Carrotmob – Rewarding Business for Good Deeds

While searching the internet yesterday, I stumbled upon a video from Carrotmob about organizing consumer behavior to create change. After capturing my attention, I watched another video of the first Carrotmob event.

“What is a Carrotmob event,” you ask? A Carrotmob event practices organized consumer behavior as a catalyst to encourage socially responsible business. Each event begins by engaging local businesses in a bidding war of sorts to promote energy efficiency, environmental sustainability or any other type of socially responsible behavior. The business with the most attractive bid follows through and is compensated handsomely.

In this case, (the first ever event) the business that promised to convert their energy efficiency by the highest percent was then promised to be rewarded. And rewarded they were.

The winning business, an independent liquor store/bodega was the energy efficient winner. With one register and a minuscule staff, the lucky guys didn’t know what hit them. Droves of people lined up and patiently waited to patronize the store all day long and until supplies were scarce. The store had increased their daily sales nine times over. Success.

A business rewarded for doing a good deed! Ingenious right? Right!

Carrotmob has chosen to use the “carrot method” (as opposed to the whipping method) to get business horses to do what they want, in this case – be responsible business owners. And the method is working.
With thousands of members (and more growing everyday thanks to their facebook and Twitter pages) Carrotmob is taking over the country one business at a time, and I think it’s pretty amazing.

Check out Carrotmob and their latest conquests over “The Man,” at www.carrotmob.org. Want to be a Carrotmobber? Sign up there!

Watch Carrotmob “Make it Rain.”

Tagged as: big business, Carrotmob, Digital Activism, good deeds, the man