PurPle: A Year in Review

This week as we kick off our role as title sponsor of the Cause Marketing Forum 2013, we would like to take a moment to look back on the last year and reflect on all of the tremendous change and growth that it is has brought for PurPle (Purpose + People).

In May 2012, at last year’s Cause Marketing Forum, MSLGROUP launched PurPle – a new global offering aimed at helping business leaders drive positive impacts by catalyzing collaborative social innovation and grassroots change movements. The specialty combines the agency’s CSR, Cause Marketing, Sustainability, Citizenship and Philanthropy expertise and over 100+ experts around the globe to deliver best-in-class strategy, approaches, ideas and execution in the broad corporate purpose areas of health, environment, education and human potential.

Since that launch one year ago, the PurPle practice has hit many meaningful milestones both through global client work and thought leadership opportunities. Each of these steps along the way has helped us to continue to lead the conversation around integrating purpose + people.

A few of our proudest client moments over the past year include:

• We worked with Kellogg’s to develop a global purpose-driven platform, “Breakfast for Better Days,” which leveraged existing cause commitments to tell a holistic and powerful story.
• Through storytelling, the PurPle team continues to help ANN INC. bring to life the company’s purpose of “helping women put their best selves forward every day” – from the women who make the clothes, to the women who sell their clothes, to the women who buy their clothes.
• We worked with Greif to develop a platform for a new water backpack, PackH20, for use in developing countries and disaster zones. Within a year, MSLGROUP helped PackH20 reach a global audience and earn prestigious awards.
• Through a fully integrated marketing solution which included PR, in-store, digital, out of home, print, email, social, PSA, website and partnership materials, MSLGROUP is working with March of Dimes to drive deeper engagement and donations with the imbornto campaign. The program is off to a fantastic start with a 128% increase in partnership income from the previous year, and an over 600% increase in web traffic.

Throughout the year, MSLGROUP’s PurPle team also took the time out from client work to participate in industry-wide thought leadership events and produce impactful research on global social innovation. These undertakings included:

• In October 2012, we had the opportunity to lead a global purpose-inspired panel at the Holmes Report’s Global PR Summit in Miami. Focused on what it takes to be a good corporate citizen, the panel posed the question, are you PurPle?
• In March 2013, we released the PurPle Index – a ranking of the global Fortune 100 companies that measures how successfully they engage people around their purpose online.
• Finally, in April 2013, almost one year after launching PurPle, we were honored with the PR Service of the Year in North America Sabre Award.

These milestones and moments in time have validated what we knew all along – that society has changed. People are seeking meaningful organizations, and are demanding that businesses have a clear and defined purpose. To stay competitive in today’s global market, businesses have to create collaborative social innovation, a shared purpose to inspire people, platforms to organize people, programs to energize people, and stories to spark participation and action. Purpose is about opportunity and potential. People make it real with their passion and insights.

Are you PurPle? For more information contact me, Scott Beaudoin, Global Director, Purple (Purpose + People) at scott.beaudoin@mslgroup.com.