consumer reports webwatch
Consumer Reports is more trusted than the Bible. But God knows how hard it is to get people, let alone corporations, to do a good thing. Especially big companies with big to-do lists.
“We were faced with a near-impossible task: To get the world’s most recognized companies to sign a public pledge to uphold standards of credibility and transparency for their Web sites. The campaign was a startling success….Jan has a level of commitment I have rarely seen.”
– Beau Brendler, Director, Consumer Reports WebWatch
Exec Summary
Category Thinking: Consumer protection watchdogs are often all bark.
New Insight: To get people to do a good thing, particularly those in positions of power in big brand companies, sometimes you need to show them how bad things can get (for them) if they do nothing at all. Name names and let the world know about them.
New Position: Consumer Reports WebWatch is all teeth.
Result: Got 95 pledges. 18 months ahead of schedule. On budget.
Full Case Study
Situation: Consumer Reports WebWatch, a project of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, was created through foundation funding to fix a broken trust between consumers and online brands. The objective was to win pledges from companies to commit to five basic guidelines for their websites. The charge was to accomplish this through an introductory awareness campaign. A close look into WebWatch’s business plan revealed it would lose funding, basically cease to exist, if it didn’t get 95 pledges before the end of its 3-year funding. Our business analysis redirected the effort from an awareness campaign to a tactical “Get 95 Pledges or Die” campaign.
Category Thinking: Watchdogs are all bark.
New Insight: To get people to do a good thing, particularly those in positions of power in big brand companies, sometimes you need to show them how bad things can get (for them) if they do nothing at all. There was a reason for no signed commitments in 12 months of spoken promises by C-level management at top online Web sites: they weren’t being held accountable for anything they said in a meeting. C-level management had a vague at best understanding of a “pledge” of commitment. Consumer Reports WebWatch wasn’t quite sure who the real decision makers were…. what their decision-making process and hot-buttons were. How to move Consumer Reports WebWatch and its”Pledge” to The Top of every decision-maker’s “To Do” list. Not just making the list or a short list — but the top of the list.
Solution: Name names and let the world know about them. In no unmistakable terms, show which brand names are “for consumer protection” and which “are not” by virtue of who pledges and who doesn’t pledge to uphold some simple consumer-protection rights on their Web sites. Execute a Tactical, Direct-Response campaign: Full-Size proofs presented in person, emailed, and couriered in giant envelopes directly to C-Level decision makers to elicit one immediate, top-of-the-To-Do-List response: “Holy Shit, This is Serious, Get Everybody in Here Now.” Attached to proofs was a note saying this ad was ready to run and be seen by customers, board members and shareholders in a national media blitz, including their local regional papers and such national standard bearers as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
New Position: Consumer Reports WebWatch is all teeth.
Result: Got 95 pledges. 18 months ahead of schedule. On budget.
