Loads of Hope

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Procter & Gamble’s Tide brand team saw a real opportunity to innovate how they connect with consumers and engage them to provide meaningful help to those in need.

Tide “Loads of Hope” was created to bring a clean start to New Orleans, enabling thousands of families to have their laundry washed daily throughout the region at a mobile laundry truck. The vehicle incorporates 32 washing machines and dryers, and with the help of staff washed 30 loads a day. That’s the average number of loads a

family does in a year. So far, the trcuk has washed 30,000 loads of laundry in New Orleans.

A few years and thousands of loads later, Tide’s Clean Start campaign would head to San Diego to uplift and cleanse many whose homes were destroyed in the fires of 2007.

According to Kash Shaikh, Tide’s Influence Marketing Manager, this cause related marketing campaign enabled them to have a “relevant and ownable program.” “We learned from relief organizations that in the aftermath of a disaster clean clothing

closely followed the essentials of food, shelter and water. We wanted to renew a sense of hope by giving people a clean start to their day with a clean shirt and a clean pair of jeans.”

Tide Clean Start has evolved beyond clean clothes to help build homes for displaced families and engage consumers to raise funds with the sale of vintage t-shirts. Next, the Tide brand plans to involve its customers in selecting future locations for the mobile laundry truck to bring others hope and a clean start.

DHL Delivering Help

When the world’s largest shipper looks to deliver on its corporate citizenship promise, DHL selects charitable initiatives that leverage corporate assets and its core business services. While the company is glad to get media coverage for these efforts, their focus is on generating goodwill with communities where they do business and with their customers.

One of DHL’s corporate citizenship priorities is disaster relief and recovery. Among its initiatives, the company has deployed its Americas Disaster Response Team (DRT), a network of employee volunteers who are trained and ready to deploy at a moment’s notice in the aftermath of a natural disaster. DRT is part of DHL’s strategic partnership with the United Nation’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.

Examples of DHL’s strategic charitable activities:

Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2004: headed an Airport Emergency Team that managed 7,000 tons of incoming relief goods from 160 flights arriving to Colombo Airport in Sri Lanka
Hurricane Wilma, 2005: used one of its own Boeing 747s to delivery 40,000 lbs of water to South Floridians in need
Hurricane Katrina, 2005: volunteer experts managed delivery of 2,370 tons of relief supplies from 35 charter flights arriving into Little Rock, AR for final delivery to the Gulf Coast
South Asian Earthquake in Pakistan and India, 2005: experts were engaged in handling 9,000 tons of relief goods
Peru Earthquake 2007: deployed its DRT just 72 hours after a 7.9 earthquake and in 10 days, DHL’s volunteers processed over 2,740 tons of incoming relief goods
Bangladesh cyclone and flooding in Mexico (2007), Ecuador and Bolivia (2008): partnered with Operation Blessing International to ship and handle customs clearance for water purification systems

Dogs Rule

The Pedigree Adoption Drive reveals the sad truth that more than four million dogs are homeless and nearly half never find a home. “As a brand that helps consumers provide excellent care for their pets, we wanted to find

something that resonates with the brand and consumers,” according to Pedigree spokesperson Debra Fair. For the fourth year, Pedigree is donating a portion of proceeds to help find loving homes for dogs in shelters.

The Adoption Drive seeks to activate volunteers and raise awareness of the needs of homeless dogs. Its 2008 campaign leveraged Hollywood and the dog lover community:

A branded segment on the Celebrity Apprentice TV program involved Pedigree’s vice president presenting a challenge to create a PSA about dog adoption.
New dog adoption commercials were revealed at the annual Westminster Kennel Club show. Each tells the story about how great dogs at no fault of their own end up in shelters.
Kate Walsh served as celebrity spokesperson to generate awareness for dog adoption with a ribbon cutting at the grand opening of a temporary pop-up store in Times Square, and thru appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and on a satellite media tour of local TV stations across America.

Pedigree is committed to present their brand as a call to action to help homeless dogs and provide the best care for your pets. The call to action at www.dogsrule.com: Adopt.

Volunteer. Donate. This year, the newly established Pedigree Adoption Drive Foundation will raise and disseminate funds to help local shelters and rescue operations.