External Blog: http://www.canadianmarketingblog.com/archives/2011/11/what_we_can_learn_from_the_occ.html

Merril Mascarenhas hits the nail right on the head – the strongest modern day marketing campaign doesn’t involve mass marketing. Rather, it involves social activist marketing. With the internet becoming more of a staple, people become more aware of issues around the world and the number of social activists increases. This trend influences lifestyles, including purchasing decisions – people are more likely to factor social responsibility into their decision making process, and therefore a company with a strong CSR strategy will have a competitive advantage.

So how does this fit into the Occupy movement?

Most people will agree that the movement is a strange one that is unlikely to achieve anything as it has no central aim and no demands – so why is it so successful? How can so many people (at the time of this blog post approximately 2609 towns had occupy movements) have such deep rooted support for a cause that has no direction?

The answer lies within social activist marketing. As much as most protesters do not know what the end goal is, they are united by a common theme that they care deeply about – being the 99%. It’s a big theme that, as the article states, “is above a specific need, want, or desire” – and it works. It attracts people and draws them in, which brings us back to marketing and CSR – attracting people and drawing them in are exactly what marketing aims to do, and CSR provides the larger theme or purpose. If a company wishes to be successful in the long run, it needs these two departments to work together to create a campaign that truly attracts the heart of the consumer.