The following is a direct quote from the forthcoming 17th edition of Essentials of Marketing and highlights examples of marketing for a better world in B2B. The boxed element in the textbook provides other examples.

While B2B buyers care about doing what’s best for their company, many organizations want to do more. Creative buyers are finding ways to help their companies and make the world a better place.

For example, South African grocery chain Woolworths (no relationship to the U.S. drugstore chain) follows its “Global Business Journey.” This strategic initiative identifies key areas where Woolworths can make sub-Saharan Africa (where it operates) a better place. For example, to achieve objectives in three of those key areas—sustainable farming, ethical sourcing, and water—Woolworths began to work closely with the farmers who grow the fruits and vegetables on its store shelves. Many of these suppliers are small businesses with limited financial resources. They regularly contend with South African droughts, so Woolworths developed its “Farming for the Future” program to train farmers on water and fertilizer management. Those who attended reduced water usage by 16 percent and cut pesticide and herbicide use in half. To give its black- and women-owned suppliers a leg up, its “Supplier and Enterprise Development Program” offers them low-cost loans. Programs like these bring Woolworths a more stable supply chain, better-quality produce, and make a better South Africa.

 

The buy one give one business model has been around for many years. One of the early advocates was Tom’s Shoes which donates a pair of shoes for someone in need for each pair it sells. Warby Parker does the same for eyeglasses and Bombas for socks. In fact, you can find 16 examples in this article and slideshow at Refinery 29. This sounds like a great example of Marketing for a Better World (#M4BW).

I thought so, and then I read “Beware companies that promote ‘buy one, give one’ charity,” Vox, October 31, 2019). After thinking about this counterpoint, I wondered if the author had perhaps overstated her case — and I will still feel good that my purchase of Bombas helped put socks on a homeless person’s feet, my All Birds helped someone get shoes, and I still think Cotopaxi is a cool company with a powerful mission. But the Vox article does raise an important question and useful point of debate for the idea of marketing for a better world. It isn’t always clear when a company makes the world a better place. And if they make some people better off at the expense of others, how do we evaluate those tradeoffs? These examples and the article might prepare you for a class debate on this topic.

A recent report from the Toy Association (you have to buy the report, but a short summary can be found here) suggests that millennial parents take values into account when buying toys for their children. For example a quote from the report indicates “Parents want to know that the products they buy will not harm the environment. Offering a toy that is biodegradable or an initiative that encourages toy sharing will appeal to today’s environmentally-conscious consumers.”

While there has always been a niche for sustainable toys (see for example a local-to-me company BeginAgain), the market is growing and now the world’s largest toy company is jumping in. Read more about LEGO’s new kit with pieces made from plant-based materials and how LEGO plans to have its products be entirely sustainable ty 2030 in “As millennial parents demand sustainable toys, Lego is perfecting plant-based bricks,” NBCNews.com, August 2, 2019).

An instructor might add this nugget of knowledge to students when discussing segmentation and targeting (Chapter 4). We open that chapter with a LEGO case, but this is so new, we don’t include the millennial parent segment in our discussion. It might also fit when you discuss Product (Chapter 8) and want a marketing for a better world spin on the topic.