thank you! Exclusive We First webinar sxsw@wefirstbranding.com PRE-ORDER NOW AT WEFIRSTBOOK.COM Follow @simonmainwaring Join facebook.com/wefirst Text ‘fan wefirst’ to 32665
Hinweis der Redaktion
1. Thank you to everyone for being here.9.30 on the last morning of SXSW Interactive.That means that you’ve had less sleep and more alcohol and as many daylight saving changes and yet you are here!I also know if I suck you’ll storm the stage and take me out.2. Now I am so excited to talk about We First today but we only have 30 minutes so I’ll talk for 20 and then we’ll have ten minutes of questions. So if I hit 20 minutes please throw something at me but yell out first “I’m going to throw something” cause the lights are bright and you’ll totally take me out for getting you up so early.3. Hold up book. So after 3 years on work, this is We First this is We So here’s it is? We First. Can I tell you, about a month ago my wife calls me and says the book is here. As a first time author you don’t ever believe its real until you actually hold a book in your hand. So I get home and I’m staring at the box like Indiana Jones with the Arc of The Covenant and my daughter’s are jumping up and down going “Open it, open it” and so I did, and I took out a galley and I held it up up and my wife took a photo and then then I passed out on the couch for 15 minutes. You are so tired and so relieved all you want to do is sleep. 4. So its here but I want to make something very clear. I don’t and can’t own the idea of we first. We first is just a way to describe a community of people and companies hell bent on building a better world, many of whom are in this room. And the purpose of this book is to support that community and serve as a catalyst around which we can celebrate success stories and share learning. So the we first site exists as a platform to showcase those stories and help everyone in the communities to be more effective. 4. So why did I write it:a) My purpose: Ad guy in Asia, Europe, US, Wieden, Motorola – wasn’t fulfilled. Plus I was overcome by the terror of feeling like the industry was changing and if I didn’t stay relevant I would be left behind. b) My kids – my father died and my daughters were becoming young adults.c) Bill Gates: Creative Capitalismd) The power of connective technology struck me as an ad guy.I had no idea that two short years later we’d be living in the world of We are living in the age of Wikileaks, of Tunisia/Egypt/Bahrain/Libya, of the Pepsi Refresh and BP oil spill, of presidential elections decided by connected citizens.
Take Me First business.Business:The Me First business culture is epitomized by the behavior of Wall Street - before, during and after - the Global Economic Meltdown.Now not every company has behaved as badly as Bernie Madoff, but the record profits and bonuses generated by Wall street firms especially in the last two year has led to and enormous erosion in trust in business. So much so, that when Richard Edelman of Edelman PR presented his 2011 trust barometer at the Winter Meeting of the CGI last week, the top concern for 84% of the people interviewed all around the globe was “Honest and transparent business practices (84%) Consumers: In 2011 the average U.S. household has 13 debt obligations and just one is credit card debt is over $16,000.Culture:In 2010, 44 million Americans live below the official poverty line (1 in 7) with a record 41.8 million living on food stamps.1.4 billion people on the planet live on less than $1.25/day and 2.56 billion live on less than $2.00/day.Planet: 14% of the Earth was covered with rainforest. Now it’s 6%. We’re losing 13 million hectares annually. U.N.’s Green Economy Initiative reported in 2010 that the world’s oceans could be completely depleted of fish within 40 years.
I don’t just mean this in an ultraistic way.If we continue to disregard the needs of the environment, the suffering of the majority of people on the planet and the loss of the species that share it with us, your brand or business will not survive. We now live in an intimately connected global community in which we are mutually dependent on each other.
