Cause marketing starts with local community efforts

CCS Influencer John Walker says it's just extraordinary that I work for such a great company that allows the ability and the time for us to go out and help.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with CCS Influencer John Walker. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Intro: Hello, everybody. I'm Alex Tolle with CoatingsCoffeeShop.com, and I am here with Johnny Walker for our November influencer topic. How are you, Johnny?

Johnny Walker: I'm wonderful. How are you today?

Alex Tolle: I'm good. I'm good. So our November question is, what are you doing around cause marketing and how has that enhanced your company brand reputation?

Johnny Walker: Yeah, so although we don't do a ton of cause marketing, we are deeply committed to have a positive impact throughout our communities nationally and locally. So there are a lot of different things that we do. For example, the hurricanes. We just had two back to back, so back to back hurricanes in Florida. And one of the things, we go out there and obviously we're out there promoting training and we're promoting our product and not just our roofing side but our water and mold remediation side of our business as well. So certainly we're out there doing that. But what we're actually out there doing is we're out there creating good positive energy within the community. We're out there providing water. We're out there. We set up grills and we feed people and provide some food. There's times where we've taken fuel, generator fuel in and food and supplies into some of the really heavy hit areas. So that's a huge thing that we do.

Additionally, we've got our corporate office. They do a Toys for Tots event every single year, and they collect and contribute that and this is something that the company's been doing for decades with APOC. Been doing Toys for Tots in our corporate office in Tampa for decades. In addition, like in Tomball, Texas, our facility there. They actually came in, and they partnered with an animal shelter. Adopted an animal shelter as their local charity. And the great thing is that we have the autonomy. All of our different plants, all of our different locations, they're able to pick that for themselves and internally work as a team. Who knows best what to do, what your community needs are than the people living in that community?

So they pick the animal shelter and they come together, and they collect all these food and toys and all the different things, bedding that these animals need and they make that donation. So it's really nice because we really want to make an impact in our local communities. Of course, we want to be recognized nationally, but we're really doing that local effort to get the word out and have that where our employees are proud of their local community and that their time and resources are going into causes that they think are deemed extremely important.

Alex Tolle: Yeah, that's amazing, you guys. It sounds like you guys do a ton, and I'm sure that everybody around you really appreciates that, so that's great.

Johnny Walker: Yeah, absolutely. We love doing it. And one of the things that we just brought up in one of our town hall meetings was picking national where the company say, "Hey, this is going to be our charity for the year." So I know our HR department and our executive teams are looking to that because that's something that a lot of people have said, "Hey, can we find an easy way to give back?" We all support and volunteer in our local communities, but how can we as employees of this really large company, ICP say, "Hey, okay, this is our local charity for the year or this is our national charity for the year." And maybe even through employee contribution, be able to support that. Like I said, I know that's not necessarily cause marketing, but it is things that we're doing to generate positive impression of our company as a whole and that we can all be proud of.

Alex Tolle: Yeah, absolutely. And it's really, if you look at it just for a marketing perspective, you're not going to get the most out of it. It's important to actually want to give back, and it works out in the long run for everybody.

Johnny Walker: Yeah, absolutely. When we go out to the hurricane, we have a truck and trailer, and I'm sure you've seen it where it's basically a training trailer and we conduct demos and live trainings out of it. And during these hurricanes and other natural catastrophes, we'll take that out and we empty all that out of there. And it's 100% about the community and what we can give back to the community at that time. And I love that our company is 100% on board with that.

It takes people out of the field where we're going out and they say, "We're just helping the community." Of course we benefit with positive PR, but it's the local. I've had people crying because they got a hot meal for the first time in a week, and that's just extraordinary that I work for such a great company that allows the ability and the time for us to go out and do that.

Alex Tolle: That's great. Well, thank you so much, Johnny, for sharing for the November Coatings Coffee Shop influencer topic. We appreciate it.

Outro: Oh, thank you so much, Alex.