6 unique CSR campaigns with a solid approach

While the idea of corporate social responsibility for many may translate into planting a few trees, a few brands are genuinely out to walk the talk and do a bit more in the pursuit.
Meaningful it may be, but what’s disappointing about CSR is that on several occasions it remains restricted to an overflow of information against genuine engagements with the participants.With most companies still following the monotonous old concepts and themes for CSR, it’s only a few brands that have truly managed to create interesting ideas around it. Here are6 unique CSR campaigns that struck the right cord of innovation and engagement.
1-Lee National Denim Day (Lee Jeans)
The idea of Lee National Denim Day began in 1996 when Lee Jeans invited companies all around the world to have their employees participate in a fundraiser where they could wear jeans to work one day and donate $5 apiece to a breast cancer fund. In the first year of the campaign itself, nearly 3,000 companies participated and the campaign subsequently spread from the workplace to the streets: Anyone can now take part in Denim Day, which is usually held the first Friday of October. Since its inception, the day has raised nearly $80 million for the battle against breast cancer.



2- Fledgling Wine (Twitter and Room to Read)
Twitter recently launched its own wine label to promote literacy because, as its founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams fervently believe that, “If you can’t read, you can’t tweet.” The social media website is collaborating with Crushpad, a San Francisco-based winery, and the nonprofit organization Room to Read in what they call the Fledgling Initiative. Customers can pre-order $20 bottles of pinot noir or Chardonnay and follow the wine making process via Twitter. The campaign has already generated a lot of buzz on several platforms of the social media and wine is scheduled to be bottled in August, and $5 for every bottle sold will be donated to Room to Read for literacy initiatives in India.




3- ‘Give Them Wings’ (Expedia Facebook Campaign)
Expedia, one of the world’s key online travel company had made a resolution to fly 100 street and working kids from the Butterflies NGO on a fun-filled 3 days holiday to Mumbai. The project, aptly called ‘Give them wings’ ran on Facebook where for every ‘like’ and every ‘share’, Expedia contributed Rs. 10 to their travel fund. Also out of every booking made between Dec 25, 2011 and Jan 25, 2012, Expedia contributed Rs.100 to the travel fund. This campaign was a unique idea that integrated the element of social media to increase following of the brands as well as bring a sense of pride amongst fans for being a part of unique CSR activity.




4-Campaign for Real Beauty (Dove)
Launched around the year 2004, the Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” aimed to broaden the popular definition of beauty. The campaign focused on real women of all shapes and sizes, instead of professional models, for its advertising. It previously released a viral video depicting the lengthy and unrealistic transformations a model’s photo undergoes before it ends up on a billboard and offered an interactive website where young girls can get “self-esteem certificates.” The campaign was a major success and many NGOs for women also came on board with the brand to extend their support.



5- Surf Excel India’s ‘Back To School’ Campaign On Facebook
This initiative by Surf Excel was in partnership with GuideStar India, a platform that connects you with NGOs in India. More than 160 NGOs from across India were a part of this campaign that worked on the idea that parents can donate old notebooks, textbooks and stationeries to support the education of kids who cannot afford it. The campaign made use of an app through which you can locate the nearest NGO and get in touch with them. In addition, Surf Excel donated 50p for every ‘like’ on its Facebook page during the entire campaign



6-The Bloodline Club, A Tata Docomo Initiative
Needing blood urgently is a very common phenomenon in India and despite having a large number of donors around us, sometimes we do not connect at the right time and a life is lost. The Bloodline club, an initiative by Tata Docomo was a website that noted your mobile number and blood group and one can request as well as donate blood quickly through this existing network that also uses Facebook and Twitter in an innovative and fun manner. The campaign having nearly 8 million fans made the Tata Docomo Facebook community one of the largest online communities in India.