As I mentioned in my last post of last year, “The Warm and Fuzzy Side of the Anti-Corporate Movement,” I would be back on Telofski.com after the first of the year. And here I am. You are now reading the “2010 Season Premier.”
Happy New Year.
Around the time of my “2009 Season Finale,” I caught an article on FoxNews.com about a company called CREDO. The article, titled “Wireless Company Mixes Liberal Politics with Business,” intrigued me. Author Stephen Clark writes about this wireless phone company who positions itself as “an agent of social change.” Stephen says that “It (CREDO) pitches its mobile phone services with a vow to fight for ‘real’ health care reform, free speech, peace and the environment.”
Continuing from the article, CREDO has reported that it has raised $63 million for liberal causes such as Doctors Without Borders, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, and Earthjustice. That’s a lot of money to be finding its way to various advocacy groups, some of which aren’t very business-friendly.
In the article, the main theme is whether or not this type of business strategy is sustainable (no pun intended). Within the article are quoted marketing experts with some saying “yes” while others say “no.” The naysayers make their case by stating the obvious strategic view that running a company based on a political agenda will alienate too many potential customers. Additionally, the naysayers cite that a wireless company the size of CREDO, regardless of their positioning strategy, will have a difficult time up against such corporate giants as AT&T or Verizon. While, on the other side, the proponents say that given the level of political rancor and political polarization presently in the country, a “highly partisan” approach could be successful.
The naysayers seem to intimate that CREDO is crazy, in a marketing sense. And yes, I must say that I agree. I think that CREDO might be crazy, but crazy like a fox (again, no pun intended). I’d have to see some marketing research data on this question in order to be sure, but my WAG* on this would be that there is a large enough market segment out there for CREDO to attract, a segment consisting of the political partisanship to which CREDO orients, so that such a marketing strategy may have legs. My WAG is based on my estimate that there are probably at least tens of millions of far-left, or at least left-leaning, adults in the United States, all of which might prefer to send their monthly wireless dollars to a company which will use them to further a political agenda, rather than enrich stockholders.
If you read this blog regularly, you will know that my professional opinion is the opposite; I think companies should enrich stockholders and not causes. But this orientation is not the sort that motivates CREDO, nor the people in the market segment that they target. And it is their motivation, not mine, that is critical within this discussion.
Within the United States, with its current leaning to things liberal, a marketing strategy like that of CREDO might actually work, or work at least well enough so that they can survive while they support various causes. One condition for success in this model is that the company would most certainly need to be privately-held, but I see no indication that CREDO is publicly-held.
Another condition for success is that a strategic operation of this sort would need to leverage social media. CREDO seems to be doing that. With about 38,000 fans on their Facebook page they’ve made a good start. Although, their Twitter following is around 3500 (about the same as mine, as of the date of this post), with a little effort they could increase that number and use the additional audience to advantage.
No. I have to disagree with the marketing naysayers. This one might have legs. This strategy may contribute to filling the bank accounts of many activist organizations. Conditions in macro-environment, like the aforementioned political situation, line up in their favor. And if this strategy does take off, then it will literally be an example of using a business against the interests of business.
* Note: WAG is defined as a “wild-assed guess.”
