According to McKinsey Quarterly, corporations are responding to consumers’ growing expectations to make corporate philanthropy a higher priority.  Post Cereals recently demonstrated an innovative approach to giving.

On June 29, Pebbles, a Post Cereals brand, announced that my employer Razorfish has helped launch PebPals, a philanthropic campaign that supports Australia Zoo Wildlife Worldwide — USA.  Australia Zoo Wildlife is a charity founded by the late Steve Irwin and his wife, Terri.  As part of an integrated offline/online effort created with the assistance of Razorfish, four million packages of Post’s Pebbles carry promotional “PebPals” trading cards.  The cards challenge kids to “adopt” PebPals characters on a children’s game site that Razorfish designed awhile back, Postopia.  Kids can bring these characters to life, play games, and earn points.  They can use the points to vote for how Post should spend a large donation that Post has aside for a number of animal conservation projects.

I think the PebPals story is interesting because a major brand is empowering kids to play an active role in animal conservation, and it’s an example of a creative approach to philanthropy.  You can read the announcement here and coverage from Brandweek.