BEFORE WE BEGIN

This is the fourth in a series of white papers we plan to publish this year capturing and exploring interesting happenings in the digital and social worlds. Our other papers have included 20 Interesting Things: Foursquare; 20 Interesting Things: Augmented Reality; and 20 Interesting Things: Crowdsourcing.

Goodness is one of the trends we covered last fall in our 10 Trends To Watch In 2010 piece. We will revisit a few of these examples and add many new ones.

Goodness paragraph to be back filled later.

#1 DISNEY

In 2010, Disney Parks in Florida and California will offer free admission to up to 1 million guests who have completed a day of volunteer work in their local communities through the “Give A Day, Get a Disney Day” program.

Disney is partnering with HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities, to connect people with projects and to certify that the work was done. Learn more here.

Source: ABCnews.com

#2 METHOD

Cleaning-products maker Method has started touring the streets of New York with its “Wash Smart, Give Smart” truck to encourage people to donate clothing.

Source: Springwise

Through a partnership with Goodwill, Method has equipped a glass-walled truck with a mobile laundry room that will be used to wash donated clothes. Consumers need only drop off their new or gently used items, and the mobile laundry team will take care of washing and drying them before delivering them to New York Goodwill locations to be resold. Learn more here.

#3 BOUNTY

Bounty is working in partnership with volunteers from HandsOn Network and Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation to launch the Make a Clean Difference program.

Actress Gabrielle Union is the spokeswoman for the clean scheme, joining other celebrities like Mary J. Blige and Russell Simmons who will aid in transforming learning environments in 30 schools in 10 cities.

Source: Iconoculture

Participants will clean cafeterias and plant greenery. Also, Rush volunteer artists will teach children and volunteers to paint school murals that promote creativity. Learn more here.

#4 TOMS SHOES

In 2006, Toms Shoes started their One For One program, giving a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. Last fall they went a step further, allowing customers to help deliver the donated shoes. The first donation stop was Argentina, with future shoe drops scheduled for Ethiopia, South Africa and the U.S. Learn more here.

#5 CAUSEWORLD

Would you check in to a box of Tampax like you’d check in to a bar on Foursquare? How about a jar of Miracle Whip? P&G, Kraft and a Silicon Valley start-up are betting you will, well, at least for charity.

CauseWorld is a mash-up of location-based game apps such as Foursquare, GoWalla or Loopt with cause marketing, and has added checking into actual products in retail stores as the newest way for consumers to use mobile-check-in services to earn money for charity. Learn more here.

Source: adage.com

#6 OSCAR MAYER

The Oscar Mayer Good Mood Mission campaign turns America’s good moods into pounds of food for Feeding America. Oscar Mayer recently kicked off the campaign with a donation to Feeding America with the financial equivalent of 1 million pounds.

Source: food4hungry.org

In addition, for every “good mood moment” America creates or shares on www.GoodMoodMission.com, Oscar Mayer will donate actual food (available on our Choice System during the duration of the campaign) to reach its total goal of 2 million pounds. Learn more here and here.

#7 GIVEMETAP

GiveMeTap has signed up numerous restaurants and cafés willing to supply free access to clean tap water; said providers can be located via PC or smart phone using GiveMeTap’s mapping service.

In order to partake, consumers need to be carrying one of GiveMeTap’s branded aluminum bottles, which are priced at GBP 7. The reason? Taking a global view of the need for water, GiveMeTap uses 70% of the profits from those sales to fund independent water projects in regions where they’re most needed. Learn more here.

Source: Springwise

#8 CHOOSE CHANGE ATM

Choose Change ATM is a New York-based venture that empowers people to support their charity while doing an ATM transaction. Choose Change branded ATMs let users donate $1 out of the transaction fees to charity from every withdrawal. The users get to choose where their donation will go from a list of eight charitable organizations. Learn more here.

Source: PSFK.com

#9 PEPSI

Pepsi-Cola is running an ambitious campaign named the Pepsi Refresh Project, aimed at doing well by doing good. The brand is dedicating at least $20 million through the end of the year for donations to local organizations and causes proposed by the public in realms like health, arts and culture, the environment and education. Learn more here.

Source: The New York Times

#10 SERVUS CREDIT UNION

A Canadian credit union, Servus, recently gave its members $200,000 in $10 bills and asked them to create a “feel good ripple” by using the $10 to make someone’s day (i.e., buying flowers for the grocery store clerk, paying for the coffee/meal of the car behind them at a drive-thru, giving it to a homeless shelter, etc.). Learn more here.

Source: Springwise

#11 FIGS

An accessory brand and philanthropic venture rolled into one, the California-based label FIGS produces ties that look good and do good. The company uses profits from the sales of its neckwear to help kids in developing nations get an education.

As it turns out, many of the world’s impoverished children are unable to attend schools in their regions because they cannot afford the attire required by the exceptionally strict dresscodes. To combat this, FIGS, through its Threads for Threads program, donates a school uniform for every tie sold, providing these same kids an opportunity to receive the education they would otherwise be denied. Learn more here.

