Copyright January 2020
Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0-9905767-9-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-9905767-9-2
The companies that perform best over time build a social purpose into their operations that is as important as their economic purpose.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
To the poor who can't sleep,
To the vanishing middle who are still distracted,
To the billionaires who are uneasy,
And to the beautiful planet thats losing patience with all of us...
Let us come together for the Common Good.
Table of Contents
A LETTER TO THE READER
Times have changed. In the past, a company could selectively choose the issues it wanted to engage in. NO MORE.
In a highly polarized world , its no longer good enough to be neutral . Furthermore, the issues are going to be chosen by the customer, your employees, and the public at large. Across the world, young people your future customers are using social media and taking to the streets to stand up against all forms of injustice. Your brand is expected to help solve, not aggravate, the worlds biggest problems.
Youre now a BRAND ACTIVIST , whether you like it or not.
This book is a call to action for business leaders. Time is running out. We know that some of the views we present in this book will not be popular, but as a poet says: In a dark time, the eye begins to see
Will you get up, stand up ?
Christian Sarkar
Philip Kotler
January 2020
www.activistbrands.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not have happened without the help and support of so many people:
Special thanks to Nancy Kotler for her patience and understanding.
Thanks to Jenny and Aryssa for the endless enthusiasm and all that editing.
Thanks to Lena, Pranab, and Monica Sarkar for your support and encouragement.
To Mikaela and Katrianna keep going!
To the artists and musicians who see trouble first you are the canaries in this coal mine.
To our many friends around the world who are truly making a difference, including the ones interviewed in this book thank you!
Finally, to this beautiful planet we hear your voice.
INTRODUCTION: WHATS THIS ALL ABOUT?
As humanity faces a growing number of existential challenges, we find that governments and institutions are not doing their jobs they are failing us precisely at the moment we need them most. The apocalypse has many horsemen: social unrest, inequality, environmental collapse, species extinction, pandemics, trade wars, and yes, old-fashioned war. Even the tired wars of ideology have returned. We are facing an ecosystem of wicked problems :
What is to be done? And what does this have to do with business? Your business?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was not enough.
The Business Roundtable has finally decided maximizing shareholder value is not such a great idea.
The World Economic Forum has joined the conscious party as well. It has released its 2020 manifesto which describes an inclusive world of stakeholder capitalism.
This too is not enough.
Why? Because the fundamental narrative of capitalism is broken. What is needed now is a new narrative, a new form of commitment and integrity from business. It is a commitment to a fair and just future for all. What we need now is activism inspired by the great movements of the past for the Common Good .
How can companies become activists? And what is the new role of business in this unsteady world?
Time is running out, as we mentioned earlier. That is why we wrote this book.
Youll discover what we mean when we say that brand activism can be regressive, and what it means to be a progressive brand activist. Youll learn how brand activism is the future of marketing, and how your company can make a difference.
Afraid of politics? Stop right there.
It is corruption of our politics that has gotten us to this point, and it will be politics or war, that ends it. We prefer politics specifically democracy.
Join us.
1. PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS FROM PETER DrUCKER
We recall these wise words from Phils friend, the late Peter Drucker . They set the stage for our thinking.
an institution, like an individual, is not an island unto itself. It has to solve the basic problem of balancing the need for concentration and for self-limitation with concern for its environment and compassion for its community.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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The corporation as a representative institution of American society must hold out the promise of adequately fulfilling the aspirations and beliefs of the American people.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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A free-enterprise society would become impossible if we had to live under total depression or total war.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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Few top executives can even imagine the hatred, contempt and fury that has been creatednot primarily among blue-collar workers who never had an exalted opinion of the 'bosses'but among their middle management and professional people.
Peter Drucker, Forbes, March 10, 1997
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(the corporation) is in trouble because it is seen increasingly by more and more people as deeply at odds with basic needs and basic values of society and community.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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An industrial society based on the corporation can only function if the corporation contributes to social stability and to the achievement of the social aims independent of the good will or the social consciousness of individual corporation managements.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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That the President can be elected in this country without having given any proof of his ability as a leader of men or as a maker of political and administrative decisions is probably the most serious weakness of our political system.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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Few people and probably no one outside the executive suite sees much reason for these very large executive compensations. There is little correlation between them and company performance.
Peter F. Drucker, The Frontiers of Management , 1986
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The Western Democracies have to realize that totalitarian fascism cannot be overcome by socialism, by capitalist democracy, or by a combination of both. It can only be overcome by a new noneconomic concept of a free and equal societya noneconomic society striving for the freedom and the equality of the individual.
Peter Drucker, The End of Economic Man , 1939
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It should therefore be asserted uncompromisingly that a monopolistic enterprise or a monopolistic industry always impairs social stability and economic efficiency. This effort of monopoly is inherent in its naturesimply because absolute power always means abuse of power.
Peter Drucker, The Concept of the Corporation , 1946
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When Hitler and Mussolini set out to re-establish authority they intend to crush all freedom and all liberties and to prove that might is right. Yet authority always meant the reign of right over might.
