A New Blog: Kenneth Cole’s Awearness Blog
Q: What do you do if you are a socially conscious CEO with a thriving high-fashion shoe, clothing and accessories business?
A: You start a Blog of course!
Kenneth Cole has joined the select ranks of blogging CEO’s with his new Awearness Blog, launched to time with the President’s Day Sales on February 18th.
Cole’s blog is different from other corporate blogs we’ve reviewed in that it does not directly discuss the company products, policies or services. Instead, it promotes social activisim in four “socially-aware pillars”: Social Rights, Well-Being, Political Landscape and Hard Times. The posts will be written by Kenneth Cole, his staff, and guest celebritites. There will also be news items, commentary and Q&A posts.
The question is whether customers will accept a social-awareness site from a $500 million dollar commercial enterprise.
Cole is Chairman of amfAR - The Foundation for AIDS Research. He has a 25 year history of supporting social and political challenges. His site appears to be a natural extension of his beliefs and actions. In other words, he has consistently “walked the talk” and the blog is just the next step.
If Cole’s site works it will accomplish two goals - raise the visibility of social issues and raise the visibility of Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. The more that customers identify Cole’s brand with worthwhile causes, the more they will be inclined to want to identify themselves with the brand.
Cole’s blog plays on that desire for identification and action by promoting the Awearness brand products: t-shirts with activist slogans. They cost $35, which includes a $10 donation to charity. In Cole’s words, they are products that “do good while looking good.” Cole already has $50 Bon-jovi t-shirts, as well as jackets, perfumes and lanyards that include a charitable donation with purchase.
Consciousness raising or unconscionable exploitation? The market will decide.
So what can you as an entrepreneur or CEO learn from Cole’s new blog?
1) Create a site that is attractive and easy to navigate
2) Make it easy to find (links from his online site)
3) Ensure there is consistency between your company, personal actions and the blog
4) Post regularly - the site opened on Monday with multiple articles published so there was plenty to look at right away
What should Cole (and you) watch for on the new blog?
1) Developing community - the site requires enrollment to post comments; while this will discourage spam it will also discourage some commenters. Also, so far no comments have been responded to - Cole says in his intro that he wants to shift from monologues to dialoguses - he should ensure he has a strategy for responding to comments.
2) Avoiding commercialism - this is a commercial site that purports to be about social activism. References to Cole’s products should be kept to a minimum to avoid appearances of hypocrisy.
3) Publicizing appropriately - So far Cole has been using mainstream press tactics to announce and promote the blog. While this is fine initially, over the long term, he should aim for his blog to become part of the blogging community - linking to other blogs, commenting on other blogs and reaching out to bloggers for support.
I am optimistic about Cole’s site. The mood is one of social concern but with a positive focus making the reader feel that he or she can make a difference . The articles are interesting and the photos are arresting. The reader comes away feeling more aware of the world around them. And as Cole says, “To be aware is more important than what you wear.”
What do you think of Cole’s site? Do you think having a social activism site is a good idea or a bad idea for a commercial enterprise?
photo credit: mapper-montag
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POSTED IN: Corporate, Non-profits
3 opinions for A New Blog: Kenneth Cole’s Awearness Blog
Alina Popescu
Feb 20, 2008 at 1:24 am
The blog is an interesting read. Too bad the sign-in-to-comment part is quite unwelcoming :)
Liz Fuller
Feb 20, 2008 at 2:15 am
Hi Alina
I tried registering to leave comments and was unable to. You need to confirm your email and I never received a confirmation email to verify - even though I requested that it be re-sent. So, there appears to be some problem.
A few people are commenting so it must work some times. I think that the enrollment/verification process is definitely a deterrent, but even more than that, will be if they don’t respond to comments regularly and promptly. Which doesn’t appear to be happening yet.
Kenneth Cole’s Social Justice Blog
Mar 11, 2008 at 10:15 am
[…] as Liz Fuller writes, “The question is whether customers will accept a social-awareness site from a $500 million […]
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