I spent half of yesterday as one of about 30 judges, including Rich, in the SIFE regional competition in Shanghai. It was my first time and I was very impressed by the professionalism of the college students from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. Interestingly — and I think for privacy I need to say this as vaguely as possible — I judged the entrants diametrically differently than the other judges in my league. I was very happy with the final results and the judging disparity — those that follow the herd get easily trampled.

Many of the business plan entrants had businesses that revolved around helping NGOs earn revenue. Though the entire purpose of the competition was not to necessarily focus on NGOs or charities, tugging at the heartstrings I guess was a decent strategy.

So this morning I had a meeting on a similar topic with Mitch Markson, Edelman's president of consumer brands and global creative director, who just arrived in China from London for a brief trip to showcase the results of their PR agency's "Good Purpose" survey, which was to provide global insights into the ways consumers understand and engage with social issues, brands and social causes. Via our own CharityInChina.org we have developed a marketing database of Chinese-language and English-language companies and people who are a) willing to donate funds to worthwhile causes and/or b) willing to volunteer time to assist charities in China. So we are actively looking at all the "cause marketing" data available.

Edelman's study was done well, but because it was completed at the end of last year I'd like to see this week how "social causes" are now being construed in China. In China, nationalism often becomes a part of "social causes", and with the current Olympic-related Chinese boycotts of French products and the PR fiasco in China with General Electric, it's interesting to see a) how foreign brands are dealing with the ruckus and b) how Chinese brands are seizing this opportunity. Adding CSR to a company's marketing portfolio is a growing trend.