Going for "Good"

Good is in. And big brands want to be associated with goodness. In just the last week, ebay launched WorldofGood.com, Weight Watchers launched Lose for Good, and now Starbucks is launching Good Sheet.

What’s going on? Why the sudden focus on good. We’ve talked before about do-good consumerism. My colleague, Carol Phillips, who knows millennials calls them a generation that seeks to make a difference. These promotions are aimed at fulfilling that aspiration.

I’ve already written about World of Good. Lose for Good is aimed at turning Weight Watchers' customers weight loss into weight gains for those in need. For each pound lost at Weight Watchers during the 6-week promotion, the company is donating a pound of food to Share Our Strength, which works to make sure no child in America grows up hungry, and Action Against Hunger, which provides immediate and long-term solutions for hunger to people around the world.

Good Sheet is a brand new, free newspaper to be distributed at Starbucks that the company hopes will start conversations among its visitors – while they’re in the store or after they leave. The promotion launches just in time for the November election and features an article a week about a different election topic.

The NY Times reported today that Good Sheet will present the facts without taking sides in the discussion. Starbucks is seen as fairly liberal. So, rather than produce the newspaper itself, the company turned to Good Magazine, a 2 year old West Hollywood publisher. The separation may be important in ensuring customers that the voice of Good Sheet is truly independent.

Different topics may resonate more in different communities, or Starbucks locations. For example, customers in stores in retirement communities may have lively conversations about health care or shoring up Social Security while those in communities with young families may spark to issues like public education.

Good Sheet seems poised to build on Starbucks’ position as the third place, the one in addition to home and work. In this third place, just maybe we’ll have an opportunity to learn about the issues and have a good conversation over a cup of coffee. Seems like a good move.

Doing a World of Good

According to the Fair Trade Labelling Organizations International, consumers spent over 2.3 billion euros on Fairtrade certified products in 2007. This represents a 47% increase on the previous year and means that over 1.5 million producers and workers in 58 developing countries now benefit from Fairtrade sales.

Into this growing opportunity space, welcome World of Good Marketplace, a new-to-the-world partnership between ebay and fairtrade wholesaler World of Good, Inc. The business, called WorldofGood.com, enables users to fulfill their desire to own authentic, responsibly made and sold products and know the stories behind them. In millennial perfect pitch, WorldofGood.com uses e-commerce to promote social responsibility globally.

Launched September 2, 2008, WorldofGood.com brings to users’ fingertips products from all over the world that are verified as People- and Eco-Positive by independent trust certifiers. Well-known organizations like 10,000 Villages, Novica and World of Good, Inc. can participate, and so can individual artisans and small importers of fair trade goods. To build confidence in the marketplace, all of the products on WorldofGood.com have a trust certification and each product’s and producer’s impact is documented. “Trustology” is the hierarchy of trust certifications at the product, producer, and seller levels. “Goodprint” reports the impact on people, the environment, animals and the causes the producer supports so that buyers can select the kind of impact their consumption has on the world.

The concept is compelling, trend-right, and well-intentioned. The functionality is undoubtedly great, given the talent at ebay. Huge kudos to World of Good, Inc. and ebay.

However, this site is a cold e-commerce site. It lacks charm, ethnicity and visual expression equal to the aspirations underlying the concept. Producer profiles and product backstories are missing, too. A few are available in a PDF buried in the "media kit" which is really missing the point. These can, and hopefully will, be added to the commerce site soon. Emotional connections are key to drawing users in and keeping them engaged. The intellectual appeal is powerful, but will only last so long.

So, here’s my advice: take the weekend off to celebrate. Then, get back to work defining and building a branded look and feel and content worthy of the vision of this exciting new concept.