Cause Marketing Basics

CAUSE MARKETING BASICS
Were you asked to vote in the Pepsi Refresh competition? When you checked out, did the person at the cash register ask if you wanted to give $1 to MS? When you were at a Chili’s restaurant in October, did your kids create a pepper? Did you wear pink last fall?
If so, you were part of a powerful, growing trend called cause marketing.

BACKGROUND
I’m an accidental cause marketing professional. It happened shortly after helping found the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation. We were approached by FedEx with a request to deliver the official Christmas Tree to the White House. We convinced them to help us deliver trees to military families in what is now known as Trees for Troops.

Suddenly, I discovered I was managing a large, award-winning, national cause marketing program. And, over the last five or six years, I’ve had the opportunity to expand my knowledge about cause marketing.

This initial column is designed to establish a basic understanding of cause marketing.

WHAT
Cause Marketing is a partnership between a for-profit company and a not-for-profit organization through which both parties engage in activities for mutual profit. Note: cause marketing is not philanthropy. Although it has philanthropic aspirations and goals, it’s better described as marketing, and, in some ways, a business.

WHY
Most nonprofits are seeking new sources of funding to fulfill their mission. Companies are seeking ways to give back to meet their corporate social responsibility mission. Consumers say they are more likely to buy products from companies that support their causes. And, employees say they want to work with companies who support causes they support.

HOW
Cause marketing comes in several different forms. Each campaign selects the tools that best fit the goals of the partners.

Here are some typical tactics shared by Joe Waters of the Boston Medical Center.
Point of sale/Pinups. Think of the MDA Shamrocks. When a cashier either solicits a shopper for a donation (active cause marketing) or signage is prominently displayed at the register to encourage the shopper to make a gift (passive cause marketing), that’s point-of-sale.

Purchase or action triggered donation. When a consumer buys a product or service (like a latte at Starbucks on World Aids Day) and a donation (5 cents) is made to a cause (Product Red), that’s a purchase-triggered donation. Sometimes instead of a purchase, a donation is made when the consumer performs some type of action. For example, Macy’s donated a dollar to the Make-a-Wish Foundation