Corporate Citizenship News for August 4, 2010

Company Corporate Citizenship & Cause Marketing News

 

Toyota Reduces Fuel Consumption with a (Virtual) Glass of Water

Our team here at Edelman is generally a fan of tech gadgets, so we were excited to see Toyota Sweden’s new free iPhone app A Glass of Water, which can be downloaded from the Toyota Sweden website or the iTunes store.   A virtual glass of water on the iPhone screen reacts to sudden acceleration or braking. The amount of water that splashes out of the glass is recorded so the driver can assess their performance at the end of the trip. The goal of the application is to provide drivers with a pleasurable, yet challenging way to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The development of this app marks one more step toward Toyota’s goal of “reducing CO2 emissions by promoting the development of technologies to achieve the best fuel efficiency performance in each country and region.” For more information, visit Toyota’s Sustainable Development CSR site.

 

 

Samsung Prepares for Ramadan through Cause-Marketing

Samsung Electronics* has announced a new campaign to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan in the United Arab Emirates through a philanthropic collaboration with the nonprofit Beit Al Khair.  Samsung will donate a specified amount for certain products that consumers purchase through Samsung’s distributors in the UAE.  Samsung has also developed a micrositeto gather insights from consumers by asking them to share their special Ramadan moments.  According to Marco Vocale, Head of Corporate Marketing, Samsung Gulf Electronics, “Ramadan is a time of giving and the Holy Month is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility and ongoing dedication to helping those in need.”

 

Holiday-related cause marketing is nothing new in the U.S., and we expect to see it increase in the UAE.  In The Sustainability Advisory Group’s 2010 survey, What do Middle Eastern Executives Think about CSR?, 62% of regional executives believe that CSR is more important in the current economic climate, compared to 54% in 2009.