Kotler spurs companies on CSR to solve social ills

Marketing guru Philip Kotler yesterday urged Bangladeshi companies to focus on one social cause, not many, as part of their corporate social responsibility as it will enable them to increase brand value and contribute more to the society.
Spending a small amount of money for various different causes will ultimately fail to produce the desired result, Kotler said. “A smart company wanting to be a good citizen should really choose one cause.”
“It is not bad to spend money for different causes, but it has to have a focus,” said Kotler at a press briefing on the sidelines of the World Marketing Summit at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
He said a company can take up one cause among a number of social issues such as water, environment, education, health and nutritious food as part of corporate social responsibility.
A number of leading global companies have already started practising the concept of enhancing their brand image by contributing to the society.
Motorola, for example, has already invested a lot of money in engineering schools to develop quality human resources as corporate social responsibility.
It has undertaken the initiative as it needs good engineers. As a result, it has been able to contribute to the society and get talented people to run the organization, he said.
He said a beverage company can focus on improving the water quality in Bangladesh by carrying out innovative campaigns to create awareness among people.
Kotler said the World Marketing Summit wants to give some messages on how marketing can solve social problems.
Social marketing can work effectively to deal with a number of social issues such as smoking and alcoholism.
He said tobacco is not only expensive for the poor people, but brings health hazards.
The marketing guru said children are the best medium for correcting the bad behaviour of their parents.
“Let us use children as ambassadors to correct the bad or wrong behaviour of the parents as a social marketing tool,” Kotler added.
On being ethical in marketing, he urged the marketers to refrain from exaggeration in advertising as too much exaggeration is against the ethics.
Besides, consumers have now more power to point out the truth to the masses if they fail to get the desired benefits an advertisement might claim.