CSRwire Member Spotlight: The SOAP Group

The SOAP Group (SOAP stands for Sustainable Organization Advocacy Partners) defines itself as a “creative communications firm specialized in architecting brands and promotions that activate sustainability and social justice”. Founded in 2003, SOAP Group’s client base consists evenly of Government, Non-Profit and Not-only-for-Profit organizations. The President of The SOAP Group is John Rooks. He has a Masters in writing and cultural theory and has worked in the environmental consulting and marketing/advertising industry for nearly 20 years. In Mr. Rooks’ words:

“We are a B Corp. Our core services are: Branding, Marketing Strategy, PR, Interactive and Stunts. BUT the overarching service is helping organizations tell (capital A) Authentic stories about themselves.”

What exactly is meant by capital A Authentic? A principal observation motivating The SOAP Group is that there is an unfavorable disparity between the content of sustainability marketing and the methods of marketing itself. In short, Mr. Rooks believes marketing is all too often a mere mouthpiece for sustainability, rather than (as it would ideally be) an actual part of what he calls the sustainability equation.

Mr. Rooks outlines three “value points” by which the success of promotion ought to be judged. The first is Corporate Return on Investment, i.e. how much was sold? The second is Civic Return on Impact, i.e. how many people were helped? How many cars were taken off the road? How much land was saved? The third is Cultural Return on Intention, i.e. did the promotion do something to alter the cultural sensibility in regard to sustainability and social justice in a positive, forward-moving way?

“If Promotion can do those things,” says Mr. Rooks, “then finally marketing will be part of the sustainability equation, rather than just a mouthpiece for sustainability. Defining brands and pulling off promotions like this might just make green washing impossible. Rather than marketing talking about sustainability, it will be doing it”.

“We need to make our marketing about something bigger than being sustainable or socially just. It has become about being Authentic.”

The strategy The SOAP Group has implemented to institute authenticity as a platform is called More Than Promote. Mr. Rooks calls the initiative “a strategic framework that engineers Corporate, Civic and Cultural value into product promotion”. It is Mr. Rooks’ hope that More Than Promote will “help brands become cultural fabric,” rather than most campaigns, “which are, at best, a swatch”.

More Than Promote invites visitors to the website (www.morethanpromote.com) to take the following pledge: “Wherever and whenever possible I will develop promotion that has social significance. I will architect campaigns that have corporate, civic and cultural value”. In its own words, More Than Promote “is both a campaign and a philosophy launched by The SOAP Group in an effort to provide marketing professionals with the language and tools to become real participants in triple bottom line activation”. More Than Promote – The Book is set to be published in 2010 and visitors to the website are invited to contact More Than Promote with any promotions they would like to be considered for inclusion therein. These submissions are also entered into the More Than Promote Award Competition.

Looking to the future, Mr. Rooks predicts there will be fewer companies but just as many consumers. The SOAP Group believes that “the battle for their loyalty and trust (and money) will be based in authenticity, rather than the ‘flash, pop and whirl’ smoke and mirror marketing that built the ad industry”.

“I think the opportunity and the future of branding will be in the ability to generate authentic brand experiences,” says Mr. Rooks. He is careful to point out that a promotion strategy founded on authenticity and experience goes against the grain of the foundations of advertising as we know it. Most advertising, Mr. Rooks observes, “is based in metaphor”.

The SOAP Group is setting a noteworthy example in confronting the essential obstacles between now and a sustainable future. Rather than seeking out quick, temporary solutions to the symptoms of unsustainable business, they are working at identifying the philosophy that got us where we are. If business is unsustainable, it is because its philosophy is unsustainable. Though immensely difficult, it is necessary for us to change our thinking in order to change our results.

Mr. Rooks discusses his ideas at length on his blog: ecohegemony.com.