Buy1Give1 - Marketing Innovation Turning CSR on its Head for SME's

Marketing Innovation Turning CSR on its Head for SME's

Maple Muesli CSR for SME's - Buy1GIVE1Free (Singapore) 10 March 2008 - Last week in Brisbane, Australia, a little girl called Georgia experienced a new way of giving firsthand. When her mother purchased a bag of muesli from Maple Muesli she was told that for every bag sold, a hungry child would be fed as part of a new global business initiative. Georgia instantly asked her Mum to buy another bag so that they could feed another child.

Georgia and her Mum had just experienced the joy of giving in a brand new way. And it happened automatically as part of what used to be an 'ordinary' business transaction now made into an extraordinary one.

This new marketing business initiative is called Buy1GIVE1Free(tm), now becoming known around the world as B1G1.

It's a new global business service started in Australia and now based in Singapore. B1G1 partners any business with a worthy cause on what's known as a 'buy-1-give-1-free' basis. Every time a person buys a B1G1 Business Partner's product or service, a portion of the profit is given to cover the costs of a related product or service a B1G1 Worthy Cause Partner is offering. Customers buy one, the businesses give one. For example, you dine out, a hungry child gets fed. You buy petrol, a tree gets planted. Automatically.

Buy1GIVE1Free is a brand new form of CSR or 'Corporate Social Responsibility'. Buy1GIVE1Free converts that always passive process into an exciting one that automatically involves the customer; building business revenues so that the business can then give even more.
Masami Sato, Buy1GIVE1Free's founder says, "We are flipping Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on its head - from Corporate Social Responsibility to Customer Social Response-ability - the ability to powerfully and positively involve existing and potential customers directly in the giving process."

Traditional CSR, says Mrs. Sato, is all about 'Me, me, me'. "The traditional way of looking at corporate giving is for corporations to say what good they are doing. This simply does not resonate with their most important partners - their customers."

"Buy One Give One resonates massively with customers because they can immediately see that when they purchase something, something is given. And that changes everything."

Business leaders are looking for opportunities to give back in effective yet simple ways. B1G1 provides that with powerful 'impact-matching', a process that matches the business function directly with a charitable cause in a one-to-one way. So it's not 'we give x per cent to charity', it becomes 'every time you buy this product, this specific action occurs.' And that has a powerful impact.

Many businesses around the world are starting to utilise the power of Buy1GIVE1Free as a way to share the simple joy of giving with their customers.

In Perth, Western Australia, Blinds Couture, a household blind installation company now tells their customers that every time they buy a set of blinds they have contributed to supporting children's education and protecting their eyesight by providing lighting for a dark unlit, classroom in a rural India village allowing children to study with ease.

Earth Star Publishing , also based in Perth, supports a Singaporean worthy cause called All One Foundation that helps young girls rescued from the sex trade in Cambodia with trauma release therapy. Earth Star publish meditation CD's. Now every time one of their customers purchases a CD they automatically contribute to transforming a young girl's life.

Wilson Ong from Ultimate Communications in Singapore has partnered with B1G1 in a fascinating way. For a long time now, the company has sold 'ordinary' phone cards to Indonesian maids enabling them to phone home at cheap call rates. Now with B1G1, he's created the B1G1 phone card. And every time someone buys that card, an underprivileged child gets to go to school.

Ong puts it this way: 'For years we've wanted to find that special 'magic' that involves our customers in a different and meaningful way. We've always believed that one of the major thing about success in life is to sow seeds to benefit others. Partnering with Buy1GIVE1Free has allowed us to do that, every day in every transaction. We're creating magic for our customers and magic in the life of an underprivileged child.

Imagine the global impact that Buy1-Give1 has when applied to thousands of everyday consumer products around the globe. Just imagine for example filling up your car and a tree being planted automatically. Or buying a large screen TV and giving a cataract-blind person the gift of sight. Imagine having a meal at a restaurant and finding out you have just fed a child. Automatically.

The founders of Buy1GIVE1Free are Masami Sato (from Japan), Paul Dunn and David Anttony (who both originate from Australia). They launched B1G1 in Australia in mid 2007. Since September last year, they moved their global headquarters to Singapore to be better positioned to cope with the increasing numbers of businesses who are seeing this as a far better way of making a difference and giving back.

The B1G1 movement is growing every day. The website (www.B1G1.com) is now live.