American Heart Association ‘Start’ Campaign

When Causes Market

The very largest charities in the States have enormous resources. The American Heart Association, for instance, has more than 200 chapters and affiliates, generates more than $900 million a year and had $647 million in its fund balance (read ‘profits’) as of 2004.

So it’s no surprise that they sometimes advertise, here for their Start 'movement' which is meant to motivate Americans to be more physically active. Nor is it surprising that the campaign has sponsors. Squint your eyes and look at the bottom of this ad and maybe you can see them. Or, you can just take my word for it that they are fast food sandwich chain Subway, food processor Healthy Choice, and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The ad appears in Sunday’s Parade Magazine, which appears as a supplement in the Sunday editions of 370 newspapers in the United States and claims circulation of nearly 33 million and a readership of 77 million.

Here’s a case where the cause-related marketing is being handled by the cause. It would be interesting to know what their goals for this ad are. I suspect this is ad is meant for branding the Start campaign and perhaps, secondarily, to recognize their sponsors.

For kicks I measured the logos of the sponsors. As printed they are approximately1/2 inch wide. Because of its horizontal format, the AstroZeneca logo is slightly larger. The ad itself is 5.5 x 71/8. Worse, the logos are reversed out onto the green of the grass. For all you can tell they’re small rocks that the happy couple pictured could stumble over.

Now Parade isn’t cheap. Assuming this ad appeared in the national edition, rather than one of the regional or zone editions the full rate card would be $408,400. To be fair, the American Heart Association probably didn’t pay the full rate card. They may have gotten the placement, which was surrounded by a two-column feature called, “You Can Lose Weight,” for free. Even if the Heart Association paid for some part of it, the ad was probably underwritten by sponsor money.

Free, discounted or paid in full, why are the logos of the campaign’s sponsors so darn small? What is the value of making your sponsors’ presence so discrete they can barely be discerned?

A few years back the big single-disease charities went through some breast-beating over cause-related marketing. After some notable scandals, the Attorneys General… the law enforcement authorities in each of the 50 states… gave them a little slap on the wrist and the charities responded by developing new policies to govern the kinds of cause-related marketing and corporate collaborations they would undertake, as well as what kind of language they could use in ads and promotions.

Some of the charities made penance and are back, the Arthritis Foundation comes to mind. Others, like the American Medical Association, were so chastened by their experience they no longer employ cause-related marketing. Some, like the American Heart Association, apparently try to split the difference.

The result is an ad that does next to nothing for their sponsors.

I hope the American Heart Association has strong relationships with its sponsors, because if I were one of them, I’d be a little steamed at this token effort.

Batting Your Eyelashes at Prescription Drug Cause Marketing

I’m a little chary about making sweeping pronouncements, but I believe I've just seen the first cause marketing promotion in the U.S. involving a prescription drug. The drug is from Allergan and it’s called Latisse , “the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough eyelashes.” The medical name for this condition is hypotrichosis. Latisse is lifestyle drug the way Viagra or Propecia are. That is, no one’s going to die (except, perhaps, of embarrassment) if their erectile dysfunction or male pattern baldness or thin eyelashes go untreated. Which means the positioning for a product like Latisse is a little tricky. Allergan could have gone with the sexy route as with Viagra or Cialis and showed lovely women batting their new longer, thicker, darker eyelashes. But I’ll bet that approach didn’t test well with women. (I’m reminded of a joke about the Cialis ads from a comedian whose name I can’t recall. He said, “Hey if my erection lasts longer than ...

Cause Marketing: The All Packaging Edition

One way to activate a cause marketing campaign when the sponsor sells a physical product is on the packaging. I started my career in cause marketing on the charity side and I can tell you that back in the day we were thrilled to get a logo on pack of a consumer packaged good (CPG) or even just a mention. Since then, there’s been a welcome evolution of what sponsors are willing and able to do with their packaging in order to activate their cause sponsorships. That said, even today some sponsors don’t seem to have gotten the memo that when it comes to explaining your cause campaign, more really is more, even on something as small as a can or bottle. The savviest sponsors realize that their only guaranteed means of reaching actual customers with a cause marketing message is by putting it on packaging. And the reach and frequency of the media on packaging for certain high-volume CPG items is almost certainly greater than radio, print or outdoor advertising, and, in many cases, TV. More to ...

Chili’s and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

I was in Chili’s today and I ordered their “Triple-Dipper,” a three appetizer combo. While I waited for the food, I noticed another kind of combo. Chili’s is doing a full-featured cause-related marketing campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There was a four-sided laminated table tent outlining the campaign on the table. When the waitress brought the drinks she slapped down Chili’s trademark square paper beverage coasters and on them was a call to action for an element of the campaign called ‘Create-A-Pepper,’ a kind of paper icon campaign. The wait staff was all attired in black shirts co-branded with Chili’s and St. Jude. The Create-A-Pepper paper icon could be found in a stack behind the hostess area. The Peppers are outlines of Chili’s iconic logo meant to be colored. I paid $1 for mine, but they would have taken $5, $10, or more. The crayons, too, were co-branded with the ‘Create-A-Pepper’ and St. Jude’s logos. There’s also creatapepper.com, a microsite, but again wi...

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