ARCEO, PATRICIA BIANCA M. CASE STUDY: CASE NO.

7 - CSR
MBA 634 BRAND MANAGEMENT

CASE 7:
How International Firms Conduct Societal marketing in Emerging Markets

I. View Point: Marketing Team

II. Time Context: Present

III. Problem Statement

Which societal marketing dimension can best help in boosting CSR legitimacy and
brand recognition?

IV. Statement of the Objectives

To identify a societal marketing strategy dimension that can help boost CSR
legitimacy and brand recognition for emerging markets in the Philippines

V. Areas of Consideration

Being on the topic of Societal Marketing, below is the SWOT matrix to identify its
key Internal strengths and weaknesses, and External opportunities and threats.

Internal Strength Weakness

 Emphasizes on long term  Society might not immediately

interest and welfare of the recognize the social gain
society, and the company  Unclear societal message can
(profit) affect internal and external
 Uses strategic marketing stakeholders (employees and
decisions to satisfy customers’ customers)
needs  Conflict on the product/service
 Raises the standard of living of needed by the customer vs
people what is good for society as a
 Helps in increasing the speed whole (conflict of interest for
of economic development in vice products)
society
 Provides remarkable
contribution to society’s welfare
and upliftment
 Good societal message leads
to improvement of brand image
and customer loyalty

External Opportunity Threats

 Build a strong connection  Unclear message can lead to

“emotional bond” with consumers’ being unconvinced
consumers of the social gain
  Create a clear societal  Possibility of competitors to
marketing message that can copy societal marketing
convince both internal and strategy
external stakeholders  Changes in government
 Can be used as a competitive regulations
advantage against competitors
 Business expansion when sale
increases as a result of
increased brand loyalty

VI. Assumptions

In this study, the Philippine emerging market that will be considered is on

Digitization of food and beverage which includes emergence of “Cloud/ghost
kitchens”. An example for this is CloudEats.

CloudEats is a pioneer cloud restaurant company creating next-generation digital

brands and proprietary cloud kitchen technology. Under their company are 18
brands that range from healthy food, local food, celebrity owned brands, and
western style cuisine.

VII. Alternative Courses of Action

a. Environmental + Regulatory Pillar  Launch a sustainable food packaging

campaign that emphasizes on communicating the brand’s use of biodegradable
and bio-friendly food containers when serving their food products. Highlight that
this initiative follows House Bill 9147 “Single-Use Plastic Products Regulations
Act”.

b. Social + Normative Pillar  Launch a food drive program in partnership with

the Philippine FoodBank Foundation, Inc who aims to provide food assistance
to the undernourished. The main recipient are parishes, orphanages, schools &
charitable institutions.

c. Economical + Cultural-Cognitive Pillar  With the Filipino’s bayanihan

culture in mind, launch a franchise program that will also provide free education
program to aspiring start up restaurant business owners. A franchise program
would help the current business grow and reach bigger markets, and provide
business opportunities to individuals.
VIII. Analysis (ACA based)
Alternative
Courses of Advantage Disadvantage
Action

ACA 1  More people would be able  Limited supply of

Environmental to relate and have the sustainable packaging
+ Regulatory possibility to be on-board on materials
Pillar the idea  Sustainable packaging
 Helps the environment and can be more costly and
is backed by government can increase product cost
regulations  Increase in product cost
 Helps the brand gain can lead to lesser
following from sales/revenue/profit and
environmentally conscious market share
people  Product quality might be
affected by change in
packaging
 Additional cost for R&D of
suitable packaging that
can keep product quality

