From dishonest politicians, recession and bank bailouts, America’s integrity and trustworthiness are constantly being questioned. The public relation firms Formula and SS+K teamed up with Honest Tea to create an award worthy campaign and social experiment titled “Most Honest City in America.”
Using play on words, Honest Tea sponsored sampling vehicles called “Honest Stores.” These stores were stocked with racks of Honest Tea products for sale for $1.00 in seven major cities during hot summer months. These sampling vehicles were completely unmanned and were solely based on the honor system. What the consumers didn’t know was that they were being filmed. Hidden cameras were placed at these sampling vehicles to tape the reactions of the people and to see if they were truly honest and paid for the tea. The local media was quickly alerted about the event, which created an exciting buzz around the brand and stunt campaign. This campaign engaged consumers in a way that was unexpected and also improved sales. America proved to be 87 percent honest and Boston was named the “Most Honest City in America” with an honesty percentage of 93.3 percent.
The “Most Honest City in America” campaign has beautifully demonstrated Honest Tea’s corporate social responsibility. Honest Tea’s CSR states, “The company strives for authenticity, integrity and purity, in our products and in the way we do business… Honest Tea seeks to create honest relationships with our employees, suppliers, customers and with the communities in which we do business.” This campaign effectively paralleled the company’s mission statement and CSR and also achieved a significant return on investment with double-digit sales increase in the seven cities where the sampling vehicles were placed. This campaign also challenged the consumers to embody their brand of being truly honest.
I love this post! I think anything that challenges our morality is newsworthy and something that a least deserves a conversation. Honest Tea’s campaign challenged individuals to be honest even though they were tempted to just take the product. It would be interesting to know how many people were around each time someone didn’t pay. My guess is that there were few people around so that the subjects didn’t think that they were being watched, therefore, unaccountable.
Nicole,
Wow! I absolutely LOVE this campaign! It’s great to know that there are organizations, like Honest Tea, out there that stay so true to its values and are always looking for ways to improve its relationship with its customers, employees, and suppliers. I personally think corporate social responsibility is something organizations should always use as a tactic for campaigns because it is so important. Every organization has CSR, so why not revisit it, evaluate it and use it in a productive way like Honest Tea did.
Thank you for sharing!
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