The Why1. Thanks to the internet we are more aware of what’s really going on that ever before. And thanks to social media, we are able to share it more easily than ever.The result if the ignorance of bliss has been replaced by the responsibility of awareness.What’s more that awareness has awakened in us our innate empathy for each other, whether its people caught between collapsed buildings in Haiti, birds covered in oil, babies covered in flies left at the roadside in flooded Pakistan or houses being swept away by Japan’s tsunami.c) And that same technology allows us to respond just as quickly as we saw with text donations in Haiti.2. What this means for brands, ad agencies and the private sector at large is profound. a) Firstly because consumers know they need help but they also know the traditional custodians of change, government and philanthropies are stretched.b) So consumers are looking to brands to do something. That’s why you see the Nike Green XChange, Walmart sustainability index, P&G Click for Water Blogivation, Starbucks Shared Planet. Yes, it’s because its well intended but it is also because its well received. Reaching out on the basis of shared core values enables brands to be relevant and sharable in social conversations across multiple platforms. c) And then what must brands do. They must become days traders constantly moderating conversations, managing reputations and serving not as the celebrity of their community but as its chief celebrant. 3.So this is not about doing away with ad agencies, bad brands or capitalism itself. It simply the fact that in a mutually dependent global of connected global community means we change things through contribution rather than revolution.4.In fact, the brands that will take best advantage of social media are the one who make the greatest contribution because that will inspire loyalty in their community, generate work of mouth and motivate their community to get to work for them.
The How:1.Enhanced social responsibility through entire supply chain.Consumers leverage their buying power to reward or coerce brands to behave with authenticity, transparency and accountability.Brands are rewarded through the loyalty, goodwill and profits generated by their community.2.Retail/Credit cards: PRODUCT RED, 1% for the Planet, Check-outs Social Vest & for Credit cards SwipeGood Online Platforms: Causecast, SocialVibe Mobile shopping: ‘Bump’ to purchase, pay, contribute Virtual goods: $2 billion 2011 to $6 billion by 2014. Zynga for Famville, the Children’s Hospital in San Francisco and now Japan. Social gaming: Game theory dynamics (not only making contributing fun but also training us for a better world Jane McConigal explains)So if you add together the literal billions of daily purchases that take place and add in credit card transactions and then layer on virtual goods including the secondary virtual assets market all drive by game theory that makes playing and giving fun, and then you get super realistic and say only 1 percent of the private sector will actually participate you will surpass the curent contributions of corporate foundations worldwide.3. Then to manage and regulate this you create a Global Brand Initiative that is a rotating federation of brands that bring the management expertise, R&D, creativity and contributions of the private sector to address the most pressing needs. In fact when yopu look at the Nike Green XChnage, the coalition of food companies that joined the First lady’s left’s move initiatve, Nike’s wortSo simply put, imagine social technology connecting branding into a partnership that enables the private sector to become a third pillar of social change that works in harmony with government and philantropies through a Global Brand Initiative.
Thank you for being here to today. But also thank you for what you are about to do because you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t care and the purpose of the we first community to let everyone know you are not crazy, you are not alone and we are going to celebrate your efforts and work together.We are each a voice in a choir of change that has to raise the roof. Whether you’re a brand manager, ad guy, social entrepreneur, non profit, or citizen shopper, I think of it as each of us taking a hold of a tiny piece of the blanket and together moving things forward.To that end I wanted to offer something exclusive to everyone here in this room. If you email sxsw@wefirstbranding.com you will receive details for a free 2-hour webinar just for everyone in this room so we stay connected. Your job is to bring your most pressing branding questions and I’ll do my best to help. Plus we’ll all learn a lot by working through the process together and get to know each other better. So just email …now and you’ll get all the details.I also invite you to to go to wefirstbook.com and order a copy for yourself and anyone else you think would like to hear this message or should hear this message. A friend, colleague, your boss or as a gift. When you do you’ll instantly get a:We First white paper on the ‘7 Keys to Brand Positioning for the Future,’ Free podcast on 'The Future of Ad Agencies,’10% of the book price will be donated to the United Nations ‘Girl Up’ Foundation.Finally invite you to follow me on twitter and become part of the we first community by joining we first on facebook or simply texting ‘fan wefirst’ to 32665.And now…questions….