All Cause is Local

While we often see cause marketing case studies of “big national programs,” ALL cause marketing is local.

Yes, the Komen Race for the Cure is a major national cause campaign but success comes from local events such as the huge St. Louis Komen race.

Yes, the Chili’s Create a Pepper campaign in the fall generates about $30 million for St. Jude’s but success results from all the kids and families who go to a Chili’s restaurant and create one individual pepper, post it on the wall and donate a dollar or more. (And, remember, the big Chili’s campaign started at just one Chili’s restaurant.)

Yes, the Trees for Troops (a cause campaign of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx) is a huge national campaign (involving more than 1,000 people nationwide) but success comes from individual Christmas tree farmers and FedEx drivers who get Christmas trees from the farm to the troops. It is a major news story town by town.

In the last month, two St. Louis area causes were able to create partnerships with national/regional partners.
• Hardees helps Heat Up St. Louis with its Buck a Biscuit campaign: http://bit.ly/dTkLWI
• Wehrenberg Challenges Moviegoers To Raise $100,000 For Children With Disabilities http://bit.ly/fpksaD

While these two have been successful, here’s one local cause effort that failed to engage consumers or partner employees.

Passing through the checkout line of my local grocery this morning clearly demonstrated a missed opportunity to engage me and other customers in a well timed cause effort.

Prominately desplayed at the checkout counter was this red heart "pinup" from the American Heart Association. Great tie in with all the Valentine Hearts being sold.

But ... turns out to be a missed opportunity.
No donation jar.
No ask from the cashier.
No hearts posted on the store's walls.

Nothing. I picked it up so I would have for this post. The cashier still said nothing.

I'm left wondering, now what? And questioning, what does a customer who is not a causeaholic think?

Whether local or national, reaching out to find partners is a process. I find our own minds work against us. We often think “no way can I do a cause marketing effort here in St. Louis.” Really?
Rebecca Gordon of Missour KidsFirst didn’t think that way. To raise money, she talked to the manager of the local HyVee store in Jeff City. Asked if they would put donation jars at the cash registers and if the store clerks could wear the blue KidsFirst t-shirts. He said yes! And, that one store generated almost $30,000 that first year! And, in the second year, more Hy-Vee stores joined the cause campaign.

Rebecca and I did a joint presentation on cause marketing. You can read it on Slide Share at:
http://www.slideshare.net/DrakeCo/cause-marketing-101-3-10-09

Some highlights from our presentation:
1. Cause partnerships develop by asking. The Missouri KidsFirst partnership with Hy-Vee began with a discussion with a store manager while grocery shopping one Saturday.
2. Focus on the cause not your charity.
3. For profit partners expect results such as more people coming to their retail stores, positive publicity, recognition, etc. Be sure to work with your for-profit partners to determine their objectives and work to be sure your program achieves those expectations.
4. Look at nontraditional partners that are in harmony with the mission of your organization.

So, don’t let your mind play tricks on you! All cause is local. You can use it to build awareness of your organization’s cause and generate funding at the same time.