The Double Bottom Line and Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid

Almost a third of the world's population earns $2.50 or less a day. Consider also that 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate.  There's something saddening and infuriating about this equation here.

The world's product/services and pricing models are mostly designed to target people at the top of the world's socioeconomic ladder.  As a result, there's often a lack of access to basic products/services as well as a "poor man's premium", which makes it more costly for a poor person (vs. a wealthier individual) to sustain his/her family.  I cannot recall how many "revolutionary mascara" commercials I've seen in the last year. I cannot help but wonder, how many different mascaras does the world need before we would consider reallocating a small % of the R&D and marketing resource dedicated to market that product to help do something more impactful to people's lives?  Why make the top marketers beat their heads against the wall trying to come up with an innovative soap that exfoliates your skin 10% better when there's perhaps an easier task that could create a more more meaningful impact if they instead spend the energy to expand the distribution of their most basic soap SKU and educate people in Africa or India to wash their hands, something that can prevent deadly diseases and saves hundreds of lives?

With that said, altruism doesn't pay the bill, which explains why many people wait until they've achieved their definition of career "success" before dedicating their time on things that gives them more meaning.  But it doesn't have to be that way!  There is money to be made while doing good, what a novel and brilliant concept!  Considering the size of the market - 1/3 of the world's population, how much would you pay to access a market with that kind of potential!?  Seth Godin and a video (probably made for Acumen Fund)  does a good job explaining how to tap that market (with a nice little blurb on d.light, which makes me proud)

• Video: The Double Bottom Line 
• Seth's Blog: Marketing to the bottom of the pyramid

The concept of the double bottom line and social enterprises is extremely fascinating and exciting to me.  It gives capitalism a taste of its own medicine, and transforms a model that sometimes exploits the bottom (as illustrated by this photo I found on the net) by making profit-generation and social good creation interdependent.  So far, it seems as though the microfinance sector has been the one industry that has truly crack the code while companies like TOMS shoes or eBay's WorldofGood seems to have achieved mixed success.  It would be interesting to see how this sector grows in the future