Ever wonder what “cause marketing” really is? Here are a few definitions kicked around at my Fall kick-off Marketing Executive Roundtable this morning:

• “Cause marketing is partnering a brand with charity for the benefit of both.” David Hessekiel
• “Marketing with meaning.” Bob Gilbraith
• “Selfish giving.” Joe Waters

We all pretty much agreed that cause marketing generally falls under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is not philanthropy and it typically is a program showing up as a line item in the marketing budget. It must justify itself.

Metrics of cause marketing initiatives can be challenging, but generally the marketing executives in attendance agreed that many consumers are influenced in their brand choices by cause marketing – it is one of many purchasing factors that ultimately generates business (there are exceptions – for example one insurance company in attendance found that even though consumers in focus groups insisted that cause marketing was very important, they ultimately made their purchasing decision pretty exclusively based on price). Dollars definitely play a role. According to one reputable survey 75% of respondents would try a brand they normally wouldn’t and 64% would pay more for a product from a company engaged in a cause. Still, consumers look for self-interest incentive. As an example, one of our members shared how when he found out that getting a bigger garbage can would cost him $200 per month, he decided to get a composter and he is now evangelizing composting in his neighborhood. Ultimately you may not get a lot of new customers as a direct result of cause marketing. But, cause marketing can certainly result in greater name awareness – it increases loyalty and the number of voices talking about your brand.

Issues to consider when planning a cause marketing initiative include consumer cynicism (driven by “causewashing”), legal and regulatory requirements, and justification metrics.

Some of the most common measures of cause marketing initiatives include:
• Funds raised, people served, volunteers recruited
• Sales revenue, web traffic
• Media impressions
• Social media engagement
• Brand identify, Net Promoter Score, retail displays and e-tail features
• Employee engagement

There are many different kinds of cause marketing. For example:
• Point of Sale (Whole Foods – donations when groceries are rung up)
• Purchase or Action-Triggered Donations (Revlon’s “pink Ribbon Campaign” – 10% of sales goes to breast cancer; Macy’s – if kids drop a note in mailbox for Santa, the company makes a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation)
• Licensing (American Heart Association’s certified seal for Cheerios)
• Message Promotion (AOL promoted a charity every day of the year; Levis – tag in belt loop “donate to Goodwill when no longer needed and care for the planet.”)
• Employee Engagement (Home Depot dedicated effort to have 100,000 employees build 1000 playgrounds in 1000 days – generated 224 million media impressions).
• Digital (Facebook; Nike – and Livestrong Program)

Transparency is probably the one most important factor in the success of any cause marketing program. Many initiatives that have been lacking in that area and where the alignment in missions have been poor have resulted in lots of cynicism. As marketers we need to be transparent in these efforts and not apologize for the contract. For example Clarisonic’s “Look Good Feel Better” program (partnering with the Cancer Society and the Beauty Association helping women with cancer to deal with hair, skin and nail issues) has been very transparent that its initiative to help breast cancer survivors raised a lot more money for the cause AND resulted in the sales of more product. WIN – WIN!!!

We finished off our roundtable by taking a look at a number of different cause marketing programs with the goal of tagging them as “Good,” “Bad,” or “Ugly.” Here is what we came up with:

• General Mills/Box-tops for Education – Good; a classic
• Glassybaby/Stand up to cancer – Good
• Patagonia/Don’t buy this jacket – Good
• Sunkist/Take a stand – Good
• Warby Parker – buy-one-give-one/glasses – Good
• Toms/One-day-without-shoes – Good
• Starbucks – Let’s create jobs –Bad/Ugly; execution lacked integrity
• Ben and Jerry’s/Overturn Citizens United – Good but Risky (brave?); consistent with company values and resonant with customer base (and beyond); politics are always risky though
• Eddie Bauer/ Help us make a difference – Bad (weak offer, weak execution)
• Quaker State/End hunger – Ugly (motor oil & hunger?? donation cap undermines effectiveness)
Heinz/Support our veterans – Good
• Chick Filet Restaurants/gay marriage – Bad but Risky (brave?); consistent with company values and resonant with large portion of customer base, but polarizing and unplanned / uncoordinated
• Kentucky Fried Chicken/Buckets for cure – Bad (how could Komen allow this?)
• Clarisonic/look good feel better – Good

Do you agree with the above? If not why?

Favorite quote from this session: “I stand for goodness. In fact I have not sat down since 1925.”