You know Marketing for Good has gone mainstream when the two largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are battling it out to prove their goods are the most good. Here’s an excerpt from AdAge called “P&G Or Unilever: Which Is Best At Saving The World?”

Nothing indicates the growing importance of “ethical marketing” more than the concept’s growing embrace by Procter & Gamble and Unilever, the world’s two biggest spenders. While both have been engaged in such efforts for years, they’re talking about them–and particularly advertising them– like never before.

Bill Gates recently mentioned Unilever as a top-of-mind example of a company involved in sustainability efforts. The same day as Gates’ statement, P&G indicated it would make communication about its own sustainability efforts–defined to encompass a broad range of community-betterment programs–a much bigger priority in 2008.

Though both P&G and Unilever see prospects for substantial gains from such efforts on their bottom lines and for the communities in which they operate, both acknowledge that much of the effort is for internal consumption. Simply put, it’s getting impossible to attract or retain marketers without a solid reputation for ethical marketing. Cause-marketing efforts have “a big motivational impact,” says P&G global marketing officer Jim Stengel. “It fires the agencies up, too.”

CPG companies have traditionally been among the most sophisticated of marketers, refining their product, pricing, promotion and packaging with ever increasing efficiency. Typically, doing good fell into the “promotion” world and often meant cross-promotions that apportioned some percentage of profit to a particular charity. Now these efforts are turning inward as they try to well by doing good in every corner of their business. Whether they are doing this simply to boost morale and retention OR because the leaders of these companies simply believe it is the right thing to do, I’m delighted to witness this shift. It is a profound shift and will inevitably trickle down to other marketers who often following the lead of CPG companies. Or at least I hope so…

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