As we mentioned yesterday, we went to The 2012 Purpose Awards on Tuesday night, which wasn’t just a celebration of good works, but also the launch of the new book by one of the event’s host, Teneshia Jackson Warner. Profit With Purpose: A Marketer’s Guide to Delivering Purpose-Driven Campaigns to Multicultural Audiences, revolves around the idea that successful businesses focus on more than just profits. It’s also about connecting with audiences through a larger passion.

We presented Warner with a few questions tied to her book, corporate social responsibility and multicultural marketing. Here’s what she had to say…

Madame Noire: You write in your book, “Consumers today understand that business needs to make a profit. But they also believe — unilaterally around the world — that business should be doing this in a purposeful way.” How did we get to this point?

Teneshia Jackson Warner:  Throughout the process of writing the book, we referenced a great deal of surveys and market research. Some of the purpose and cause studies references include: MSL Group Cause/Index Study, CBS News Poll April 2011, MSL Group 2010 Brand Values Survey, and 2012 Edelman Goodpurpose to name of a few. As we explored this research, the consistent insight supported the aforementioned point: consumers understand that companies are in the business of making profits. However, they expect these companies to do so, while, at the same time, standing for something in the process.

MN: Nielsen numbers, post-election demographic breakdowns, and projected spending power figures show that multicultural audiences are going to increasingly wield economic power in this country. What does this mean for the prospects in multicultural marketing?

TJW: It means that companies will have to place an emphasis on connecting with the fastest growing demographic in America. In the future, I think we will see more companies make diversity a MUST HAVE internally and externally. What I mean by that is we will continue to see companies make efforts to have a more diverse workforce. It’s a key essential for diversity to start within. After all, some of the greatest ideas and/or new products that resonate among diverse audiences can be traced to an internally diverse workforce within.

Secondly, I think companies will also strive to work with agencies that have diverse teams and strong diversity marketing/communication expertise.

Black Girls Rock! visits Egami Consulting Group. Image: Egami

Black Girls Rock! (BGR) in partnership with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and P&G’s My Black is Beautiful campaign has launched the Imagine a Future Project, a program that, according to BGR founder Beverly Bond, will “empower and touch the lives of one million girls over the course of three years.” Through this program, there will be a national and regional (and perhaps worldwide) push to continue BGR’s philanthropic work with and on behalf of African-American girls.

As you probably know, Black Girls Rock! is the nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring and uplifting black girls while also tackling issues associated with media depictions of black women and girls. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the organization per se, you likely recognize the name from the BET awards show that airs annually. No doubt, you’ve heard of the United Negro College Fund (“A mind is a terrible thing to waste”), which has been around for more than 40 years. And perhaps you know My Black is Beautiful because you’re friends with it on Facebook. The campaign has 761,000 Facebook likes, a website and tons of exposure through P&G’s promotion. The partnership was facilitated by PR and marketing firms Egami Consulting Group and MSLGroup. If you’re unfamiliar with Egami, click here to watch our She’s The Boss video with CEO Teneshia Jackson Warner.

Bring them together and you have a program that targets and supports black women and girls in their personal lives and public portrayals.

A Partnership Focused on African-American Women and Girls

P&G’s My Black is Beautiful sponsored BGR Queens’ Camp for Leadership and Excellence, a two-week program that took place this month and hosted 50 girls between the ages of 13 and 17. On August 1, those 50 girls made a trip to Egami and MSLGroup, who hosted an event offering a “day in the life” of a multicultural PR agency like Egami.

“There’s an expectation for brands to have a presence in the communities in which they live,” Warner told us. “As we build campaigns, we’ll find synergies to bring in community partners.” Moreover, Egami wants to include staff members, which is why the firm participated in the event. And the young participants learned that the information they collect every day — what’s in, what’s new, what’s exciting — is just the stuff that’s critical to a career in PR.

According to Bond, she was approached with the idea for these sorts of partnered initiatives, something that happens quite often because of the unique, high-profile nature of her organization.

“We make sure people just aren’t supporting the TV show and the glam, but the work we do,” Bond says. Still, she says, she is the “majority owner” of BGR, the beating heart of the organization. “That’s probably the biggest misconception. BET doesn’t support our nonprofit,” she continues. “It’s tough getting people to recognize that we need the help. We’re doing everything that nonprofits should be doing, but it’s still tough.”