I’ll answer that straight off; because businesses are judged every single day and governments once every four years (in the Netherlands, if the government manages to remain standing, which they haven’t in the last 3 governments).

We live in perilous times. As Noam Chomsky answered the question: “But why do you seem angry when you talk about state of affairs in the World?” He simply said; “Because I look at the world.” There’s nothing dystopian or negative about that, and I can’t disagree. Not only from a humanitarian point of view, as currently every day there are still 16,000 children per day dying of hunger-related issues. But also from an economic point of view as currently the entire world has an accumulated public debt of $39,033,246,601,204 (and counting at a rate of millions per minute, please check the Economists’ counter).

To clarify the above (economical) point; in the Netherlands every single citizen has a debt of $29,801,30, in the US this is $26,361,70, Italy $41,115,71 and in China $643,17. This, I might add is a mostly artificially maintained debt as centralised banks runs the money supply and thereby control scarcity.

But that’s not my point, because I’m not an economist nor do I aspire to be.

What I’m here to put forward is that business will be a more fundamental instrument in the changes I believe we need to see within our societies at large. Business is judged on a day-to-day basis, and increasingly less on the product and more on the experience that is offered by any particular brand. Time has become the most valuable resource of the Western world and if you as a company/brand wish to take some from me you’ll have to be damn creative and offer me something that makes me feel I have point one gained ‘something’, I can share this with someone (you’ll need to enable me to do so), that does not negatively impact the planet (or any creatures upon it; people and planet before profit) and most importantly, you’ll have to be honest, because if you’re not, I’ll tell everyone.

That on the other hand doesn’t mean you’ll have to be perfect, nobody is, but tell us what it is that you wish to improve on and perhaps we can help you, if you ask us nicely.

My generation, is being catagorised as Generation G, Generation Y and Millennials. What makes us different to all consumers you’ve had to entice with your stuff , services or status you have marketed for us before; is that we don’t really care about what you think about yourself (no matter how loud you shout). Nor do we fit in either of the categorisations X’ers have devised for themselves to make sense of it all. Our generation is the most heterogeneous, racially and ethnically diverse, liberal and informed, the world has ever seen and we are currently 25% of US population, over 50% of the middle east and also make up about 50% of China’s workforce.

We care about how you are relevant to our lives, how you will help us in the uphill battle we are faced with in terms of the ecological, societal and financial issues. Our future is tainted with issues surrounding; energy in the broadest sense, unsustainable financial structures, inadequate governance, agricultural industrialisation and declining eco-diversity (which we know is vital for planetary balance), increased natural activity, and failing educational systems.

But we are also very hopeful and reward brands that approach the world the way we like it and show empathic behaviour.

Just some numbers from Trendwatching.com

  • 71% of people “make it a point to buy brands from companies whose values are similar to my own.” (Source: Young & Rubicam, August 2010.)
  • In 2006, ‘strong financial performance’ was the third most important factor for US consumers in determining corporate reputation. By 2010, financial returns had fallen to the bottom of Edelman’s rankings, while ‘transparent and honest practices’ and ‘company I can trust’ were the two most important. (Source: Edelman Trust Barometer, 2010.)
  • 87% of UK consumers expect companies to consider societal interests equal to business interests, while 78% of Indian, 77% of Chinese and 80% of Brazilian consumers prefer brands that support good causes. (Source: Edelman, November 2010.)

As you see our outlook on the world leads us to make choices that take the ‘grander scheme of things’ into consideration. And you can help us in doing so. And if you do so, we’ll tell our friends whom we listen to for advice (as well as our parents by the way, for instance; my dad stopped drinking diet-coke -I got him researching aspartame).

Your task is to give us the platform and tools upon/with which we can show support for the (social) objectives you have chosen to work on, if you do so, we’ll help you achieve them.

Game on.

Peace, L