PSFK lists some of the common characteristics among the ranked brands as:

Utility – Aim to enhance your usefulness for the consumer. In doing so, look not only at your product or service, but the eco-system that surrounds it.

Experimentation – Constant innovation is the essential element of growth. Continual- ly push the boundaries of your offering and create ancillary products.

Design – Premium aesthetics coupled with consistent delivery wins every time. A premium experience can be applied to any product or service, no matter where it sits on the price spectrum. Make your audience feel valued, encouraging them to include you as part of their identity.

Community and listening – Create a sense of community for your customers. Actively engage them and listen to what they have to say. They are the best source of guidance for improved service.

Change the model – Look at your consumers’ eco-system of needs and change your business model to suit them.

Beyond the 30 second ad – Of the top 100 largest advertising spenders in 2008, none of them made it onto this list. Instead of spending money on advertising, leverage the existing community that’s involved with your brand to promote your products and services.

Environmental priorities - Brands in the lower half of the list lose points prizing innovation over environmental responsibility. Build in sustainable practices wherever you can in your brand’s eco-system.

It’s a revolution that’s already being ignited by innovators as disparate as Wal-Mart, Google, Threadless, Nike, Apple, and Etsy. They’re playing by a new set of institutional rules – institutional rules that are letting them redraw the boundaries of value creation, while yesterday’s incumbents continue to fail en masse. These rules depend, in large part, on media.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

While talking about poverty is all fine and good, it’s worthless if it doesn’t lead to action. The worst thing that could happen right now is if you read this post and then went along without responding. This is the call for justice – how are you going to respond?

Personally, I sponsor a child in Kenya through an incredible organization called Compassion International, (they also have an excellent blog) I also really admire the work that Kiva is doing to provide microfinancing for entrepreneurs in developing countries and hope to eventually support their work.

This is a start, but there is so much more that we all can do.

If you’re not sure where to begin, consider checking out the tools provided by the fine folks at Socialactions, which does an awesome job aggregate social change platforms.

And just like the film, this campaign is a call and response - how will you respond?

Our mission is to engage and retain New Orleans’ best and brightest: the talented and ambitious young people like you, people committed to working hard, playing harder, and giving back to a community with so much to offer.

Thanks to Gareth Kay for the tip.