Source: commercewithaconscience.info

#12 PROCRASDONATE

A website that helps you do good while . . . not doing much of anything else. Well, nothing else productive, at least. ProcrasDonate is a site that combines online procrastinating with donating to a worthy cause.

Users register, then label their “procrastination” websites (i.e. Facebook and Twitter, gossip sites, etc.). Every hour they spend on one of these sites equals a donation to the charity of their choice. Learn more here.

Source: geeksugar.com

#13 BOOM BOOM CARDS

Boom Boom! Cards, initially released in 2007, come in decks of 26 with a revolutionary act of kindness printed on each card. Participants “play” a card by performing the assigned good deed and later tell their story by posting it on the companion website’s map with uploaded pictures and video before giving the card away and watching where it goes next. Learn more here.

Source: FastCompany.com

#14 NEEDS FOR SALE

Awhile back, Christine Santora and Justin Gignac launched Wants For Sale, a site where they sell paintings of things that they want, at the cost of the real item. So a painting of a slice of pizza is only $3 while a Nintendo Wii painting goes for $270.92.

After starting the project, the couple realized there was something they both really wanted — the ability to help others. With that in mind, they launched another site, Needs For Sale which follows the same idea as the Wants series, but 100% of the profits go to charity.

The Needs paintings will support various nonprofits and depict images representing what the couple wants to give to someone in need. For example, Habitat for Humanity says a $100 donation buys a kitchen sink, so the couple will paint a sink and sell it for $100. Learn more here and here.

Source: coolhunting.com

#15 BABY TERESA

Launched in September, Australian baby onesie manufacturer Baby Teresa has a very simple premise for customers: Buy one of our onesies and we will donate one to a baby in need (very similar to the previous Toms Shoes and Figs examples). Their goal is to help clothe a baby in every country in the world. Learn more here and here.

Source: Springwise

#16 THE 15 BELOW JACKET

Being homeless would suck, but being homeless in Canada during the winter would suck even harder. A Toronto company aims to help around 3,000 of these unfortunate souls using their new 15 Below Jacket.

The lightweight jacket was designed to be waterproof, windproof and capable of withstanding extreme cold temperatures with the help of pockets that can be insulated with readily-available crumpled newspaper. Learn more here.

Source: gizmodo.com

#17 SOCCKET

The sOccket is a soccer ball that generates and stores energy while it’s being kicked around. It generates enough energy to power an LED light or charge a small electronic device, which may not seem like much power. But in Africa, it could literally mean the difference between life and death.

Using a “buy one-give one” model, the sOccket team hopes to sell the ball in Western markets, as a high-end tech gadget, then use the profits to distribute the balls at little or no cost in poor countries through development organizations like Whizz Kids United. Learn more here.

Source: planetgreen.com

#18 HAITI RELIEF MOBILE DONATIONSIn the largest mobile-donation movement in history, around 25% of all money donated to Haitian relief efforts were done by mobile. At peak periods, more than $10,000 per minute was donated, usually in increments of $5 or $10 at a time. Learn more here.

Sources: atelier-us.com and gomonews.com (picture)

#19 FARMVILLE, MAFIA WARS, ZYNGA POKERTogether these Facebook-based games reach more than 40 million daily users. After the Haiti earthquake, players of those games were able to purchase limited-edition in-game social goods with 100% of the proceeds going toward supporting emergency aid in Haiti.

Within FarmVille, there’s white corn that will not wither if left unattended for a week; in Mafia Wars, there’s a Haitian drum. Zynga Poker fans, meanwhile, can buy a special chip package in exchange for a rare premium item. Learn more here.

Source: Springwise.com

#20 CELLARTHIEF

On CellarThief, only three wines are sold at any given time, with those wines being available for a limited time or until sold out.

With a deep commitment to help bring water to people worldwide who lack access, CellarThief donates 100 days of clean drinking water for every bottle of wine sold on the site. Further, CellarThief creates a positive social experience through donating an additional amount of water for every wine that is sold out before time runs out. Learn more here.

Source: PRWeb.com

WRAP-UP

There is no question that it has been a rough 18 to 24 months for brands and consumers alike, which has stretched the limits of niceness and even charitable giving for many.

While the U.S. always has seen a strong level of volunteerism and philanthropy from consumers and brands, a new evolution is taking shape that can help remind consumers about the everyday goodness they can participate in.

This new evolution of goodness seems based in the idea of brands empowering their customers to be both the giver and receiver of goodness versus the brand doing the giving. At the core of it is the simple act of making someone smile through a nice gesture or simple deed. For the most part, smaller and emerging brands seem to be catching on faster than most bigger, established brands.

CONTACT AND MORE INFORMATION

If you are interested in learning more about Luckie & Company and how we think, please visit our website, www.luckie.com, and check out our 10 Trends to Watch in 2010.

We publish five monthly newsletters. Four “Trend Tracker” newsletters that take a quick look at what’s new and interesting in the Banking, Snacking, Telecom and Tourism industries and one “Generational News & Views” newsletter that takes a quick topical look into the lives of Gen Y, Gen X and Baby Boomers.

If you would like a complimentary subscription to any of these newsletters, please e-mail david.stutts@luckie.com and mention your newsletter of interest in the subject line.