More and more these days, we are working with companies seeking to optimize their supply chain with the specific goal to improve their end customer’s experience, specifically by appealing to their emotional needs.  In some cases, these needs transcend emotions and are actually life-saving, or at a minimum life-altering.  

One of my favorite large retail customers calls this building a customer-tailored supply chain.   Recently I had a chance to look at some of the scenarios that our On-Demand Product Data Quality Service (UDEX) was having on supply chains.    For one large ice cream manufacturer, they used this service to make sure they had up-to-date, accurate information on all the ingredients from their suppliers, with the sole purpose of making certain consumers were informed of ingredients that cause food allergies, for example.  Peanut allergy, I learned, is actually quite common leading to severe physical reactions for millions of people today.

In the United States today, consumers are very aware of foods that contain trans fats, thanks to recently adopted labeling requirements of the FDA on all packaged food products.  Trans fats are largely industrially created as a side effect of the partial hydrogenation of plant oils.    These type of fats are increasingly considered to be more of a health risk than those that occur naturally.   Requiring suppliers to provide accurate information about product ingredients is directly correlating to sales either at the storefront or on-line.  

In Europe, awareness is quickly growing about the “carbon footprint” of a particular product or service.  Driven by an intense focus on the disastrous effects from global warming, consumers will over time desire to associate themselves with products or services that are have the least impact on climate change.   Carbon footprint is the measure that is gaining attention and basically is the sum of all activities required to create a product that directly relates to the amount of natural resources consumed, as a measure of environmental impact.   By adding all of the factors that contribute to carbon emission from manufacturing, shipping, production and storage together, a consumer can determine the carbon footprint – and environmental impact – of a product they seek to purchase.

The emotional side of B2B comes in many flavors.  Recently we unveiled an advertising campaign that appeals to everyday emotions, such as kids, food, and cars.   Take a look at http://www.gxs.com/flash/gxs_corpBrandAds.htm.  

However,  there is no question that the life-altering and life-saving possibilities from the exchange of information pertaining to food allergies, trans fats or carbon footprints have a much more important and significant impact.  Perhaps, this will be the focus of our 2008 campaign.