Viva Cause Marketing!

by David Hessekiel , August 9, 2011

At the Cause Marketing Forum, we're scratching our heads over a paradox. Every day we see more companies and brands engaging with causes, but many of them shy away from describing their efforts as "cause marketing."

Is a mission-driven company like Toms, built around donating a pair of shoes for each one purchased, engaging in cause marketing? Sure -- but you'd never find that term on its Web site. And what about companies such as Nike and Starbucks, which are both doing a world of good, but don't use the term "cause marketing" as their calling card? If they don't call it cause marketing, should we?

One source of this problem is that we're drowning in jargon: corporate social responsibility, strategic philanthropy, social entrepreneurism, shared value, purpose-driven marketing, cause-related marketing, etc. Different players favor different phrases. Some have taken to beating up on the term "cause marketing" because, in their minds, it refers to the most promotional, opportunistic, short-term forms of corporate engagement with causes.

Cause marketing -- as we define it -- isn't dead. In fact, companies need it now more than ever. It is the art of breathing life into corporate social initiatives by engaging consumers, employees and other stakeholders. It encompasses a broad range of strategies and tactics and very often leverages the brand and capabilities of a prominent non-profit partner.

Cause marketing rescues from obscurity business efforts that support communities, protect the planet or bolster social causes. Without it, many of these admirable initiatives would be virtually invisible to consumers and even employees, relegated to a CSR report read by a tiny few.

Not all cause marketing is world-class work, but we needn't beat ourselves up about that. That's no different than the output of any other branch of marketing. What's exciting is the impressive number of corporate social initiatives being launched by everyone from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, and how they are experimenting with online and offline cause-marketing tactics to engage people in new ways.

Here's just one great example:

On a corporate level, Levi's has made Herculean efforts to reduce the impact its clothing has on the environment, diving deep into supply chain and product life-cycle research to identify areas of environmental waste and impact. Its cause-marketing efforts -- communicated with everything from product tags to rich digital communications -- revolve around moving consumers to 1) reduce the water and energy used in laundering and 2) donate clothing to lengthen its useful life (part of a mutually beneficial relationship with non-profit partner Goodwill Industries).

These campaigns work so well for Levi's because they are totally in synch with the focus of its corporate social initiatives. Thanks to this integration, Levi's should have little trouble keeping people engaged on this topic with fresh programs well into the future.

CSR/cause marketing convergence is the future. Cause marketing serves the important role of making corporate social initiatives tangible, comprehensible and engaging. Depending on program objectives, it can enhance business reputations, strengthen customer loyalty, attract, retain and motivate employees, move product and more. Those results are the fuel that strengthen and sustain valuable corporate social initiatives through good times and bad.

cause-related, commentary, csr

4 comments about "Viva Cause Marketing! ".

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Joe Waters from Selfishgiving.com, August 9, 2011 at 1:18 p.m.
Great points, David. I agree: call it what you want, cause marketing is a powerful tool for causes and companies.
Nevertheless, semantics are important. And we need to continue to clarify what cause marketing is so our definition of the term is as powerful as the many of the programs the practice executes.
We also need to work to ensure that those that come into contact with the name continue to view it positively and ethically.

What's in a name? A lot. Let's make sure that cause marketing doesn't become one of those names people would rather forget.
Joe
Selfishgiving.com
@joewaters
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Jeff Klein from Working for Good, August 10, 2011 at 11:28 p.m.

Hello David.

Always good to read your insights. My experience with the sea of concepts and perspectives has led me to focus on Conscious Capitalism and Stakeholder Engagement Marketing (two more to add to the pot). And while there are many similarities and overlap between the various concepts and their applications and implications, I do note some meaningful distinctions.

I encourage you to visit ConsciousCapitalism.org and WorkingforGood.com and let's have a conversation sometime soon.

Thank you and be well, Jeff

Michael Sattler from Cauzoom, August 11, 2011 at 12:08 p.m.

Excellent points, David. You see it everywhere, but Joe's right: the jargon is preventing people from seeing the commonalities. We were asking a local restaurant about whether they did anything community related last night and the response was "I think we did something with cancer a few years ago."

It's also spreading out into the grass roots. You cite a lot of great high profile campaigns, but more and more local and regional businesses are engaging with community initiatives as well - "community cause marketing"? Cause marketing campaigns aren't just for the pages of AdWeek. :-)

Bryan De lottinville from Benevity Social Ventures, Inc., August 11, 2011 at 1:09 p.m.

That's good stuff, David. And I echo Joe's sentiments as well. It is unfortunate that nomenclature sometimes gets in the way of substance and impact. Part of the problem is that people still see engagement strategies using cause or social action as being somehow insidious. It is perhaps understandable, because some cause efforts are lip service or "fauxlanthropic", but as you point out, poor execution or strategy shouldn't foul category recognition. The reality is, if companies can better engage their customers and employees around causes in a manner that increases their business and social impacts, that's a good thing.

Maybe some day cause marketing practices and enabling technologies will be so prevalent that they no longer need an esoteric moniker. Until that day, you go get 'em!