How Advertising Will Heal the World and Your Business

161 Pages·2011·2.58 MB·English

The time has come for a radical paradigm shift in branding as we know it. Where, in the past, branding
has seemed mainly focused on fulfilling hedonistic individual needs, it’s gradually becoming clear: people
are waiting for brands to help them help others. And, in doing so, these so-called “Meaningful Prosocial
Brands” help fulfill a basic, strong and growing need: the need to live a meaningful life. This book, based
on extensive research in the world’s 16 biggest economies, unveils new insights and practical knowledge
that can make your brand grow and bring about a huge positive impact on our world.
Just imagine what would happen if even a fraction of the US $450 billion
spent annually on advertising, instead, went into prosocial marketing?
“Soon, kindness will be a gobal brand, bridging the chasm between compassion and commerce,
and prosocialism will carry the day. Mark Woerde and his 24,000 friendly people have brought
a new ethical dimension to the world of advertising!” – Professor Dirk Salomons, Director of the
Program for Humanitarian Affairs at the School of International Public Affairs, Columbia University.
“Mark Woerde shows how to use power of brands to make the world a better place - one
of the most inspiring books I know!” – Kate Roberts, Founder of YouthAIDS and Five & Alive,
Vice President PSI.org and “Young Global Leader of the World 2007” by The World Economic Forum.
“Here’s a book that might help you look your children in the eye. People are looking for brands
to positively contribute to society and they’ll vote for them with their money. It turns out you
can make money and make a difference at the same time.” – Craig Davis, Chief Creative Officer
Publicis Mojo Australia and New Zealand, Ex-CCO JWT worldwide, Founder of Brandkarma.com
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“It’s important to understand that any value this brings to the brand can be easily undermined by questionable
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business practices. Being prosocial not only means to be generous in spending your money, but also to e
be responsible in how you make it.” – Matthias Stausberg, Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations and tha
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Spokesperson United Nations Global Compact 2
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This book is sold at cost price. This cost price can vary per country. Let’s save paper! v
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ISBN 978-90-484-1927-2 Thank you for picking up this book! It would pe
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also be great if you could help spread the p
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word so the concepts contained in the book a
reach as many business leaders as possible. nd The consumer’s universal search for meaning calls for a new type of brand
Please visit letsheal.org, an Amsterdam based M and company. This book unveils new insights and practical knowledge that will
9 789048 419272
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independent non-profit organization aimed r make your brand grow and bring about a huge positive impact on our world.
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at providing insights in how to transform W
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brands into Meaningful Prosocial Brands. e
rd By more than 24,000 very friendly people and Mark Woerde
Free download on Letsheal.org e
How Advertising Will Heal the 
World and Your Business
First published May 2011
2011 Mark Woerde
Publishing on demand
How Advertising Will Heal the World and Your Business
The bound book is printed and distributed via Free Musketeers, but we encourage
you to save paper and download the digital version of this book and its
accompanying research for free at www.letsheal.org.
To order additional print copies of this book, you can contact your local bookseller or
visit www.letsheal.org. The printed book is sold at cost price. This cost price can vary
per country. The author and the advisory board can be contacted at:
Mark Woerde
[email protected]
Letsheal.org p/a LEMZ
15-17 First Floor Mt Ondinaweg
Amsterdam 1033 RE, The Netherlands
ISBN: 978-90-484-1927-2
Production: Free Musketeers, Zoetermeer
www.freemusketeers.nl
This book is printed on paper from responsible sources.
Feel free to copy this book. The work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons,
171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
Letsheal: Please download the e-book and research for free 
via letsheal.org and spread the word
How Advertising Will Heal the
World and Your Business
Mark Woerde
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” 

Albert Einstein1
The five-second elevator pitch: 

Make this world a better place, win a Nobel Prize,
and sell more.

Letsheal: Which brand will be the first to win the Nobel 
Peace Prize?
To ceos: The recent financial crisis left many reevaluating capital-
ism and its role in our society. The old capitalist credo, “survival 
of the fittest” is gradually giving way to a stronger, bolder and, 
indeed, fitter counter: “survival of the kindest”. Profit maximiza-
tion alone is no longer a sustainable motive as people are asking 
for more and better from the companies they choose to buy from. 
Embracing new prosocial values can help you move more prod-
ucts, attract and keep top employees, and make a huge impact on 
the world. Just imagine what would happen if even a fraction of 
the us $450 billion spent annually on advertising, instead, went 
into prosocial marketing?

To marketeers: The time has come for a radical paradigm shift in 
branding as we know it. Where in the past branding has seemed 
mainly focused on fulfilling hedonistic individual needs, it’s grad-
ually becoming clear: people are waiting for brands to facilitate 
them to help others. And, in doing so, these so-called ‘Meaningful 
Prosocial Brands’ help fulfill a basic, strong and growing need: the 
need to live a meaningful life. This book, and the research it was 
based on, unveil new insights and practical knowledge that can 
make your brands grow and bring about a huge positive impact 
on our world.

To advertising professionals:  Building  Meaningful  Prosocial 
Brands requires big, bold, new ideas. Never before has creativity 
been so important. Our focus has to widen beyond selling things, 
to facilitate people to live a meaningful life by helping others. The 
goal of this book is to inspire you and give you the tools to un-
leash the huge potential of Prosocial Brands. Forget about those 
6 Letsheal: Radical paradigm shift in branding, people are 
waiting for brands to facilitate them to help others
typical ad-industry awards… focus on something bigger (like, say, 
the Nobel Prize) and you’ll be amazed how inspired your work 
will be.
To ngos: It is only natural for ngos to be in the business of help-
ing people, but why not brands? Meaningful Prosocial Brands, 
that can motivate people to help others, can offer a great deal 
to their communities and the world, but they will need your 
help. ngos offer the understanding and experience that can make 
Prosocial Brands truly meaningful. Forging cooperative relation-
ships with brands can prove very rewarding to your organization 
and its mission.
Letsheal: Never before has creativity been so important 7

The book in 2.5 pages

I’d like to start by thanking you for reading this book. It’s probably 
not going to win me any literary awards and, since I’m putting it 
out for free, I don’t think it’s going to make me a fortune to retire 
on. But, really, I am grateful that you’re reading this book, because 
I believe that your interest could help in making this world a bet-
ter place for all of us.
This book lays the foundation for a radical paradigm shift in 
branding as we know it. Where branding has seemed mainly fo-
cused on fulfilling hedonistic individual needs throughout the 
years, it’s now becoming clear: people are waiting for brands that 
can help them help others. 
Helping others gives their lives the meaning in life they are 
looking for. This is a unique chance for brands to play a meaning-
ful role and gain relevance. If you decide to follow the outline of 
this book, you can turn your brand into what I call a ‘Meaningful 
Prosocial Brand’, with huge positive effects on society and busi-
ness. 
Research in the 16 biggest economies2 in the fourth quarter 
of 2010, which formed the basis of this book, shows how people 
today have a strong, fundamental and increasing desire to live a 
meaningful life. But what I find really remarkable is what respond-
ents said gives their lives meaning: 74% of the people indicate help-
ing others is their way of finding meaning in life. Incredibly, only 
16% are not actively searching for a significant life. 
All over the world, people want to do more for others; 60% 
of us say that we’d like to do more than simply donate to good 
causes. But lack of time, money or opportunities can prevent peo-
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