We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media To Build a Better World

by Simon Mainwaring Narrated by John Lee

Overview

A social media expert with global experience with many of the world's biggest brands-including Nike, Toyota, and Motorola-Simon Mainwaring offers a visionary new practice in which brands leverage social media to earn consumer goodwill, loyalty, and profit, while creating a third pillar of sustainable social change through conscious contributions from customer purchases.



These innovative private sector partnerships answer perhaps the most pressing issue facing business and thought leaders today: how to practice capitalism in a way that satisfies the need for both profit and a healthy, sustainable planet. Mainwaring provides case studies from companies such as P&G, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Nike, Whole Foods, Patagonia, and Nestlé, as well as a bold plan for how corporations need to rethink their strategies.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Can big business be socially responsible? Brand consulting expert Mainwaring certainly thinks so. He believes new technologies aren't merely making life easier, they're making us better: in allowing us to connect with each other across geographic, cultural, and language barriers, the Internet and social media might very well be increasing our capacity for empathy. His "We First" ethos proposes cooperation between governments, philanthropies, and capitalist corporations to achieve meaningful social transformation. Social media—viral, borderless—is the perfect vehicle to promote "contributory consumerism," and Mainwaring has fascinating suggestions for technological innovation and systemic change: he proposes a "Global Brand Initiative": an association of corporate brands and their advertising partners and competitors that willingly work together (Coke with Pepsi, Greenpeace with WWF, the U.S. with China) to advance corporate social responsibility and charitable donations. Tall orders, all—but the author's enthusiasm and evidence make an excellent (and counterintuitive) case for big business's ability to make major strides in creating a more equitable world. (June)

From the Publisher

"A must-[listen] for those who want to understand and engage the power and potential of social media to promote a healthier, more equitable world." ---Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews

A prolific blogger and social media consultant uses his online expertise to provide a framework for how businesses, consumers and social media can combine to make a better world.

Mainwaring is adamant that business as usual cannot be sustained in this era of corporate greed and a warming planet. The author's vision for a "We First" society, named after the social media consultancy company he founded, would have businesses take greater steps toward sustainability and social responsibility. In an age of growing interconnectivity, consumers, he writes, are vocal about wanting their purchases to promote social good. Corporations, whether altruistically or otherwise, have caught on and geared their brands to promote these values in order to maintain their consumer base. As a result, the private sector has begun to shift away from self-focused policies to those that include volunteerism, donations and sustainable manufacturing, building community and profits. But when contrasting the $20 billion in corporate donations to the trillions made in profits, plainly a great deal more can and needs to be done. The author offers clearly written and well-informed solutions, and end-of-chapter synopses and an appended reference guide flesh out his vision.

A must-read for those who want to understand and engage the power and potential of social media to promote a healthier, more equitable world.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170957651
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/30/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

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