ACA 2  Provides free food to less  Food bank donations can

Social + fortunate people be limited
Normative  Great opportunity for  Needs additional
Pillar customers to help the needy manpower to execute
 Promotes generosity and  Lack of transparency in
respect for the people in the program may lead to
need negative feedback and
 Volunteers can have great doubt from customers
experience in participating  Program might be abused
 Aids the partner foundation hence would need
in alleviating food insecurity credible partner groups to
 Builds a brand of “malasakit” help facilitate
and emotional connection to
customers
 Alleviates poverty and food
inaccessibility
 Helps brand gain more
following for the charitable
work
 Limited additional capital is
needed to execute
 Gives the customers a
chance to feel like they’re
doing good
 ACA 3  Provides free assistance
Economical + and education to people
Cultural- who want to start a business
Cognitive Pillar  Increases quality of life and
living standard of
investors/franchisees
 Can provide additional
income for the company
from franchise fees
 Help boost economic activity
of the country
 Free training can be costly
to provide
 Can increase competition
within the market
 Limited number of people
who would be willing to
invest
 Success would depend on
willingness of investors to
risk investing.

Decision Criteria

Criteria ACA 1 ACA 2 ACA 3

Sustainability 4 3 3

Effectivity 4 4 4

Ease of Implementation 2 3 3

Cost Efficiency 3 5 3

OVERALL 13 15 13
Legends: 5-Strongly Agree; 4-Agree; 3-Average; 2-Disagree; 1-Strongly Disagree

IX. Conclusion

Following the above analysis of advantages and disadvantages, and the decision
criteria, we can therefore conclude that ACA 2 – Social + Normative Pillar is the
societal marketing dimension that can best help boost CSR legitimacy and brand
recognition for emerging markets in the Philippines.

This would make sense since Filipino’s most notable qualities are care for the
family, bayanihan, and generosity which stems from our nature to help and aid
other people as much as we can.

According to the case study, giving your customers the sense that they’re “doing
good” is also one of the most effective ways to emotionally connect to your
customers, legitimize your CSR, and build a better brand image.

X. Plan of Action 

The main goal of the program is to provide food assistance to the partner food bank
foundation – delivery of fresh cooked meals and donated food products will be
handled by the company. Food and monetary donations will be welcomed by
anyone who wants to participate in the food bank program. Pooled donations will be
distributed in partnership with the Philippine FoodBank Foundation, Inc. and the
 company will be providing real time updates of the program to show transparency.

To implement the winning alternative course of action, the functional divisions below
must play their role well. The main goal

Marketing – To launch promotional advertisements regarding the food bank

program on all social media platforms. Marketing team should highlight how the
food drive can help people in need for a small contribution (monetary or goods).
Specific details must be included on the social media postings (e.g., Name of
partner foundation, ways on how customers/people can participate, duration of the
donation period, beneficiaries of the food bank).

Operations – In charge of the overall execution of the food bank program.

Operations team must set necessary donation goals, plan collection sites, reserve
locations as needed, coordinate with partner foundation, and arrange the logistics of
the food donations. Volunteer personnel must be oriented on the goal and overall
plan to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Finance – Before the start of the food bank program, the finance team must provide
estimated costs and financial goals in running the activity. Any financial issues must
be flagged to be addressed by management and operations. The finance team is
also tasked to monitor all monetary donations and provide timely update of financial
status.

Management Information System – The MIS must keep intact all details of
donations, including names, contact details, and other pertinent information
regarding the campaign. Details must be kept timely and accurate to generate
accurate updates for the customers and food bank foundation partner.

Human Resource Development – The HRD division oversees hiring and handling
of personnel volunteers for the food bank program. Together with the operations
team, they will administer orientation and food prep training.

XI. References:
a. https://www.cloudeats.com/brands
b. https://www.marketingtutor.net/what-is-societal-marketing-concept/
c. https://incorporated.zone/societal-marketing-concept/
#:~:text=Disadvantages%20of%20the%20societal%20marketing
%20concept,-Societal%20marketing%20does&text=A%20related
%20disadvantage%20is%20that,not%20be%20evident%20to%20them.
d. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/societal-marketing.htm
e. https://climate.gov.ph/our-programs/anti-single-use-plastic-campaign/plastic-
ban-and-regulation
f. http://foodbank.org.ph/