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Cause-related marketing

Cause-Related Marketing – Doing the Right Thing and Taking a Bow for It

February 23, 2010 //  by admin

(Reprinted from the Massachusetts CPA Society newsletter “SumNews”.)

By Steve Dubin, PR Works

eting

Last year, Americans generously donated

over $150 billion to charities. Eighty percent

of that total came from individuals, the

rest from companies and foundations.

While the total reflects an increase of 7.3 percent

over the prior year, the number of individual

donors is in fact shrinking, as is government

funding for many programs. This double

whammy is forcing charities to “sell” themselves.

Welcome to the increasingly popular

world of cause-related marketing.

Once you’ve been in business for a while, it’s

a good bet that at some point you may have

considered using cause-related marketing, or

that some local, regional or national organization

has approached you. Cause-related marketing

is an alliance between a company and

a selected charity through which the business

gives a few cents of the purchase price or

a share of the profits to a specified charity.

Among the better-known national companies

that have used cause-related marketing are

American Express, Coca-Cola and Ben &

Jerry’s.

A more cynical reader might ask the businessperson

involved in cause-related marketing:

Are you trying to sell products or services, or

are you trying to support a worthwhile cause?

The answer should be both.

Why, of all professions, would accounting

firms care? One is that community work

energizes your staff and allows them to connect

on a different level. Two, outreach

helps build and enhance your firm’s “brand.”

Three, nonprofit efforts can allow you to rub

elbows with potential clients. Most nonprofits

have well-connected board members who

could be your next star client. Four, all things

being equal, clients would prefer to work

with the good guys.

Consumers like these types of arrangements

between companies and charities because they

can help others while shopping for things

they would have purchased anyway. After all,

it makes you feel good to know you are helping

to save baby seals just by buying a certain

brand of toothpaste.

Some marketing experts argue that the product

and the cause should have some connection.

For example, for several years the

makers of Arthritis Pain Formula donated a

percentage of their profits to The Arthritis

Foundation. The charity even got to put its

name and logo on millions of bottles of the

over-the-counter painkiller. The charity got

lots of “free” publicity while the manufacturer

sold more medicine.

Last year, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade joined

forces with Yahoo! Inc. in “Lids for Kids,”

pledging ten cents for every yogurt lid mailed

in to linking schools to the Internet. As with

most such promotions, the sponsors set a

cap. With this campaign the cap was set at

$100,000.

Some promotions have little connection between

the cause and sponsoring company’s

product or service. It was American Express,

you may recall, that popularized the idea of

cause-related marketing with its 1983 project

to help restore the Statue of Liberty. Maybe

you even used your American Express card a

few extra times, so you could proudly boast

that you helped preserve the famed lady.

American Express also reaped immeasurable

positive publicity during its “Charge Against

Hunger” campaign, which ran the last three

holiday seasons with a $5 million annual cap

(Well, even for mega-companies, you have

to draw the line on charity somewhere!)

Some promotions border on good taste.

The Society for the Preservation of History

promises to pay “a portion of the proceeds”

from the sale of each $199 “Queen of Hearts”

Princess Diana Doll to the Princess of Wales

Memorial Fund. How many would you like?

If there’s a charity you’d like to support

through cause-related marketing — which

might help boost sales or polish your company’s

image at the same time, contact the organization’s

marketing or development director

and explore the possibilities. If done correctly,

the campaign can be a major win-win proposition

for both parties.

Well, gotta go. I think I’ll get my tires

changed at the place that supports the Olympic

Team and have a cup of coffee at the

place that buys books for inner city schools.

Steve Dubin is president of PR Works, which is

based in Kingston, MA, and serves clients nationally.

The firm offers a wide expanse of public

relations services including strategic PR planning,

news releases, feature story development,

media placement, media coaching, newsletters,

case studies, grand opening management,

product and service launch management, press

tours, and press conference management.

For more information, please visit

PRWorkZone.com.

Cause-Related Marketing – Doing the Right Thing and Taking a Bow for ItRead More

Category: Client NewsTag: Cause-related marketing, non-profit, PR

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