Cause Marketing

Cause Marketing Or Crisis Response?

~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

Right now there is a company that is working with the government to help natural wildlife areas and minimize the environmental impact of pollution. They have engaged more than 2,500 people in this effort by working with emergency preparedness and environmental protection staff from five states and utilizing their employees labor and technical expertise.

They have organized major protection efforts with a significant community outreach plan with leaders from fishing associations, local businesses, parks, wildlife and environmental organizations, educational institutions, medical/emergency establishments and news media. This company is coordinating, training and deploying thousands of volunteers who are offering their help. This sounds like an enormous cause marketing effort except that it is in fact describing BP’s response to the environmental crisis they created.

Cause marketing is defined as aligning the power of a company’s brand, marketing and people with a cause’s brand and assets to create shareholder and social value by publicly communicating values. BP’s cleanup efforts certainly meet these requirements as they seek to minimize the environmental impact of the oil spill. Except in this case they are trying to minimize shareholder loss. If this was a more “natural disaster” their efforts may be applauded by the community and lauded by the business community.

What is the line between crisis and cause? Could responding well to a crisis (even one you’ve caused) ever be viewed as positive and actually help a brand’s image? Is doing the right thing always a planned marketing effort?

Can Millennials Save Us Through Cause Marketing?

~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

Cone, Inc. specializes in cause marketing and has released some interesting information on important role of “Millennials” in corporate social responsibility. They are considerably more active in new media forums when it comes to learning about and supporting causes, but are also more receptive to cause marketing and are more likely to act. After hearing about a corporate-charitable partnership 88% would be likely to switch from one brand to another brand if the other brand is associated with a good cause (compared to an average of  79% for all adults). In addition, 51% have bought a cause-related product or service in the last year (compared to 38% for all adults). They also are more likely to donate their money, participate in events and volunteer compared to all adults.

This Millennial bent toward social cause becomes even more apparent when you compare it to the other generation’s attitudes. Baby Boomers are characterized as the “me” generation and are described as being narcissistic, intellectual and judgmental. Gen Xers became disillusioned cynics who are cautious and skeptical, alienated, searching for self and confrontational. In contrast, Millennials are seen as optimistic and confident achievers. They are disciplined and accepting of authority, well-educated, competitive, upbeat and open-minded.

How will this impact cause marketing? I think it will improve, grow and expand cause marketing efforts. Obviously this is the generation more open to and looking for social benefits. But cause marketing efforts will have to expand beyond traditional media and talk to Millennials the way they are used to talking. This is something Pepsi has already started with the Pepsi Refresh project by ditching their Super Bowl ads for a social marketing plan.

Instead of spending millions on commercials for this past year’s game, Pepsi put its money in the Refresh Project, an online cause marketing campaign that asks readers how the company should give away its grant money (Schwartz, 2010).

The cool thing about Pepsi Refresh for Millennials is that it takes advantage of their social media usage. People all over the web are spreading the word about the campaign encouraging others to vote for their cause via the likes of Twitter and Facebook.