Finesse Shampoo and Conditioner and Locks of Love

Not Exactly Golden Locks

How do you target Gen Y, the 76 million [in the States] ‘Millennials’ born between 1978 and 2000? Well a cause campaign is not a bad idea because the members of Gen Y are characterized as idealistic, optimistic, honest and sincere. And they like to shop.

Few of them remember the time before the Internet and they’re the most technologically savvy generation ever. We used to say they were the most wired generation, but that’s no longer true; if I have any Gen Y readers they’re probably reading this on their cell phones.

But what kind of cause appeals to them?

United Way is for people who drive Buicks.

Susan G. Komen is for the mothers and grandmothers of Gen Y.

Make-A-Wish? You’re getting warmer.

Finesse hair shampoo and conditioner picked Locks of Love, the Lake Worth, Florida nonprofit that solicits donations of natural hair which is then manufactured into wigs and distributed to kids and adults with long-term hair loss, usually due to a condition called alopecia areata.

Locks of Love generates publicity like crazy. Their story is straightforward, emotional, and particularly well-suited for television; a kid cuts 10 inches off his or her head, puts it in bag and sends it to Locks of Love to become a wig for a bald kid. I must know half a dozen kids who are presently growing their hair out for Locks of Love or who have done so in the past.

Here’s Finesse’s campaign. A contest began July 17, 2006 to pick a model for their advertising in 2007. Entrants submitted their names and a before and after picture that shows how their “hairstyle has adjusted.” The contest doesn’t explicitly require that the entrants cut their hair for Locks of Love, but it appears that many did just that.

Finesse then invited people to vote for their favorite entrant. The contest ended March 31, 2007. Finesse will name the winner on May 15 from among 10 finalists. Finesse will donate $1 to Locks of Love for every contest entry it received. I may be reading it wrong, but it looks like a grand total of 923 people entered the contest. If that’s the case Finesse isn’t exactly going to have to crack open the corporate vault for Locks of Love.

I like the promotion, but it seems half-hearted. I hope I’m wrong about the donation amount. But whether I am or not, they should have based the donation on the votes, not the entries. To make that worth their while they could have used the voting mechanism to generate usable information like a registration that collected names and email. Or they could have asked a short list of survey questions. They could have provide means for the contest entrants to email their friends as apart of the registration process.

And where’s Finesse on MySpace, YouTube or any of the social media so popular with kids? Why wouldn’t they encourage entrants… if they cut their hair for Locks of Love… to film it and put it on YouTube?

If Finesse tries this contest in 2007-8, there's a number of improvements that could be made.

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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