We do find the City AM free business rag in London a worthwhile read every morning. It was heartening to see Jeremy Hazlehurst’s piece Even before CSR on how business schools are teaching ethics and the notion of ’serving the greater good’ and CSR again, after a long lull since these things were last taught in the late 60s.

This is a good sign that companies will continue to invest in managing their social and environmental impacts, serving the greater good. The benefit of increased trust in the company that this brings is valued by the company more than ever, as people increasingly desire socially-responsible behaviour from corporates. Edelman PR are an authority on this with their Edelman Trust Barometer and Citizen Renaissance work.

Not all MBA students are under 25, but it is worth dwelling on the particular interest that under-25s have in corporates being socially-responsible. The One Young World (OYW) movement created by Euro RSCG’s David Jones and Kate Robertson is a forum for under-25s to debate CSR issues.

So our future leaders have a strong social-conscience and this will keep the pressure on corporates to do the right thing. Allied to this is the idea that brands can manage and optimise their social impact, not just corporate brands but product brands as well. The specific benefits to brand performance are increased attention, participation, referral, preference and feel-good (happiness even but we’ll save comment on the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index for another time).

Our own research shows that 93% of under-25s think brands should consider how their messaging might influence society. We encourage brand managers to think about how both their external and internal brand messaging can be more socially-progressive, with the benefits of increased meaning and motivation.