Recent Thoughts on Cause Marketing
With the launch of WeCanEndThis.com coinciding with serving on the cause branding panel at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, I haven’t had the mental space to package and share all the thoughts and ideas from both.
However, I need to start somewhere, so here are five thoughts for you to ponder and discuss with me:
1. We need to shift how we view brands to match how customers view them. Brands were about image and control. Now they are about experience and impact. Ongoing dialogues, not time-specific campaigns. This is true about companies and charities.
2. While organizations have previously divided the two into different silos, this poses a great risk. Because of this shift, we’re seeing a blend of CSR and CM because of the shift in how we communicate, interact, and consume. It is vital that the CSR and CM efforts come from the inside-out, derived from an earnest commitment, not an opportunist mindset.
3. Companies are rushing into the CM space, because customers are rewarding them. However, these successes shouldn’t be blindly interpreted that every company will benefit. Superficial, brand-centered initiatives might create short-term revenue, but inflict long-term damage to the brand. With their scale and reach, companies need to be mindful of how they engage in CSR and CM. This is not to say incremental. In this real-time world, experimentation and baby steps are better than stasis.
4. Cause marketing is still marketing. The purpose of marketing is to sell more products and services. Period. Cause marketing accomplishes this goal by associating the company with a social issue or cause or charity. CM does not solve the cause. But it can help by raising its profile and offer individuals a way to help thru their purchases.
5. People can feel empowered, but the disconnection and detachment between purchase and impact is a huge void. We can view this as a failure or an opportunity. Charities face the same situation. If they cannot demonstrate impact from the donations and volunteer hours they receive, they will lag behind. In the long run, if people take action and cannot see the impact they individually and collectively made, they will shift their perception of the company and charity involved.
What do you think?
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Nice, concise post, Scotty. You’re right. Cause marketing is about marketing and consumers need to understand the role CM plays in helping businesses grow and support causes (in that order). Fortunately, I think this will happen naturally as consumers see and participate in more cause marketing programs. Understanding, acceptance, and connection–although perhaps with reservations–will come with experience.
I agree with Joe, this was a concise ‘state of the union’ for cause marketing. Your last point – “People can feel empowered, but the disconnection and detachment between purchase and impact is a huge void” – is something I have been wrestling with. The cynic in me says that people don’t really care deep enough and/or think far enough in to whether or not their money actually ‘hits the streets’.
Cause Marketing affords the consumer a very convenient ‘altruistic booster shot’ (again speaking as a cynic) and that is good enough. I wonder if there is a significant segmentation of consumers who limitedly respond or do not respond to CM partnerships because of the lack of financial immediacy/tracking – is that an opportunity for me/us?
Thank Bob @thebeancast for me finding your site Scott. I wrote about a Cause in my own blog I wish to say late summer. Perfect timing because I need to write a new post on this. It was about the General Mills Yoplait mail the pink lids back and they will donate money program. We just threw out 17 lids we were saving because the ’cause’ has ended. I wrote GM about this and said if they really wanted to help the Susan B Komen Foundation why not donate X$ per Yoplait Unit sold. Vs having us mail using up paper and the stamps and fuel for all this. Never mind they have to pay someone to process the returned lids.
I felt it was a huge cop out on their part. Not productive and wasteful. Like they were hoping to not have to donate the Max and then claim it was the consumers fault, but thank you for buying Yoplait. Think of the $$’s spend on people administering the program, when that money could go to the charity. And I don’t think it increased their sales. I sure didn’t buy the product because of the program. So your comments on #5 and #3 fit this program.
Cheers
Joe – yes, familiarity eases sensitivities, but we need to make sure it doesn’t lead to numbness.
Doug – I believe people act in their own perceived self-interest: whether that be a sense of justice, assuage guilt, social prestige, etc. The long-term sustainability of cause marketing will depend upon fill the impact story void.
Howie – Glad you found me. Unfortunately, your situation is indicative of the large scale approach. Institution-sized organizations have long been accustomed to the detachment brought on by projecting your images and programs out via broadcast. They probably didn’t consider nor have the staffing to handle a “special request” outside of the batch processing program. That’s not to say they didn’t care – they were likely not prepared to handle it. That’ll have to be addressed moving further forward in this interconnected age.