Give back by washing

I love the new TV ad and campaign that Ariel are doing in conjunction with their Water Aid appeal.I can't find the TV ad, but here is the website.

Charity partnerships is absolutley what other charities should be doing in order to make 'giving back' easier for consumers. RED does it fantastically despite the large amounts of backlash it gets ( alot of people think the brand is totally self indulgent and doesn't give that much back... the self indulgent bit is true - Bono does my nut in)...check out buylesscrap.org a site set up to directly challenge the notion that consuming is the answer to poverty. I disagree with the site, although in essense it is a good way to get people to donate as extra to their consumption habits, I disagree that these partnerships are a bad idea. Consumption in Western society is impossible to stop, and if you can't beat it, join it.

The principal of putting charitable causese at the centre of consumer purchase behaviour, I think, is key, in fact it reminds me of the way we plan online brand communications/ol advertising. Brand partnerships like 'RED and American express', 'Marks and Spencers Bras & Cakes with Breakthrough breast cancer' and indeed 'Ariel with Water aid' allow consumers to donate without being forced to deliberatly reach for that bit extra from their wallets, which they are less likely to do - the donation is a seamless part of their shopping habits and probably means more donations, more often. When we go about planning online communications, the aim is very much the same, we want brand experience to be a seamless part of people's online behaviour/usership habits, rather than making them stop, think about it, and then probably not get involved with it (like when a charity volunteer stops you in the street.) I think the traditional donation model for charities is rapidly becoming out-dated. Charities should think of more ways to become part of real life behaviour; brand partnerships, donate per click sites and brands like Snow Leopard Vodka, which was set up with a charity cause at its heart, are I hope the cusp of the wave of a new and more charitable generation, where every bit of consumerism has an "ethical" slant (whether paradixical or not!).